The liberating and game-changing effects of cloud computing on today’s IT shops cannot be overstated: On the fly, it seems, CIOs and their staffs are reprioritizing application-portfolio strategies, rearchitecting systems roadmaps, rethinking vendor contracts and much more. Prices may have dropped, but strategic IT planning is still as relevant as ever.

CIOs are trying to keep up with the flurry of cloud options now offered to them. (Whether some of those are total bunk or not, is a CIO’s job to determine.)

That “everything going to the cloud” mantra is also going to have a significant effect on traditional IT service providers, long accustomed to lucrative on-premise consulting and systems integration work as well as multi-year outsourcing contracts.

That’s the crux of a new report from Forrester Research, The Coming Upheaval in Tech Services, by analysts John McCarthy and Pascal Matzke. The report is a tour de force examination of the IT services industry and the tectonic changes ready to erupt.

[ For more on Cloud Computing's alphabet soup, see Cloud Computing's World of Acronyms: Enter at Your Own Risk ]

Those IT services deals have enriched many consultancies and systems integrators over the years; the market exceeded $450 billion in 2010, according to Forrester. The companies in play range from the big boys, such as IBM, Accenture, HP and CSC, to smaller, regional players that provide the needed tech expertise to SMB IT shops.

Yet even with their accumulated know-how, deep pockets and brand prestige, these providers are going to endure a seismic shift, courtesy of the cloud and the fleet of -aaS acronyms infiltrating CIOs’ strategic plans.

“The worst economic downturn in 70 years coupled with the technology change of cloud computing and software-as-a-service (SaaS) undermines the future validity of traditional IT services business models,” write McCarthy and Matzke. “While many service provider strategists recognize that some form of change is coming, it’s unclear how the disruption will play out or what the scale of the impact will be.”

Below is a graphic, from the report, that shows the traditional services offered today versus the emerging ones that CIOs and their companies will be seeking during the next several years.

IT service providers will also take a hit in their wallets. “The tough macroeconomic environment coupled with changes in pricing and delivery models will affect what we think of today as the IT services of consulting, systems integration and outsourcing,” the Forrester analysts write. “Price erosion and pressure on margins won’t end after users renegotiate rates.”

For budget-conscious CIOs, the overall message of the report is that there will be a sort of commoditization of those IT service-provider portfolios, which will result in lower IT costs on “as-a-service solutions for infrastructure and software,” note McCarthy and Matzke. Margins for those providers will be pinched-in the short-term.

Long term, however, the analysts predict that those margins will return-at an even high percentage, as CIOs come to rely more on the vendors for higher-value cloud services and support.

Source:-http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9180105/Cloud_Computing_Is_No_Y2K_Bonanza_for_IT_Consulting_Industry

PPD, Inc. (Nasdaq: PPDI) today announced it has been named Best Contract Research Organization (CRO) in Asia at the World Vaccine Congress’ inaugural 2010 Vaccine Industry Excellence (ViE) Asia Awards held in Singapore on June 9. The award recognizes PPD’s quality of services provided in Asia and its long-standing client partnerships in the vaccine industry.

Our large presence in China and strong expertise in vaccine clinical research well position us to advance our clients’ vaccine research and development programs and address unique requirements for managing vaccine studies in Asia,” said Simon Britton, PPD’s vice president of clinical development for Asia Pacific. “We are pleased the World Vaccine Congress has recognized our client relationships and investments in the growing vaccine industry.”

PPD has delivered full-service, global vaccine development services to biopharmaceutical companies and government and nongovernment organizations for more than 20 years. In April, the company opened a vaccine clinical research center at the Taizhou China Medical City in Taizhou, China, further strengthening its clinical research and development services in one of the country’s major regions for conducting vaccine studies. Through the center, PPD provides clinical monitoring services to companies seeking to develop vaccines in China.

PPD also launched its Vaccines & Biologics Center of Excellence earlier this year, which is a first-in-kind comprehensive network of integrated, world-class laboratory services focused on vaccine and biologic drug development. The center advances PPD’s position as the industry leader in providing testing services for vaccines and other biologics with state-of-the-art facilities, processes and instrumentation to help clients realize the highest scientific standards and cost efficiencies for their programs.

