Increased business confidence, recovering economies, infrastructure investment and enhanced product development will drive Africa IT markets, analysts say.

Analysts from IDC and Africa Analysis are projecting growth in cloud services as bandwidth becomes cheaper and companies seek ways to reduce capital and operational expenditure.

IDC expects IT spending in Middle East, Africa, and Turkey to 10 percent growth in 2012 and virtualization to attain must-have status, as a cornerstone and foundation for future expansion.

“Several medium-sized and large organizations, having proof tested virtualization in 2011 during data center consolidation efforts, will move to more extensive adoption with greater confidence in 2012; desktop, storage, and application virtualization initiatives will gain momentum, particularly within large organizations,” said Jyoti Lalchandani, vice president and managing director of IDC Middle East, Africa, and Turkey. “The emerging African countries of Kenya and Nigeria will also see higher levels of adoption in 2012 as awareness spreads and users begin to realize the benefits.”

In 2010, spending on IT services had slowed down in Africa but the budgets of international companies have once again started rising in outsourcing destinations like South Africa. An IDC study on IT services in South Africa released this month shows the country recorded moderate growth.

“After the freeze in IT budgets that came about as a result of the global economic crisis, 2010 saw a rebound in IT services spending,” said Suzanne Nolan, research analyst for IT Services for IDC South Africa. “The growth in IT services spending was driven by a recovering economy, increased business confidence, expanding bandwidth availability, and various infrastructure investments made in the country in 2010.”

IDC forecasts the total South African IT services market to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 8.7 percent to exceed $17 billion in 2015, with continued spending focus among end-user organizations and solutions that help reduce operating expenses.

Africa’s Business Process Outsourcing sector has stagnated with countries like Kenya unable to crack the global outsourcing market but South Africa has managed to sustain growth through innovative managed services.

“South African growth was mainly driven by managed services rather than by traditional information system outsourcing contracts,” added Nolan. “The healthy growth in outsourcing services signifies a level of sophistication and maturity within the IT services segment.”

In the telecom sector, the decline in tariffs has stopped as operators seek to streamline expenses as opposed to winning more subscribers. Bharti Airtel’s acquisition of Zain network in sub-Saharan Africa heralded the tariff wars two years ago but by late last year, call costs had started rising.

“The era of tariff war is over; operators have begun to streamline operational expenses and the strategy of winning more subscribers through tariff reduction will be terminated in 2012,” said Dobek Pater, senior telecoms analyst at Africa Analysis. “The economies of various countries in Africa are becoming more expensive to run businesses therefore the only way to have profitable revenue is proper product pricing.”

Pater expects enhanced product development, increasing product variety, and “last mile” telecom technology becoming more affordable outside urban areas.

“There will be a lot of focus on delivering quality service to subscribers rather than winning more subscribers especially with the large operators who have coverage in a lot of countries; subscriber retention strategies and loyalty will be the strategy employed for this,” added Pater.

With more operators rolling out their own infrastructure and improving on quality of service, competition is expected to be high in coastal countries that have fiber optic coverage, while connectivity costs in land-locked countries decline further.

Source:http://news.idg.no/cw/art.cfm?id=0B53F93D-E513-0666-EAECC3BEECC9AF33

At least 30,000 more call center agents will be hired to work in several business process outsourcing (BPO) companies inside this Freeport, the Metro Clark Information and Communications Technology Council (MCICTC) here reported Tuesday.

George Sorio of the CyberCity Teleservices based here said that P33 million worth of training scholarship vouchers will be awarded in Luzon to answer the need for more agents as various companies are expected to expand in the Metro Clark area.

Metro Clark is composed of areas in Clark and nearby towns and cities in Pampanga and Tarlac. It is one of only three centers of excellence in the country, alongside Metro Manila and Metro Cebu.

MCICTC recently awarded a total of 510 training scholarship vouchers to four local schools with accredited Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) courses in the field of Information Technology and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

Initial awardees of the TWSP vouchers are Clark International College of Science of Technology, CCIS Educational Foundation, St. Nicholas College and Mabalacat College.

Schools within Metro Clark and Pampanga with accredited TESDA courses in the ICT fields are encouraged to apply for membership with MCICTC in order to qualify for the TWSP vouchers.

Part of the responsibilities of the council and the training institution is to facilitate at least 70% employment of scholars.

Some of MCICTC’s major programs are the fostering of Industry-Academe linkages, Industry trade and promotion missions and the hosting of the Clark ConEx International ICT Conference in October, which attracts thousands of delegates from business, academe and government.

Clark ConEx has become Metro Clark’s own signature ICT show.

The program dubbed Training for Work Scholarship Program (TWSP) originated from an agreement forged among TESDA, the Business Process Association of the Philippines (BPAP) and the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP).

Source:http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/349127/clark-bpos-need-30000-employees

The Information and Communications Technology- Business Process Outsourcing industry of Dumaguete City has assured students in Negros Oriental and neighboring provinces of the availability of jobs.

ICT Dumaguete Board Secretary Danah Fortunato said, the group had expressed positive prospects of trhe employment of graduates in the administration of Dumaguete City’s Higher Education Institutes at an ICT-BPO Industry Forum for Educators, recently at SPi Global’s facilities in Barangay Bagacay.

The forum was aimed at recognizing the valuable contribution of HEIs to the success of BPO companies in the city, and be the de facto beginning of a closer partnership between HEIs. It also focused on BPOs in bridging the gap between the skills of graduates and the entry level skills required in the industry, as reflected in the relatively low passing or hiring rates.

Dumaguete ICT president, Randolf Bandiola, said ICT-BPO jobs are not merely about “answering phone calls”, even if by the end of 2010, the Philippines had surpassed India in the number of voice jobs.

In Dumaguete, ICT-BPO jobs are now in customer management, copyediting, graphics, animation, web design, software programming, architecture, market research, medical transcription, and engineering.

Meanwhile, companies involved in other non-voice work, like legal research and accounting services, are checking out the city’s business conditions.

Guest speaker Dr. Jeff Sallaz, Fulbright Scholar and Professor of Sociology of the University of Arizona, said the industry could be a way for Negros Oriental to “leapfrog from an Agricultural Economy straight into the Information Economy”.

