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Posts Tagged ‘IBM’

IBM eyes Naga City for latest BPO facility

May 21st, 2013

IBM is eyeing Naga City in the Bicol region to build its latest facility that will help expand the company’s capabilities in delivering business process solutions to varied industry clients across the globe. outsourcing7

IBM’s business process outsourcing (BPO) unit, the Global Process Services (GPS), said the facility will support the development of local talent and give a boost to the innovation ecosystem in the Bicol region and neighboring provinces.

Mariels Almeda Winhoffer, IBM Philippines President and Country General Manager, said the expansion in Naga affirms IBM’s continued commitment to help develop talent in next wave cities in the Philippines.

“This is consistent with our vision to make IBM an essential innovation and technology partner that will enable the country’s expansion and transformation through IBM’s Smarter Planet agenda,” Winhoffer said.

Under such agreement with Naga City, IBM will deliver its “next generation” business process solutions to a broad range of clients in the fields of Human Resources, Finance and Accounting, Supply Chain Management, Customer Relationship Management, and Application Services.

With a number of leading colleges and universities in the city, IBM identified Naga as having a strong pool of talent, making it an attractive location for IBM’s latest investment and laying the foundations for future growth.

According to IBM’s Global Process Services Delivery Country Leader Cassandra Soto, the facility will further strengthen IBM’s existing service delivery capability in the Philippines, which serves over a million clients across 84 countries.

“By locating our global operations in emerging growth cities such as Naga City, IBM is able to bring world-class career opportunities closer to more Filipinos and enhance the country’s competitiveness in the continuously thriving BPO industry,” Soto said.

The IBM Global Process Services currently operates in three key cities in Metro Manila, where it maintains a number of established delivery centers, particularly in Quezon City, Makati City and Pasig City.

IBM’s presence in the Philippines spans over 75 years. In the past few years, IBM has made substantial investments in the country, expanding its business portfolio, growing talent, extending geographic reach and boosting skills development as it anticipates exponential growth around the country. This is in line with IBM’s geographical expansion strategy to expand beyond Metro Manila to key markets like Naga City.

Source:http://www.philstar.com/business/2013/05/21/944690/ibm-eyes-naga-city-latest-bpo-facility

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Tags: BPO IBM

Should outsourcing ranking be taken with a pinch of salt?

May 10th, 2013

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Two different ranking lists in the outsourcing sector struck me this week because they both lacked the name IBM within them. Both had reasons for not including IBM but it does put into question the value of these lists.

IBM Global Services personifies IT services and its absence from these lists was surprising to say the least. Outsourcing3

The first was a list from ISG, the big IT outsourcing consultancy, it has a list of the top 20 IT service providers for the first quarter of 2013. This was the 20 suppliers that had reported the highest contract values won in that period. IBM was not on the list. Apparently this was because a. contracts often come in lumps so it is not that surprising that a supplier might have a quiet quarter. And it is only contracts that are made public, so IBM might have been quiet about it.

The second list wasn’t the top 100 Outsourcing Leaders from the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals. This is the top 100 outsourcers in general and is not focused on IT. However IT makes up a sizable chunk of the list and IBM is not on there. I was told the reason for this is that it is an opt-in list, so IBM presumable didn’t opt in. Although the ranking is not just on size it is still a surprise that IBM is not there.

This makes me question the value of such lists. Having worked in journalism for years and seen many people win awards you learn that entering a competition is not only a must if you want to win, but is also half the battle. But it does not mean you the winner or winners are the best. OK industry awards are a bit of fun I suppose, but if you are a business taking these lists seriously they might be misleading if leading companies are excluded for one reason or another.

This reminds me of an article I wrote about IT analysts a while ago. IT analysts are highly respected and really influence buyers when decisions are made by CIOs. But how accurate and broad is the research? I suppose if you follow Gartner’s advice you can’t go far wrong, but this does not mean you will get the best IT for your need.

Magic quadrants and similar research, rank suppliers on different variables. Businesses are heavily influenced by these when buying.

But the problem with Magic Quadrants and the like are that analysts only really measure a few companies with global footprints. As a result research showing IT services buying habits are skewed because this type of service is often bought from a regional specialists. Particularly in continental Europe.

Source:http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/inside-outsourcing/2013/05/should-outsourcing-ranking-be-taken-with-a-pinch-of-salt.html

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Tags: IBM IT Outsourcing

Wipro to Buy Stake in U.S. Data-Services Firm

May 8th, 2013

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Indian outsourcing-services company Wipro Ltd. said Tuesday it agreed to acquire a minority stake in Opera Solutions LLC, a U.S.-based provider of data-processing tools, for $30 million.