PPD is a leading global contract research organization, celebrating 25 years of providing drug discovery, development and lifecycle management services. Our clients and partners include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government organizations. With offices in 41 countries and more than 10,500 professionals worldwide, PPD applies innovative technologies, therapeutic expertise and a commitment to quality to help clients and partners accelerate the delivery of safe and effective therapeutics and maximize the returns on their R&D investments. For more information, visit www.ppdi.com.

Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations and assumptions contained in this news release, including expectations and assumptions about PPD’s selection as best contract research organization in Asia, are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Although PPD attempts to be accurate in making these forward-looking statements, it is possible that future circumstances might differ from the assumptions on which such statements are based. In addition, other important factors which could cause results to differ materially include the following: success in sales growth.

competition in the outsourcing industry; rapid technological advances that make our services less competitive; loss of large contracts; increased cancellation rates; economic conditions and outsourcing trends in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government industry segments; dependence on collaborative relationships; the ability to attract and retain key personnel; risks associated with acquisitions and investments, such as impairments; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in the SEC filings for PPD, copies of which are available free of charge upon request from the PPD investor relations department.

Source:-http://www.bradenton.com/2010/06/16/2367713/ppd-named-best-contract-research.html

New TPI Momentum research finds activity slowing in industries that have historically outsourced heavily while adoption growing in other verticals
HOUSTON, June 10 /PRNewswire/ — TPI, the largest sourcing data and advisory firm in the world and a unit of Information Services Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: III), a leader in the information-based services industry, today announced the release of the TPI Momentum 2010 Market Trends & Insights Vertical Industries Report, a comprehensive look at outsourcing activity in 27 major sectors of the economy that shows the factors driving new outsourcing adoption, client decision-making, and spending levels vary dramatically by market segment.

Cost-cutting imperatives brought on by weak economic conditions are affecting outsourcing activity in all verticals, including several that traditionally have outsourced only sparingly. Meanwhile, outsourcing spending is falling in some of the largest verticals, including Diversified Financials, Consumer Durables and Banking.

“There are clearly new industry, regulatory, political and technological drivers that are impacting outsourcing activity,” said TPI Momentum Chief Research Officer Paul Reynolds. “This report highlights the specific, topical factors that impact outsourcing spending levels and decision-making within each of these verticals.”

The report, which combines proprietary market data on outsourcing activity within the Forbes® Global 2000 (G2000) largest public companies with commentary from TPI’s expert advisors, is designed to help service providers and market watchers identify the latest critical market trends and opportunities.

With more than 260 pages and more than 1,500 charts and graphs, it features a global market overview plus individual chapters on 27 vertical industries. It shows not only total spending by G2000 companies within each industry, but also documents the specific services being outsourced and identifies which service providers are winning the contracts. TPI advisors share their recent experiences from real-world sourcing engagements to provide insight into the specific factors that are influencing decision-making in each industry. “Most service providers go to market by vertical, and our research was designed with this in mind,” Reynolds said.

TPI has identified common influences that span markets, such as cost-cutting initiatives, government involvement, technology and increasing demand from emerging markets. The specific outsourcing opportunity within each industry is shaped by penetration rates, historical spending levels, current catalysts and other conditions.

TPI found significant year-over-year changes in the market opportunities for two-thirds of the 27 industries studied. Some industries that were previously weak for hunting new prospects are now much more promising, while in other industries service providers would be better served by trying to expand relationships with current clients.

Source:-http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/study-shows-industry-outsourcing-adoption-patterns-changing-96068084.html

India’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is forecast to increase its revenue this fiscal year by 15 percent to 16 percent, officials of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) said on Wednesday.Revenue increased by 6 percent in the last fiscal year ended March 31, 2010, despite the recession, according to Nasscom.But there are still serious challenges ahead for the Indian BPO industry, including the crisis in the Euro zone in Europe, said Vikram Talwar, chairman of Nasscom’s BPO forum, in his speech at a Nasscom conference in Bangalore.

As business picks up, there is also concern that hiring and retaining top quality staff may be a problem for the BPO industry which includes Indian outsourcers as well as wholly owned subsidiaries of global services companies, and companies, including banks, that run their back offices from India.Before the recession, competition for staff had led to a wage spiral.By March this year, staff attrition was already 8 percent to 10 percent higher than a year earlier, said Som Mittal , president of Nasscom. Wages could rise by 10 percent to 20 percent by next year, Nasscom said.