Sallaz cited BPOs that have drawn most foreign direct investments in the country from 2000 to 2010, thus reversing the lack of investment and manufacturing growth in the 70’s and 80’s.

Income derived from the industry, he said, is a welcome addition to an economy that is too dependent on agriculture and remittances.

Worldwide, BPOs is a rapidly growing industry where the Philippines is uniquely poised to increase employment from 500,000 individuals in 2010, to 1.3 million by 2016, he said.

Fortunato said ICT Dumaguete projected the availability of more than 2000 jobs in BPOs in 2011 alone. The reality, however, is that only about half of those positions were set to be filled by the end of 2011 because the critical factors mentioned kept the hiring rate only at around 20 to 30 percent.

Source:http://www.visayandailystar.com/2012/January/09/negor3.htm

As technological development is a constant process, like during the earlier years, in 2012 too, a whole new breed of technologies are waiting to reshape the ICT industry. Of course, one of the most important changes that are taking place in the industry is the consumerisation of technology where it no more remains with the enterprises alone and will make a giant leap in the consumer space as well. This year is going to be the year of mobile devices as the personal computing space will see changes in shape and sizes as classifications in terms of sizes and performances are increasingly being blurred with devices shrinking in sizes and expanding in performance.

On the cloud

Technology enthusiasts are virtually on cloud nine when it comes to doing things in the ‘virtual space’. No wonder everyone is talking about ‘getting on to the cloud’. The term basically defines the next level of data storage and processing without using one’s own infrastructure or less of it. ‘Cloud’ generally has more users, more data, more applications and better standards to meet. Explaining the trend, Microsoft India Director of Microsoft Business Division, Sanjay Manchanda, said, “Soaring maintenance and energy costs, space constraints, the time and IT resources that are required to maintain the status quo is leading to an IT set-up which is inflexible and cannot evolve fast enough to keep pace with the dynamic requirements of an enterprise.”

Manchanda believes that in 2012, performance and flexibility of IT operations management will dramatically improve for services naturally adapted for cloud environments. Hence, the next generation data centres are being designed differently. They are more modular, more flexible and much more open to new technology as it becomes available. This said, the cloud has plenty of offerings for consumers apart from enterprises. Already, most of us are on the cloud most of the time when we are surfing the internet, sending mails, storing and sharing pictures using a services provided by a host of operators free of cost. Google’s e-mail, Youtube, Picasa and Facebook’s social networking are some of the appropriate examples of how we are using cloud in our daily life.

Director of India and Research Operations at Forrester Research, Manish Bahl, says that consumerisation of technology, for one, is not exclusive to the enterprise IT world and will make cloud in the government sector a reality. Citizens and businesses are putting pressure on government organisations to become more proactive and Internet-savvy.
There are a couple of other players that have now entered the market. Recently, Sify launched ‘mystorage’, its consumer cloud services for personal computing and SMBs.

However, unlike Google, this does not come for free as one has to pay a minimum of Rs 175 every month for availing 10 GB storage space on the cloud. Microsoft also offers 5 GB of space free of cost to users of Microsoft Office 360, where they can directly upload their documents to the Microsoft cloud.

The mobile factor

The explosion in the mobility segment will continue to grow even more in 2012 and demands that IT teams keep pace with the business and adapt their processes, tools, and approach to support an increasingly dispersed and technologically diverse workforce. The rise of internet accessibility has changed the equation for businesses and workforces alike. Gartner believes that mobility offers new access channels to applications and data, and at the same time, provides end users with a wide variety of device choices.

Mobile products such as smartphones, netbooks, notebooks and tablets are coming up in various sizes keeping in mind the form factors a consumer needs. The technology has expanded the usage of such devices to such an extent that at times they even supplement the use of a personal computer or a laptop. The penetration of mobile phones that now stand above 880 million in India, has made internet access possible for a huge number of people who otherwise would have taken many years to go on the net. The cheap internet rates coupled with much higher speeds have made this transition from computers to mobile devices, possible. Some other factors that contributed largely to this trend of mobile devices are the lethal combination of user-friendly operating systems (OS) installed on smartphones and the huge number of applications (apps), mostly free, now available.

The tremendous popularity of the open-source Android operating system in 2011 is a good example. A research report shows that Android now has a market share of 53 per cent in the September quarter, much ahead of Apple iOS that has 15 per cent share of OS on handheld devices. People are certainly moving from personal computer usage to mobile devices since there are very few functions that a mobile device lacks in comparison to a PC.

Apart from these, the tablet segment that has big players like Apple, Samsung and Research in Motion (RIM), is all set to become a down-to-earth product and more accessible to India’s teeming youth as Datawind, a Canadian company recently launched their ‘Aakash’ tablet, priced at Rs 2,500.

This also shows how open source software, like Android, is scoring over its peers. As Red Hat India Managing Director- India Subcontinent, Anuj Kumar, said that businesses are increasingly becoming more confident about deploying open-source technology within the enterprise, instead of reducing it to the periphery or for experimental projects. Multiple factors are driving this increased adoption of open-source software, including greater flexibility and lower cost. The fast-growing e-commerce business is also tapping the mobile market by developing apps and payment gateways that are essentially suitable for the mobile platforms. Since the penetration of mobile devices is much higher than that of personal computers, these e-commerce sites can reach to a larger base of customer.

Video communication revisited

Communicating with people using video will continue to be a priority, says Cisco, over the next few years. Cisco Chairman John Chambers predicted that four years from now, video is going to be the leading way in which we communicate and the primary form of information technology (IT). He stated that in 2010, video accounted for 51 per cent of internet traffic and by 2014; the number will skyrocket to 91 per cent.

Telepresence, a technology which connects meeting rooms over high definition televisions, though not new, is going to be the game changer in 2012 with more companies adopting it to substitute travelling of executives for meetings and conferences. The advent of video conferencing, however, has enabled people from various parts of the world to join each other almost like sitting in the same meeting room.

This is actually enabling customers, mainly enterprises, to cut major travelling cost and doing most of the work off-site. A lot of Indian outsourcing companies are shifting to telepresence as visa woes hit them hard in countries like US.