A press release from Wipro didn’t provide details of the stake it will own in privately held Opera Solutions. Outsourcing2

The New Jersey-based company provides tools to process raw data and make predictive analysis and find specific facts. It has 700 employees, according to its website.

Wipro is buying the stake at a time global companies like International Business Machines Corp. IBM are also expanding their data-processing and business-intelligence capabilities as they find opportunities in these businesses.

Source:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323372504578468962076579562.html

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Who are Europe’s top IT services firms in Q1 of 2013 and what happened to IBM?

May 8th, 2013

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The EMEA region saw $762m worth of IT services contracts signed at the beginning of this year. This was a 20% fall in contract values in the first three months of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012. This was according to the latest report from ISG, which registers all contracts worth over €4m. outsourcing52

I thought I would publish ISG’s list of the companies that took the biggest shares of this spend. What is a surprise is IBM’s absence? Strange, in 2009 according to Gartner IBM was the number one IT services firm in Western Europe (which accounts for most the EMEA spend.)

Most the usual suspects are all there but there are also a few I don’t know at all, as well as some specialists thrown in.

Top 20 IT services firms in terms of total EMEA contract value won in the first three months of 2013. This is in alphabetic order

1 – Accenture
2 – AT&T
3 – Capgemini
4 – CGI
5 -Communisis
6 – Evry
7 – Genpact
8 – HCL
9 – HP
10 – Infosys
11 – Lottomatica
12 – Nokia
13 – SQS
14 – Swisscom
15 – TCS
16 – Thales
17 – Tieto
18 – Virtusa
19 – Xchanging
20 – Xerox

Source:http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/inside-outsourcing/2013/05/who-was-europes-top-it-services-firm-in-q1-of-2013-and-what-happened-to-ibm.html

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Tags: Europe IBM IT

Idea in talks with outsourcing partners IBM, GTL Infra to cut operation costs

May 8th, 2013

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Idea Cellular is negotiating with its outsourcing partners to lower costs of operations and improve profitability. Key vendors include IT partner IBM and tower leasing vendor GTL InfrastructureBSE 0.82 %, said two people involved in the negotiations.

With IBM, Idea is trying to drive down the revenue share component as it has more than met the subscriber numbers promised in the original deal, while it is asking GTL Infra to lower tower rentals that are now higher than the current market rate due to the gradual escalation in the past five years, the two said.

Idea is trying to cut costs as profitability is under pressure with high airwave and licence fees, imposition of charges by the Department of Telecommunications, and cut-throat competition that has kept call rates on the decline for over half a decade.

Idea Cellular signed an outsourcing deal with IBM in 2007 with the clause the contract could be extended and renegotiated at the end of the first five years. outsourcing50

The person explained that the original $700 million (approximately Rs 3,700 crore) value in 2007 was based on a per subscriber revenue share, which the company is now trying to lower as it has added more subscribers than it has estimated in the year of signing the contract. Since then Idea Cellular has expanded its network from just 11 service areas to an all-India network of 22 service areas. The company’s subscriber base touched 121.6 million this March from 14.6 million in April 2007. “Negotiations are still preliminary, but we should be able to lower the share that goes to IBM to some degree,” said one of the two persons.

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Queensland health payroll: IBM executive blames government over woes, inquiry hears

May 6th, 2013

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A HIGH-RANKING IBM executive has put the blame for the collapse of the Queensland Health Payroll firmly back in the State Government’s court, saying crucial data was not loaded in time.

Bill Doak is the IBM executive who managed a team of 200 to 300 IBM employees, IBM contractors and Queensland public servants associated with the out-sourced project. outsourcing33

He has told the Queensland Health Payroll Inquiry the payroll system could have worked if the government didn’t keep making extra demands.

In a statement tendered last Friday he said there was evidence the system was working well soon after the March go-live date.

“I understand that, after go-live, issues arose with line managers not submitting rosters or roster adjustments in time to be entered into the new payroll system,” he said.

“IBM was not involved in the training of Queensland Health line managers.

“The decision not to pay staff unless the roster or roster adjustment was received and entered into the system was a Queensland Health decision.”

The $5 million inquiry is examining all facets of a massive outsourcing contract won by IBM in 2007 which included the health payroll – then flagged as a $6 million component of the deal.

After under-paying and over-paying thousands of Queensland Health employees since implementation in 2010, the collapsed payroll system continues to be a drain on state finances and is predicted to cost the tax payer $1.2 billion.