There is also concern among Indian outsourcers about increased protectionism in the U.S., a key market.U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer, a Democrat from New York, announced earlier this month that he was introducing a bill that would help stem the flow of American jobs being outsourced abroad by imposing a per-call excise tax on companies that transfer domestic customer service calls to foreign call centers. Schumer’s legislation also requires that companies that transfer calls to foreign call centers disclose to the caller that their call is being transferred to a particular country.

Calls transferred to India from the U.S. constitute a very small proportion of the business of Indian BPO companies, and the bill if passed will have no impact on Indian BPO companies, Talwar said.While there is understandably concern in the U.S. about saving jobs, protectionist measures can at best be short term in effect, Mittal said.

India’s BPO industry currently employs 1 million staff, while also providing indirect employment to 3.5 million people. The country’s BPO revenues have however been growing faster than employment, as companies have focused on more sophisticated services.

As demand for BPO services is booming, including from the domestic market, there is also greater interest in setting up service delivery centers in rural areas, Mittal said. The model, which has been tried so far mainly by NGOs, is now attracting outsourcers as well. About 60 percent of BPO employees in the cities currently come from small towns and villages, according to Nasscom.

Source:-http://www.businessweek.com/idg/2010-06-09/india-s-bpo-industry-growing-by-over-15-percent.html

This year’s college graduates appear to have more option for employment, with a wide array of new job options in the market, among them in the field of information and communications technology (ICT) and in the back-office services such as business process outsourcing (BPO).

The government has transformed the Philippines into a “global powerhouse” in the BPO industry. The administration highlighted their major accomplishments in both human and physical infrastructure for the ICT-BPO sector during President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s recent Cyber Corridor Super-Region Tour.

If the trend continues, the Philippines is well on its way to becoming No. 1 in the ICT-BPO industry, considering the telecommunications and digital infrastructure that have already been put in place and the English proficiency and technical skills of young Filipinos.

The BPO sector, which was a fledgling industry in 2001 employing a mere 2,000 workers, has become a “sunshine industry” generating half a million jobs and US$7.3 billion in revenues in 2009, which is about five percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Part of the success of the BPO industry in the Philippines can be attributed to the government mandate given to concerned government agencies to ensure the competitiveness of the ICT-BPO sector.

Among these agencies is the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) that works closely with the Business Process Association of the Philippines, the Medical Transcription Industry Association of the Philippines, the Animation Council of the Philippines, and the Philippine Software Industry Association, in the formulation of training standards and in designing appropriate training programs. Last year, these training programs produced 25,846 graduates, 93 percent of whom are now call center agents.

A sustained supply of quality trained workers, the continued effort to enhance the English language proficiency of the Filipino workforce, and government policies that continue to attract investments by leading companies worldwide guarantee the sustained growth and success of the ICT-BPO industry. And this will help resolve structural unemployment by equipping even the out-of-school youth and the underemployed with the knowledge and skills required to fit existing job vacancies.

Source:http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/260266/business-process-outsourcing-sector-a-sunshine-industry

While there’s a lot of puff coming from several providers, expectations are not being met when it comes to the actual achievement of innovation within many Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) engagements. Consequently, this improves the options for the first-time BPO buyer to select a provider that can demonstrate a proven track record of innovation, but what about the second-time buyer, firmly-rooted in BPO purgatory?

Our brand new survey* of 588 shared services and outsourcing executives, studying the current achievements of innovation within BPO, serves up a major does of realism to the global sourcing industry: buyers want it, but they are not working effectively with their providers to achieve it. And many buyers and providers are pointing the finger at each other. So why should we care?

Innovation is becoming a critical component when it comes to BPO

In the past, many buyers shied away from innovation because they were so laser-focused on achieving operational stability within their BPO environment. Many claimed that they would have to sacrifice meeting service levels if they tried to tinker with their processes to find new ways of achieving better outcomes. However, when we look at how those buyers with significant influence over BPO decisions are viewing innovation today, the importance being placed on innovation is distinct:

Close to half of enteprises’ operational leadership today now view the achievement of innovation as a critical component of their BPO strategy. With most providers operating within a similar price-band today, this is clearly becoming the major differentiator for the first-time BPO buyer, as we first discussed in our “New Normal in Outsourcing Delivery” study, ealier this year.