Most companies provide only 25 per cent of the work on-site, whereas the rest of the work is done in India, to reduce cost. Cisco, in 2010, had launched a telepresence room in Dubai, in association with Tata Communications and Etisalat. The setup acts as a public telepresence room which can be booked online by interested businesses. Apart from Cisco, Chinese network accessories maker Huawei, in December 2011 launched their telepresence business systems in India.

Looking beyond

To understand the trend beyond the present year, some of Gartner’s predictions might come handy in the next couple of years. By 2016, at least 50 per cent of enterprise email users will rely primarily on a browser, tablet or mobile client instead of a desktop client. By 2015, mobile application development projects targeting smartphones and tablets will outnumber personal computers by a ratio of 4-to-1.

By 2016, 40 per cent of enterprises will make proof of independent security testing a precondition for using any type of cloud service.

Source:http://www.deccanherald.com/content/215997/ict-innovations-dominate-2012.html

THE business process outsourcing (BPO) industry will continue to propel Cebu’s economy as the province’s major economic driver, industry leaders said. The BPO sector is also poised to grow even bigger in the coming years, they said.

“In 2011, BPO companies accounted for 40 percent of positions posted in a jobs listing website. The expansion of BPO operations led to the rise in the demand for office spaces. This year, the region saw property developers putting additional investments in the leasing business,” said Cebu Property Ventures Development Corp. (CPVDC) president Francis Monera.

Plan your Sinulog week ahead and find out what’s in store for Sinulog 2012.

The industry recorded a 20 percent annual growth rate.

CPVDC is the developer of Cebu IT Park. It currently has eight building under construction.

Workforce

Monera said BPO companies are continually drawn to Cebu City with its workforce and healthy fiscal environment. He said Cebu is supported by nine large universities that turn out many workers for IT and BPO companies.

“The BPO industry in Cebu is fast-growing because IT/BPO companies in the US have found a viable destination in Asia where they can relocate after the 2008 global economic crash. The industry will continue to offer a lot of opportunities and will become Cebu’s main driver of economic growth,” said Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCCI) chairman for information and communications technology (ICT) Jerry Rapes.

This year, global outsourcing firm Aegis People Support unveiled its own Aegis Tower Cebu at the Cebu IT Park. The company said their decision to build in Cebu is a sign of their “commitment to and confidence in the country’s booming BPO industry and Cebu’s workforce.”

Monera said they are anticipating an increase of 20 percent in the current 50,000 workforce with the completion of buildings within Cebu Park District.

CPVDC is looking at an estimated 11,000 additional seats with eBlock 2, Skyrise 4 and the Aegis Tower Cebu.

Stream Global, a major outsourcing company, was reported to be hiring between 60 and 70 employees weekly. Convergys, on the other hand, is also expanding with its new office in Cebu, according to Monera.

Some of the firms that expanded in Cebu this year include HP, Fluor Daniels, Dell, Convergys and JP Morgan & Chase.

Non-voice services

“Wide-spread employment is a by-product of these developments with a 35 percent increase in working population for both parks – majority in the BPO industry. (It strengthens) our bid of making Cebu the BPO capital in the Philippines next to Metro Manila,” Monera said.

Rapes, meanwhile, said Cebu is not only well-positioned for voice services but also for knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), information technology outsourcing and non-voice services.

He said it is just a matter of preparing Cebu “to get to a higher level,” particularly in terms of supplying the industry with skilled, competent and highly qualified workforce.

“There is not always enough people,” said Rapes, the president of information technology outsourcing (ITO) company Exist Global.

He said companies now move out from major call center hubs like Metro Manila and open offices in “next wave cities.”

Monera, who sits as the chairman of the board for Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (Cedf-it) said the private sector, academe and local government have collaborated to improve the skills of potential workers for increased manpower pool via proficiency/certification, retraining and jobs-skills matching programs. The stakeholders are also intensifying programs that support infrastructure and tourism service to strengthen the investment climate in Cebu.

Scalability

Monera emphasized the need for talent scalability, not only in terms of available quantity of the workforce but also in training to match the skills required by companies.

Cedf-it announced last October it will get part of the P500-million stimulus fund committed by the Aquino government to facilitate “near-hire” training programs of IT-BPO companies. It said about P5 million worth of scholarships from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) will be used to conduct “near-hire” trainings for 1,000 prospective IT-BPO employees here.

Monera also cited Cebu’s “big opportunity” in higher level services or KPO. He said although, manpower requirement for this category may not be as high as voice-related jobs, these are high-value services that mean higher average compensation for the Filipino talent.

While there is continued growth ahead in the BPO industry, Rapes said “being complacent” may threaten BPOs’ rosy outlook for 2012.

“We need to create more people for the industry rather than compete with each other. We need to produce more skilled workforce for a bigger ecosystem,” he said.
Rapes also announced that the outsourcing industry will soon start the second phase of the Cebu IT/BPO roadmap so it could further maximize the potential of IT/BPO services.

What to do

He said the study will “drill down what Cebu needs to get to higher level.”

“We have to know where we are going and what to do next now that we know we have the capabilities to do more KPO,” Rapes said.

He said that while waiting for the second phase of the study, entrepreneurs should start looking at opportunities in offering KPO services.

He said India has higher revenues than the Philippines because they do difficult services. “But if the Philippines will capitalize on its KPO potential and do its homework, the IT/BPO revenues will grow eventually,” Rapes said.

The Business Process Association of the Philippines targets to grow the industry by $25 billion in revenues in 2016 and increase IT/BPO employment to more than one million.

A bill seeking to create a Department of ICT was also filed as a support to the growing industry.

Source:http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/business/2011/12/29/bpo-still-cebu-s-growth-driver-198053

Nigeria’s aspiration to become a digital economy could be realised through massive investments in information and communications technologies (ICTs) tools, infrastructures deployments, skills development and knowledge creation.
The country popularly referred to as the giant of Africa has come under serious searchlight as its influence on the continent continues to dwindle despite having the largest population.

Egypt, Tunisia, Mauritius and South Africa are now far ahead of Nigeria in the ICT Development Index. To prove that we are still far behind our peers, Lagos was ranked bottom of the largest cities in the world on the use of ICT to better the lives of its citizens in a research conducted by Arthur D. Little Institute and Ericsson.