Mr Doak said he received en email on March 29 2010 (one week after go-live) referring to a media report that certain Gold Coast Queensland Health staff had not been paid.

“I made some inquiries as a result of becoming aware of this issue,” he said in his statement.

An investigation revealed roster data had not been loaded by the line managers for the relevant employees, he said.

He reported that back to his IBM colleagues and by April 6 received an email saying the second pay cycle had been completed successfully.

On April 10 he responded to an article in The Courier Mail alleging the system was not running well.

He noted “functionality had been well received, although some performance issues had been experienced.”

He also noted “the only real issue was payroll data not being loaded in time.”

Source:http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/queensland-health-payroll-ibm-executive-blames-government-over-woes-inquiry-hears/story-e6frf7jo-1226635854564

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iSoftStone and IBM Officially Launched Cloud Service Platform for SMEs in Northwest China

May 3rd, 2013

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iSoftStone Holdings Limited (”iSoftStone,” NYSE: ISS), a leading China-based IT services and solutions provider, and International Business Machines (”IBM”), the largest IT and business solutions provider today announced a collaboration to build www.xb-cloud.cn (”XB-CLOUD”), a Cloud Service Platform for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (”SMEs”) in Northwest China. The two companies, together with Industry and IT Committee of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Municipal Government, and China Mobile Gansu also recently officially established the Cloud Service Association for SMEs of Gansu Province. These initiatives aim at facilitating SMEs’ daily operations through efficient use of cloud computing and promote Lanzhou as a model of the Northwest China in using advance technology to drive industries’ growth. outsourcing22

The establishment of XB-CLOUD and Cloud Service Association for SMEs of Gansu Province is an extension of the Cloud Computing Service Center for SMEs in Northwest China co-launched by Lanzhou Municipal Government, China Mobile Gansu and IBM last year. The Cloud Computing Service Center has been built in China Mobile Gansu’s Xigu premises, and the initial phase of cloud computing services platform and application development are completed.

Contributing to the collaborative effects, iSoftStone will leverage its experience in cloud computing and smart city to provide support in the whole lifecycle management of XB-CLOUD including infrastructure and application development, deployment and operation, while IBM will provide its excellent consultation services and hardware facilities and products. XB-CLOUD currently provides a wide range of services that meet SMEs’ every aspect of needs including communication services, coordinated office management, production management and sales management, etc.

The Chinese government attached great importance on the development of cloud computing, and listed it as a strategic and emerging industry in its 12th Five-Year Plan. The output value of China’s cloud computing industry chain is expected to reach RMB200 billion by 2016. SMEs will benefit enormously from utilizing cloud computing to save cost and enhance efficiency in IT infrastructure set-up, to facilitate scalable application and information sharing, and to be equipped with various software application services to meet specific needs at different stages of their business development.

In the opening ceremony, Niu Xiangdong, Vice Mayor of Lanzhou Municipal Government said, “After ten months’ of initial set-up, XB-CLOUD has been officially launched. This marks the completion and official introduction of the first cloud computing project in Northwest China. Without the joint efforts and coordination of China Mobile Gansu, IBM and iSoftStone, this can never be achieved.” Niu spoke highly of the quick launch and introduction of the platform.

Kang Yanwen, Executive Vice-President of iSoftStone said, “A hundred years ago, the Yellow River Bridge connected both sides of the Yellow River. Today, IT is the bridge connecting SMEs and their informatization developments. iSoftStone is truly honored to be the builder and operator of XB-CLOUD. The successful launch of this platform marked a milestone in our company’s cloud computing development history and has also lead the industry by introducing a new and innovative payment model to integrate SMEs and mobile operators’ bill settlement platforms. iSoftStone will continue to be the operator of XB-CLOUD to help mobile operators to implement and promote cloud services among SMEs.”

Chen Gu, Chief Technology Officer of IBM Software Group in Greater China said, “Cloud computing is not just about integration and sharing of IT resources, but also a new business innovation model to create an ecological environment of economic development, helping all enterprises to utilize cloud computing to improve their business performance.”

Set up at the same time, the Cloud Service Association for SMEs of Gansu Province was initiated by Industry and IT Committee of Gansu Province, Lanzhou Municipal Government, China Mobile Gansu and IBM. As the deputy alliance member of the association, iSoftStone will assist in the promotion and implementation of cloud services. Other alliance members of the association consist of 10 universities including Lanzhou University and Northwest Normal University, China Mobile Gansu and other IT companies.

Source:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/isoftstone-and-ibm-officially-launched-cloud-service-platform-for-smes-in-northwest-china-2013-05-02

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