First time BPO buyers can select proven innovators, but the second-time buyers have a challenge on their hands to escape BPO purgatory

As the following data illustrates, both buyers and service providers of BPO services are equally disappointed with each others’ provision of resources and technology to meet their expectations of achieving innovation. Considering 38% of enterprise customers view innovation in BPO as critically important to their operational leadership, with a further 50% viewing it as quite important, this is becoming a major concern for the future of BPO services:

While the present disappoints, hope for future innovation is abundant

While buyers are clearly not seeing a lot of business value beyond operational delivery today, they see abundant potential for innovation in both generic processes and industry-specific domains. Major findings, which will be featured in a forthcoming HfS Research report, include the following dynamics:

More innovation has currently been achieved across industry-specific, analytics, supply chain and general accounting processes. Customer care, recruitment, payroll and management reporting are noticeably failing to meet customer expectations.
The potential to achieve innovation across many core business processes is huge. This was notably cited in industry-specific process and analytics areas, in addition to some maturing BPO domains, namely procure-to-pay, and payroll and recruitment.
Major impediments to buyers achieving innovation included unempowered governance teams, and ineffective change management and communications.
The Bottom-line: escape-plans from BPO purgatory are bring hatched, but the hard work starts now

All-in-all, an increasing majority of buyers are aware they can achieve innovation, and know the potential is there to do exactly that. Moreover, most realize the blame doesn’t always sit with their service provider – it rests with both parties to work together to a well-crafted plan that introduces innovative goals and milestones over time, that do not derail from meeting service levels that actually matter. This involves developing more partnership-oriented relationships with their service providers, increased IT-enablement of business processes, and developing gain-sharing metrics based on business outcomes.

Stay tuned for Part II, which will take a look at the specific processes where innovation is currently being achieved, and – perhaps more importantly – where their is real innovation potential in the future…

* The survey, entitled “Are you Achieving Innovation in BPO”, was conducted in May 2010 by HfS Research, in conjunction with the Shared Services and Outsourcing Network’s (SSON) network of senior finance and operations executives. It received 588 participants that encompassed senior decision-makers within buy-side enterprises, BPO service provider executives and outsourcing advisors.

For the purposes of the study, “Innovation in BPO” was defined as “the customer going beyond transactional / operational work to achieve new productivity gains and /or new revenue streams by implementing new practices through unique, creative methods.”

Source:http://www.horsesforsources.com/innovation-purgatory1-051710

The IT industry has been left with an uncertain future after the General Election resulted in Britain’s first hung parliament in decades.

Conservative leader David Cameron insists Gordon Brown’s Labour party has “lost its mandate to govern”, but without a clear Tory majority, efforts to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats continue.
Any coalition government, or a minority administration, could add not just to uncertainty affecting the country generally, but the IT industry in particular.

In the run up to the election all the parties insisted on major cuts in public sector spending with IT-driven efficiencies being counted on to protect service levels. Some existing projects are also likely to be axed — including the expensive and controversial ID card scheme. Shares in outsourcing companies have fallen heavilly since the result was declared.
The Conservatives used the election to reiterate existing plans — to freeze major new IT spending, and to make changes in government procurement by opening the market to smaller suppliers.

The Liberal Democrats called for improved government IT procurement, and encouraged greater use of cloud computing and open-source software.

Labour, which could yet lead an administration, made a particular focus of what it calls Digital Britain, pledging to support the IT industry including startup companies.

This year’s Budget promised some support for new workers, as Alistair Darling, the chancellor, announced funding for 20,000 higher education training places in science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects, and more support for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The rollout of high-speed broadband across the country is also being touted by Labour as a way to boost industry.

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have insisted they would create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the green technology industry. The Conservatives, conversely, have made fewer specific announcements on the environment and related jobs.

In recent months, IT workers across the UK on public and private sector contracts have protested at difficult conditions, pay freezes and the limiting of their retirement benefits. A number of workers have even gone on high profile strikes, with HP and Fujitsu seeing major industrial action on key contracts.