Making Nigeria a digital economy has become the singsong of government since President Goodluck Jonathan won the presidential election in April 2011. Last week, the Minister of Communications, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, went a step further by coming out with a roadmap which if religiously followed, would the lead the country to the Promised Land.

Broadband for all

Broadband is really about getting fast internet all over Nigeria in both urban, semi urban and rural areas, according to Johnson. USA, Britain, Japan, Sweden, Norway and Singapore are digital economies courtesy of massive broadband investments. Johnson since assuming office has nudged the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to come up with broadband policy to take internet to all rural communities in the country.

According to her, government was “Working to enable fibre optic deployment, complemented by Microwave and Satellite to enable access to core underserved areas. NigComSat 1R that was launched in China is an important milestone and a key part of the resources that we will have and will compliment fibre optic and micro wave infrastructure that we have in the country particularly to get internet to underserved and semi urban and rural areas that we have in this country today.”

The priority according to her is to get fibre to Universities and Schools and ensure they are connected to high speed broadband. “We believe that if we can get fast broadband to every university in this country, we will have an explosion in terms of research that can be done and knowledge that can be captured and innovation and creativity that come with accessed resources”

Digital Creativity
Mr. Leo Stan Ekeh, chairman, Zinox Technologies Limited, said government needs to invest about N750 billion in the ICT broadband internet connectivity through terrestrial fibre optic infrastructure, ICT tools and training such as computers, tablets, internet facilities for primary and secondary schools in the country.

The investment should subsidise computers for students, workers and development of internet access through building of wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) and municipal internet coverage across major cities, schools and public institutions at very affordable rates for users. This way, the government will make ICT available, accessible and affordable to millions of Nigerians thereby raising the IT literacy level, equipping the youth and the unemployed with skills to be self sufficient and employers of labour themselves. “Government should create digital activity that would educate Nigerians through PC and Internet subsidies. We can wipe out poverty through software and hardware skills development, IT outsourcing and others,” said Ekeh.

Developing IT Parks
Already, the ministry is looking at harnessing software skills of young Nigerians through the development of IT parks in the country. “We will build IT parks, but for now in setting up IT parks, we are looking at places where there is already infrastructure and we see that in a number of places.”

Already, NITDA is set to sign an MoU with the Cross River State Government to leverage its Tinapa infrastructure to develop a knowledge city in Calabar, Cross River state. Nigeria can achieve greatness by replicating the success made in the telecom sector in other sectors of the economy.

Source:http://www.leadership.ng/nga/articles/11639/2011/12/27/digital_economy_why_fg_should_leverage_ict_sector.html

A major investment in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector has been secured by Jamaica, which will result in the employment of nearly 1,000 persons when fully operational in 2012.

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Dr Christopher Tufton, made the announcement at a press briefing at JAMPRO, New Kingston last week.

The multimillion-dollar investment will create the first Jamaican contact centre owned by Convergys Corporation, one of the largest agent-assisted customer service companies in the world. The centre will be located in Montego Bay, St James.

Tufton observed that the Government has identified the ICT sector and, in particular, business process outsourcing (BPO) as a strategic catalytic element in its development plan.

“The opportunities for job creation from this sector, as well as for the raising of the international profile of Jamaica, particularly within the context of the recovering global economy, are significant,” Tufton said.

He added that the Government intended to continue facilitating the growth of the nearly 30 players in the local BPO sector, which currently employs some 11,000 workers.

The minister praised JAMPRO for making the investment a reality, in partnership with a number of other agencies of the ministry, as well as the HEART Trust/NTA.

Convergys Corporation is based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It operates in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and now the Caribbean. Jamaica is Convergys’s first data contact centre in the Caribbean.

Convergys is a member of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 and Forbes’ Platinum 400, and is the acclaimed global leader in integrated billing, employee care and customer care services provided through outsourcing or licensing.

The company serves more than half the Fortune 50 global companies as clients, and handles billions of customer interactions per year, processing more than one trillion wireless transactions per year for top companies in telecommunications, Internet, cable and broadband services, technology and financial services.

quality investment

Convergys operates nearly 70 customer contact, service and data centres, with approximately 70,000 employees worldwide. Tufton described the deal as a “quality investment” for Jamaica.

“We are confident that it will offer Jamaicans new employment and career opportunities in an industry with a bright future in Jamaica,” he observed.

Convergys cited Jamaica as an ideal location for BPO providers supporting clients in the United States, Europe, and other neighbouring Caribbean countries because of the similar time zones. The time zone varies from zero to three hours for North America and from five to six hours for Europe.

“They also remarked about Montego Bay’s status as a top tourist destination, and the strong customer service orientation of the available talent in the Second City and western Jamaica,” the minister said.

In addition, Tufton said, Convergys has expressed confidence in Jamaica’s “large educated English-speaking workforce of high school and college graduates, cultural and physical proximity to the United States and Europe, and the Government’s commitment to ongoing investments in its educational, communications, transportation, and facilities infrastructure.”

Government policy provides for targeted incentives to support strategic development sectors, such as the ICT outsourcing industry. Tufton explained that “in addition, the Government offers first-rate investment facilitation services through JAMPRO, working with a number of agencies across Government to make the process of establishment and operations uncomplicated and convenient.”

He commended JAMPRO and the HEART Trust/NTA, who “in the specific case of this investment, collaborated to provide the necessary support to Convergys in order to secure the investment.”

Source:http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20111211/business/business32.html

A major investment in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector has been secured by Jamaica, which will result in the employment of nearly 1,000 persons when fully operational in 2012.

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Dr. Christopher Tufton, made the announcement at a press briefing at JAMPRO, New Kingston on Tuesday (December 7).

The multi-million dollar investment will create the first Jamaican Contact Center, owned by Convergys Corporation, one of the largest agent-assisted customer service companies in the world, which will be located in Montego Bay, St James.

Welcoming the investment, the Minister observed that the Government of Jamaica has identified the ICT sector and, in particular, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), as a strategic catalytic element in its development plan.

“The opportunities for job creation from this sector, as well as for the raising of the international profile of Jamaica, particularly within the context of the recovering global economy, are significant,” Dr. Tufton said.

He added that the Government intends to continue facilitating the growth of the nearly 30 players in the local BPO sector, which currently employs some 11,000 workers.

The Minister praised JAMPRO for making the investment a reality, in partnership with a number of other agencies of the Ministry, as well as the HEART Trust/NTA.

Convergys Corporation is based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It operates in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and now the Caribbean. Jamaica is Convergys’s first data contact centre in the Caribbean.

Convergys is a member of Standard and Poor’s (S&P) 500 and Forbes’ Platinum 400, and is the acclaimed global leader in integrated billing, employee care and customer care services provided through outsourcing or licensing. The Company serves more than half of the Fortune 50 global companies as clients, and handles billions of customer interactions per year, processing over one trillion wireless transactions per year for top companies in telecommunications, Internet, cable and broadband services, technology and financial services.

Convergys operates nearly 70 customer contact, service and data centres, with approximately 70,000 employees, worldwide. The Minister described the deal as a “quality investment” for Jamaica.

“We are confident that it will offer Jamaicans new employment and career opportunities in an industry with a bright future in Jamaica,” he observed.

Convergys cited Jamaica as an ideal location for BPO providers supporting clients in the United States, Europe, and other neighboring Caribbean countries, because of the similar time zones. The time zone varies from zero to three hours for North America and from five to six hours for Europe.

“They also remarked about Montego Bay’s status as a top tourist destination, and the strong customer service orientation of the available talent in the second city and western Jamaica,” he stated.

He said that in addition, Convergys has expressed confidence in Jamaica’s “large educated English-speaking workforce of high school and college graduates, cultural and physical proximity to the United States and Europe, and the Government’s commitment to ongoing investments in its educational, communications, transportation, and facilities infrastructure.”

Government policy provides for targeted incentives to support strategic development sectors, such as the ICT Outsourcing Industry. Minister Tufton explained that, “In addition, the Government offers first rate investment facilitation services, through JAMPRO working with a number of agencies across Government, to make the process of establishment and operations uncomplicated and convenient.”

He commended JAMPRO and the HEART Trust/NTA, who “in the specific case of this investment, collaborated to provide the necessary support to Convergys in order to secure the investment.”

Source:http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/leads-107/29425

ORE than 2,000 scholarship vouchers are being given away to young Dabawenyos after the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) granted a stimulus package to the Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO).

Of the P400 million allocated, P89 million is allotted for the countryside, with some P31 million of the budget going to Mindanao.

The package will be allocated through Tesda’s Industry-Based Training for Work Scholarship Program (I-TWSP) focusing on four career lines, namely contact/call center training, software development, animation and medical transcription.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Davao president Lizabel “Wit” Holganza launched the scholarship program during the regular Club 888 media forum at the Marco Polo Hotel Wednesday.

“We welcome the government’s initiative in pushing ICT Industry forward. This industry is volatile as we are competing with so many cities in the world and we appreciate this help,” lawyer Sam Matunog of the Davao Software Industry Inc. said.

He said training software developers is costly and with the I-TWSP, the government will be preserving the city’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) pool of talents.

“The I-TWSP is timely given to us and we are privilege to be given the voucher, though we are ranked number one in voice (interact with customers through voice) other countries are also keeping up, this will be an investment for the BPO industry to focus on training and development,” said Belinda Laya-Torres, president of JoBS Academy.

Scholarship vouchers for the IT-BPO Industry under the I-TWSP should have at least these minimum requirements for contact centers: proficient in English, computer literacy or are familiar with at least one or two software programs.

“Everyone is welcome to apply for the scholarship those who are high school graduates, college graduates, overseas Filipino workers who have decided to stay and work here as long as they have the skills and they have passed the minimum requirements can qualify,” Holganza said.

She added that Tesda regulation require that 70 percent of those to be trained must be hired.

ICT Davao have partnered with MTC Academy, a Tesda-accredited medical transcriptionist school with 180 openings for scholarship and Philippine College of Technology with 200 slots. The JoBS Academy will cater to the software developers of Davao.

“We will not be feeling the impact of these trainings now, but later in 2012 the biggest impact will be felt as we are investing in Knowledge Process Outsourcing,” Matunog said.

Source:http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/business/2011/12/07/ict-davao-launches-scholarship-program-194558

Luton Borough Council is to outsource its ICT services through a partnership agreement set up with the Luton Learning and Community Partnership (LLCP) through which, Civica, a market leader in specialist IT systems and business process services, will provide ongoing support to the Council. The 10-year agreement, worth more than £34 million to the company, is part of a broader programme to deliver cost savings in total of £12.6 million.

Effective from 14 November 2011 ‘Project Genesis’ will see LLCP, for which Civica is an IT partner, deliver all core ICT operations for the council in order to achieve savings and enhance services including ICT-based innovation to change access to and use of local services. The partners will also set up a new programme management office to support and focus Luton’s transformation initiatives in order to secure further savings.

Councillor Robin Harris, Deputy Leader Luton Borough Council, said, “This programme will enable us to improve front line services without additional cost. The transfer of Luton’s ICT service to the partnership provides a strong basis for creating IT-based savings and at the same time seeking improved service delivery to meet local residents’ current and future needs.

“We’re particularly excited that the partnership’s service centre model will concentrate work in the town to help support the local economy and jobs.”

Source:http://www.sourcingfocus.com/site/newsitem/4479/

Of the 3,008 job vacancies inside this freeport, jobs related to Information Communication Technology/Business Process Outsourcing (ICT/BPO) have been ranked number one among sectors needing to fill up vacancies during the last quarter of this year.

In a report sent by the Customer Services Department (CSD) to Clark Development Corporation (CDC) CEO-President Felipe Antonio B. Remollo, of the number of vacancies submitted to CSD, some 2,222 workers, or 75 percent of the total number of job vacancies, are needed by the ICT/BPO firms in Clark .

According to the report by CSD Manager Rodem Perez to Remollo, ICT/BPO related services include web designers and developers, programmers, technical support operators, Linux and Windows Systems administrators, English online teachers, and call center agents.