All three of the large parties recognised the changing online habits of voters, some buying Google keywords to gain traction on the web. And after it emerged that the Conservatives had reportedly been sponsoring thousands of Google AdWords for more than three years, Labour’s former deputy leader John Prescott appeared on Twitter calling for Labour activists to click on the Conservative Party’s Google ads in an attempt to rack up costs for the Tories.

But Labour and the Conservatives faced controversy last month as they swept the new Digital Economy Bill into law, meaning users face being cut off if they access pirated material. While the Bill met support from creative industries and copyright holders, vocal opponents — including broadband firm Talk Talk and the Open Rights Group — said it limited free speech and imposed heavy burdens on internet service providers.

There has been much talk about how the ever-growing public sector deficit will be tackled — resulting in pledges to cut huge costs from government IT. Labour has insisted it will cut £3.2 billion (US$4.7 billion) from IT spending by 2012, as part of a £15 billion operational efficiency review.

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Socitm, the industry body for local government IT managers, lambasted Labour’s IT strategy, accusing the government of focusing on cutting costs instead of improving services.

Conversely, the Tories say Labour’s planned cuts are not ambitious enough. They brought in former Labour efficiency adviser Sir Peter Gershon, who calculated that a further £12 billion could be cut, including £4 billion from public sector IT and £3 billion from contract renegotiation.

The Conservatives also say they would cap projects at £100 million. But no definition has been given so far on how having smaller IT projects would deliver definitive improvements.
The government’s often-chequered procurement of IT has become a clear political issue. With the £12.7 billion NHS National Programme for IT hitting major contractual problems in recent weeks, the government is scrambling to find a solution. Health minister Mike O’Brien has lavished praise on the scheme, but the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have taken a different stance, saying centralised patient records needed to be scrapped.

Other IT-focused projects have also been met with political controversy. Last year the government backtracked on the £5 billion ID cards scheme, saying the cards will no longer be compulsory, but it pressed ahead with a biometric passport database that will store the same data. The Tories and Lib Dems have both vowed to entirely scrap even voluntary ID cards.

There is also the issue of offshoring public sector technology work. A number of projects have been sent abroad in recent months, including a £600 million pensions processing deal with Tata Consultancy Services in India. The company already runs the new child support and maintenance scheme systems.

Tory advisers have suggested the party outsource back office functions if it wins the election — according to public sector website Kable — and some of this could go offshore. Such moves remain controversial.

Any party to win the election would likely focus on the use of shared services to cut costs. But successful examples remain scarce, so far, and the move has been described as a “massive” culture change.

Whichever party wins, after some early announcements it is likely to take some time before concrete changes are made. And, of course, whether all the pledges are met is another question.

Source:http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/051010-hung-parliament-leaves-it-industry.html?page=1

Driven by positive growth rates in outsourcing services, infrastructure services and mobile data services, Germany’s information and communications technology (ICT) industry is on track to grow in 2010. ICT in Germany is an important catalyst for innovation, creating unique market opportunities for cutting-edge companies. Germany Trade & Invest will have representatives at this year’s Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, California, from May 3 – 6 to share information on business opportunities in Germany’s ICT industry.

Germany’s ICT market is the largest in Europe and ranked fourth in the world behind the U.S., China and Japan. With a market volume of almost EUR 130 billion in 2009, the ICT industry is expected to record a positive growth rate in 2010. In the IT market, outsourcing services posted the strongest growth rates in a challenging year, coming in at approximately five percent. In the telecommunications market, infrastructure and mobile data services led the way with growth rates of six and eight percent respectively. The market for online advertising in Germany also had a record year in 2009. This growth segment posted over EUR 1.4 billion in revenue.

2010 promises to be a strong year for Germany’s ICT industry, creating a number of opportunities for companies entering the market, especially in growing areas such as cloud computing, social networking applications and next generation gaming. With almost 60 million people online, Germany has by far the highest number of Internet users in Europe. High-speed broadband penetration is currently at 67 percent, which is expected to grow to 75 percent by 2014.

The success of Germany’s IT industry is in large part due to the country’s R&D infrastructure. Public and private R&D funding is currently stimulating new developments. The Emmy Award-winning Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) is just one example of Germany’s innovation leaders. The unique research infrastructure in Germany allows for companies to benefit from collaboration and partnerships with German research organizations and industry players.