The CSD report said both Cyber City Teleservices, Inc. and Sutherland Global Services each has vacancies of 500, Nozomi Fortune Services has openings for 400 jobs while Ivonline Contents Center, Inc, is in need of 200 new workers. Others with significant job openings are Advanpoint (90), Clark On Line It Hub (50), Mepcon Phils., Inc (170), Services Resources, Inc (55), GFL System Clark Inc. (105), and Global Standard English Learning Center (75), among others.

Far second is the industrial (electronic) or the semiconductor sector which is in need of 340 workers, or 10.2 percent of the total job vacancies, to be filled up before the end of the year.

Among the firms needing to fill up vacancies is Texas Instruments Clark, which is in need of 300 personnel before end of the year. Nanox Phils., Inc., Phoenix Semiconductor Phils. Corporation, Poongsan Microtec Phils., Corporation, and SMK Electronics (Phils.) Corporation also have several openings for this year.

Moreover, there is a noticeable shift in locators’ preferences for applicants who have college credits at the very least. CSD’s latest report reflects a preference for college level applicants (53 percent or almost 1,600), and college graduates (20 percent or more than 600). In the previous months, job vacancies for high school graduates accounted for more than 50 percent of total workforce requirements for the Clark Freeport.

Perez explained that the shift in locators’ preferences can be attributed to CSD’s continuous advertisement of job vacancies, and broadcast media such as the “Jobs Fair on the Air” at GVFM 99.1, and the twice-annual Jobs Fair that his department coordinates with all stakeholders.

These efforts have allowed labor-intensive sectors to almost fill up their vacancies and they are now in the process of filling up positions for supervisory and managerial positions, the report said.

Source:http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/339840/ictbpo-sector-needs-more-workers

The Minister of National Planning Commission, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, has stated Federal Government willingness to partner with Information and Communication Technology, ICT, developers in the attainment of the nation’s economic development agenda, vision 20:2020.

Dr. Usman, who made this during a State Banquet hosted by the Cross River State Government in honour of delegates to the annual Conference of Institute of Software Practitioners of Nigeria, (ISPON) in Calabar, maintained that the fabric of the nation’s economic growth is largely deposited among software developers, adding that the earlier the people recognize and key into the generational shift from oil to knowledge based economy, the better the chance of realizing the economic transformation initiative of the country.

While acknowledging the critical role of software development in employment generation the world over, the Minister pointed out that ICT experts in Nigeria are very talented and can turn around the economic fortune of the country if provided an opportunity to fully harness their potentials. He stressed the need for stronger Synergy between the Institute of Software practitioners of Nigeria and his office and averred that ICT has a pride of place in the transformation agenda that is currently driven by President Goodluck Jonathan.

He said that it was in realization of the critical role of ICT in the nation building that the present administration created a dedicated ministry of Communication Technology so as to enable it tap the enormous ICT potentials that abound in the country for the overall benefit of the people and the nation at large, adding that with the collaboration of the relevant stakeholders, they will actualize the administration’s dream for economic emancipation.
He lauded the State Government for its capacity to host serve and hospitable nature of the state that has made it a destination of pride and urged them to sustain the tempo.

Cross River State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke opined that software is a key component in the development of the nation, adding that he was particularly delighted to see young men and women’s participating in the software development competition which he noted is capable transforming their lives for better.
He called for closer collaboration between the software developers and the nation’s planners, adding that one is dependent of the other for economic growth as software and economic development goes hand in hand in any developing society.

In his earlier in his remarks, Governor Liyel Imoke said that as the state strives to actualize its vision of becoming a service oriented state, it was imperative to embrace the development of software that will make service delivery more effective and efficient, adding that only knowledge based economy will bring about the desire development the nation needs.

Source:http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/news/businessnews/2011/oct/31/bussines-31-10-2011-003.html

Information and Communication Technology – Indian businessmen and women have been asked to seize the abundant opportunities in Tanzania by investing in key areas such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development. The challenge was thrown here by the Minister for Communications, Science and Technology, Prof Makame Mbarawa, during the plenary session of the India-Africa Business Partnership summit which opened here on Thursday.

He said the government wants investors particularly in developing local multi-media content software that would address issues that are relevant to the national development.

“Instead of relying on software that has been designed for the entire world, we need investors who would develop a customized IT content for our country,” he said.

He told the two-day forum that has brought together ministers from different African countries, businessmen and women, diplomats and representatives from multinational companies mainly based in India that Tanzania’s fiscal and political stability offer a credible offer for investments.

“With its strategic geographical position, Tanzania places itself as the most ideal place in the entire East and Central African region where investors not only from India but world over could come and explore various untapped business opportunities,” he said.

He mentioned other areas which are yet to be tapped fully as IT parks and small ICT villages where the youth could assemble and design software that is ideal for the local markets.

He gave an example of business processing outsourcing (BPO) system which could create more jobs for Tanzanians by creating calling centres in the country.

The minister said Indian investors should also capitalize on the fast growing East African Community (EAC) market, covering over 140 million people.

He said that with the improved communication and infrastructure such as road and railway network, the EAC market offers a quick return on investment (ROI).

“The fibre optic project has made communication easier for Tanzania and the landlocked countries such as Zambia, Malawi, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Rwanda,” he said.

The first phase of Tanzania’s 10,674-kilometre national fibre-optic backbone was completed in May last year, connecting to the SEACOM, and EASSy submarine cables.

It runs from Mombasa (Kenya) through Nairobi (Kenya), Kampala (Uganda), Kigali (Rwanda), and Bujumbura (Burundi) to Dar es Salaam.

The minister also called for investments in mining, agro-based industry, energy, manufacturing, health and education.

Deputy Minister in the Zanzibar Ministry of Trade, Industry and Marketing, Ms Thuwayba Kisasi who is also attending the summit also called on for investments in tourism, value adding on agro-products and deep sea fishing.

Source:http://www.afriquejet.com/technology-2011101425055.html

The Nigerian Information Communications Technology, ICT sector is set to aid the Federal Government’s goal of increasing the nation’s nominal Gross Domestic Product, GDP from US$215 billion to US$900 billion by 2020 through investments and open approach collaboration with ICT companies globally.

Dr. Jimson Olufuye, President, Information Technology Association of Nigeria, ITAN, disclosed this at the Nigeria-India IT CEO High Level Business forum with the theme “Enriching Global IT Partnership” held in Lagos on September 19, 2011. The delegation of National Software and Services Companies of India, NASSCON were on a working visit to Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana to boost trade relationship in the ICT sector.

Giving an update on the industry performance, Olufuye said the total estimate of ICT spending on hardware and services in Nigeria in 2010 stood at US$12 billion in an industry projected to be worth US$160 billion. While in same year, according to the industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, the telecommunications sector single-handedly contributed about 3.5 percent to the nation’s economy, a figure expected to exceed seven percent in the nearest future.
He lauded the government’s determination to chart a proper policy focus for the ICT industry and the recent creation of the Ministry of Communication Technology, headed by a private sector guru on ICT, Mrs. Omobola Johnson, who he said will ensure that Nigeria attracts more foreign direct investment in the sector, which will in turn provide employment for its teeming youths.

Olufuye said the Nigerian ICT practitioners are ready to partner and learn from the Indian experience. “Indians have gone through the process of fine-tuning its ICT policy; there is no need to re-invent the will. There is need for us to tap into their know-how and we have been assured of their support under the auspices of World Information Technology and Services Alliance, WITSA of which we are both members,” he said.

The ITAN president therefore stressed that “our expectation is that such partnership in the area of Information Technology Enabled Services, ITES will position Nigeria as the foremost Outsourcing destination in Africa in the more than US$600 billion market of which only about 25 per cent have been served.”

In addition, he pointed out that Nigeria is a huge market for potential investors and will welcome those with best practices which the country can tap into and adapt for its own system. “The whole ecosystem is a living organism, our relationship is a living organism, we will continue to evolve, continue to fine-tune and definitely we will get there in terms of trade and investment. There are a lot of local franchises and local people involved, and competition drives down prices. Imagine 36 states, lots of towns and villages that require these services, the market are wide open but we need to partner and learn from each other.”

Therefore, to maximize the opportunities at hand, he urged the minister to pursue her avowed mandates to “engender affordable broadband infrastructure access, promote local content development, develop the ICT industry and deploy ICT for transparent and cost effective public service delivery.”

His advice, “Open up the market and encourage the local players to play active role and with the proper empowerment and enabling ICT laws”, the country will maximize its trade potentials.

In her remarks, the CT minister expressed her displeasure over the dearth of ICT knowledge in the country particularly in the area of software skills. She promised to use her position as the minister to promote the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment, FDI’s into the country’s ICT industry while rekindling local demand and promoting favorable competition among the local and foreign companies operating in Nigeria.

According to Johnson, “Nigeria will not stop foreign companies from coming to invest in our ICT industry but what we would do is to ensure that the activities of those foreign companies are aligned with our ICT industry policy while promoting local competition.”

Already as fallout of the meeting, she said Nigeria will raise an industry regulation panel that will go to India to consummate the partnership between both countries.
Lending his voice to making Nigeria the next outsourcing hub in Africa, the Senior Special Adviser to Nigerian Vice President, Dr. Adamu Baba, explained that the world have demonstrated by action that Africa is the last frontier and “truly when you talk about Africa, you cannot forget Nigeria. With over 150 million people, we have huge internal market, comparative advantage in the areas of Business Process Outsourcing, BPO, we speak good English and the internal market can generate business and jobs for the youths.”

On his part, Mr.Mahesh Sachdev, Indian High Commissioner to Nigeria said as the leading IT outsourcing nation in the world, “Indian partnership with Nigeria will go down the annals of history as a change agent to leapfrog Nigeria’s ICT industry.”

The leader of the NASSCON delegation to Nigeria, Mr. Anil Bakht and CEO Eastern Software in his speech also signified his members’ willingness to partner with their Nigerian counterparts in mutual benefits to both countries.

Bakht said, “India is coming to invest on a long term and not just to take because of the large market. Those days are gone and the new ways are by partnerships.
“Nigerian market can only be developed by Nigerians. We are only bringing options and partnership opportunities. We are bringing solutions but we are not the ones to implement it.”

The journey towards building Africa’s outsourcing hub has started and with the enabling laws and level playing field, Nigeria is on the brink of making history on the continent.

Source:http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/10460709-ict-to-boost-nigerias-gdp-as-country-plans-outsourcing-hub-for-africa

Frost & Sullivan is a global growth consulting company that partners with clients to support the development of innovative growth strategies. For more than 40 years, the company has leveraged its comprehensive market expertise to offer industry research and market strategies. The 120-page report also reveals that setting up a business in Mauritius is a relatively straightforward process, taking less than two working weeks for the appropriate approvals. It further adds that Mauritius having a history of successful financial services businesses, it was a natural progression for the country to enter the BPO market. The government is encouraging foreign direct investment in Mauritius by ensuring that potential investors are given support and advice to ease the process of setting up a business in the region, and offering taxation incentives if they do.

Investment in ICT and related infrastructure have allowed Mauritius the opportunity to market itself as a provider of advanced BPO services, such as knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) – the market segment likely to experience strongest growth in the near future. The following Mauritian BPO market segments are discussed at length within the report: contact centre or customer relationship management (CRM) outsourcing; financial and accounting outsourcing; information technology outsourcing; human resources outsourcing (HRO) and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO).

However, the report warns that a key factor which could hinder the Mauritian BPO market is the potential skills shortage, resulting from a small population with a limited number of school and university leavers. This restricts potential new entrants to the market, as there is already intense competition to recruit staff. Focused BPO study and training programmes presented within academic institutions should increase availability of staff. The study also provides a detailed analysis of the sector, including historic and forecast data for the period 2007-2017, and strategic recommendations for consideration. Readers will recall that the ICT/BPO sector is poised to become the third largest contributor to GDP.

Source:http://www.defimedia.info/articles/10134/1/Financial-news–Extensive-growth-in-BPO-sector/Page1.html

Stakeholders in the information and communications technology (ICT) are eyeing Clark to be the country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) hub.

Engineer George D. Sorio, Metro Clark Information and Communications Technology Council (MCICTC) chairman, said the Freeport has an airport and other facilities that will support the operation of BPO firms.

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Some BPO firms in Metro Manila are transferring to other places including Clark, according to Sorio.

Dr. Frank Villanueva, MCICTC president, shared similar views regarding the Freeport’s potential in accommodating ICT firms.

Villanueva said the council aims to raise the global competitiveness of the local ICT industry.

Metro Clark is at par with Metro Manila and Metro Cebu as a premier global investment haven for IT and IT-enabled industries, the MCICTC officials said.

In line with this, the council has organized the First International ICT Conference and Exposition (Clark ConEx 2011) at the Fontana Leisure Parks on October 13 to 15.

In 2009, Metro Clark successfully hosted the Second National ICT Summit. The following year, Metro Clark was recognized as Philippine Center of Excellence in ICT, while Clark Freeport was awarded as Top Economic Zone for Cost Competitiveness, Top 7 for Economic Potential and ranked 19 among 200 zones worldwide by a prestigious UK-based financial publication.

MCICTC is a founding member of the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines. It was established in 2008 when some 40 stakeholders convened to determine the readiness of the Metro Clark area to host emerging markets in the global IT outsourcing industry.

Source:http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/local-news/2011/09/01/clark-eyed-ict-hub-176734

Three years ago, the Satyam Scandal broke over corporate India when Ramalinga Raju, the Chairman of Satyam Computer Services Limited (later known as Mahindra Satyam) (SAYCY.PK), confessed that the company’s accounts had been falsified. These types of accounting scandals were something that the investing public had come to expect as a risk associated with owning Chinese stocks – not owning the stocks of major corporate Indian players like Satyam. Almost immediately, Satyam shares sank and within months a 46% stake in the company was purchased by Tech Mahindra, part of the Mahindra & Mahindra group, who attempted to rebrand and rebuild the ICT and outsourcing company’s battered image.

Naturally, the Satyam scandal cast a pale over other major Indian ICT and outsourcing players like WNS (Holdings) Ltd. (NYSE: WNS), Infosys Technologies Limited (Nasdaq: INFY), Wipro Ltd. (NYSE: WIT) and Tata Consultancy Services (532540 or TCS.BO or TCS.NS). However, that pale is probably long gone by now but the Indian ICT and outsourcing industry continues to face staffing problems in India (resulting in the expansion of their footprints abroad), cost issues (as the dollar falls in value against most currencies), anti-outsourcing sentiments in the USA and expanding into new markets (e.g. small and medium sized businesses) or industries (e.g. health care outsourcing).

Hence, a quick look at the recent stock prices of major Indian ICT or outsourcing stocks reveal a mixed picture:

WNS (Holdings) recently closed at $9.61 and has a 52 week trading range of $8.46 to $13.35 a share.
Infosys Technologies recently closed at $64.42 and has a 52 week trading range of $53.28 to $77.92 a share.
Wipro recently closed at $14.03 and has a 52 week trading range of $11.30 to $16.81 a share.
One smaller Indian ICT and outsourcing player worth taking a closer look at would be Patni Computer Systems (NYSE: PTI). In January, California-based iGATE Corporation (NASDAQ: IGTE) acquired a majority stake in Patni Computer Systems for $1.2 billion in what is being considered as one of the largest acquisition deals in India’s ICT sector. Whether it’s a good deal remains to be seen as for the first quarter, Patni Computer Systems had revenues grow 4% from $183 million to $190.3 million quarter-on-quarter but net income was down 32.8% quarter-on-quarter from US$39.4 million. Patni Computer Systems also noted that revenue concentration from their Top 10 Customers was reduced from 48.8% to 45.7% during the quarter. Patni Computer Systems recently closed at $16.67 – near its 52 week low of $16.57 (PTI’s 52 week trading high was $28.33).

The bottom line: Another Satyam scandal would probably be the least of the worries associated with owning major Indian ICT and outsourcing players like WNS Holdings, Infosys Technologies, Wipro and Patni Computer Systems.

Source:http://www.smallcapnetwork.com/Indian-ICT-Outsourcings-Stocks-3-Years-After-the-Satyam-Scandal-SAYCY-PTI-WNS-INFY-WIT/s/article/view/p/mid/3/id/1017/

01 Synergy is pleased to announce that we will be providing Free IT Consultation Service at the “SME IT Clinic”in conjunction with HKTDC. The IT Clinic will be located at Hall 3F-G (opposite to booth no. 3F-F39), Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Should you want to make an appointment, please contact Mr. Jake Lee at (852) 2240-4585 or via email: jake.kw.lee@hktdc.org.

We at 01 Synergy are looking forward to welcoming you at International ICT Expo 2011!

During 13-16 April 2011, 01 Synergy will be exhibiting at the “HKTDC International ICT Expo 2011″. We treasure every opportunity to meet with you, our valued customer. We cordially invite you to visit us.

Our booth number is 3G-E28 in Hall 3.

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The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Association continued to promote Dumaguete City as the prime outsourcing destinations in the country.

ICT Council Secretary Danah Fortunato cited Dumaguete City as one of the country’s top ten outsourcing locations in 2010 with the overall score of 74 percent on the next wave cities scorecard.

In a meeting with local stakeholders, the ICT official said the business process outsourcing (BPO) companies here hit the 6,000 mark of the workforce last year enough to sustain the local economy and social development in the city.

While the ICT stakeholders pushing for Dumaguete as IT-BPO destination of choice in the country due to its reputation as university town, Fortunato doubted the reliability of power supply.

She said her group has planned to discuss with Noreco officials to address power shortage or reduce brown outs so not to interrupt ICT operations in the city.
However, Provincial Governor Roel Degamo said the problem is not with Noreco alone but to include Energy Development Corporation (EDC) and National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) as he cited in particular the dismantling of aging plants.

As an engineer by profession, Governor Degamo stated that old cable plants operating more than 30 years would worsen power supply deficit.

Degamo hopes power sectors would respond the immediate need for an excellent power supply to achieve ICT’s goal.

Meantime, Fortunato said the productivity enhancement and capacity building for the local electronics sector, particularly the small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs), be given priority as leading local economic drivers.

Source:http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=1&t=1&id=23901