Germany Trade & Invest will be showcasing the latest developments in Germany’s ICT industry at Booth 409 and in a dedicated workshop session at this year’s Web 2.0 in San Francisco. Cutting-edge innovation on display includes Fraunhofer HHI’s Image and Video Retrieval technology, a novel search technique for multimedia data including face recognition and temporal video segmentation. The innovation comes from the institute best known for its contribution to the H.264 standard for video compression, which serves as the backbone of video management for iTunes, YouTube, Blu-Ray and several other video applications.

In addition, Germany Trade & Invest and the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute will be hosting the evening reception “Germany: Driving the Digital Future” on May 4th at 7 p.m. in the Intercontinental Hotel. The event will be held in cooperation with Berlin Partner and Theseus, the research program initiated by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology to bridge research and practical application of technology.

Germany Trade & Invest is the foreign trade and inward investment promotion agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. The organization advises foreign companies looking to expand their business activities to the German market. It provides information on foreign trade to German companies that seek to enter foreign markets.

Source:http://digitalproducer.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=1064931

The Indian software industry seems to have hit an air pocket.The Obama administration has been consistently drumming up the spectre of curbing outsourcing to India by American companies and has also been vocal about its efforts to offer tax breaks to companies that will create jobs in the US.

IT industry analysts have been voicing concern about the snail’s pace at which the sector has been growing lately. However, none of the noise seems to have breached the software companies.

So, check out the latest buzz in the Indian IT industry:

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/quickiearticleshow/5731394.cms

Egypt hopes its burgeoning foreign outsourcing industry will generate $2 billion in revenue by 2013 and $10 billion in 10 years, aided by targeted incentives for incoming firms, the communications minister said on Tuesday.

It expects the industry to earn the country $1.1 billion this year, Tarek Kamel said, after meeting employees at a new 1,000-seat call centre on Tuesday.

“We are working, in ITIDA (Information Technology Industry Development Agency) and the ministry, on an incentive package. We are expanding in technology parks for the offshoring industry,” Kamel said at the centre’s official opening.

Eight hundred of those seats are filled, providing technical and sales support to six clients of Stream Global Services (SGS.A), including satellite radio station Syrius-XM.

Stream’s chairman and chief executive, Scott Murray, told Reuters the firm intends to expand further in Egypt and Brazil and to enter China, where it will employ 2,000 people.

“We are starting to look at new sites tomorrow,” Murray said. “This centre here is pretty much sold out, so we will need another centre sometime this summer and probably another one by late in the year or early in 2011.”

Boston-based Stream has 30,000 employees in 22 countries. It started in Egypt last year with 50 employees in temporary faciities and expects up to 5,000 employees in Cairo and other Egyptian cities in the next two to three years.

INCENTIVES

Egypt’s outsourcing industry pales in comparison with that of India and the Philippines, but is one of the country’s fastest growing sectors, aided by a pool of university graduates fluent in French, German, Spanish and Italian as well as Arabic and English.

The incentives offered increase significantly once a company commits to employing more than 3,000 Egyptian employees. They now target firms providing back office financial and accounting services, ITIDA board member Amin Khaireldin told Reuters.

“We do the incentives to share risk with those who are coming,” he said. “As we speak now we are encouraging people to come for financial and accounting because we graduate every year 60,000 accountants from our universities.”

Khaireldin said ITIDA subsidies cover up to 90 percent of vocational training costs. ITIDA also matches the difference between Egypt’s telecommunications costs and the lowest such costs elsewhere in the world and even helps pay rent and transportation costs.

Stream’s largest client in Egypt is satellite radio station Syrius-XM, which chose Egypt to diversify away from its significant presence in the Philippines and elsewhere.

“From a performance standpoint it is very comparable,” said Joe McGuinnis, senior director of call centre operations at Syrius-XM, adding that costs were comparable.

“We chose Cairo … as an alternative to the Philippines, the same offshore value but in a different location,” he said.

Source:http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE62L2AU20100323

Has Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s budget 2010 missed Indian IT industry? Yes if one thinks of Indian IT industry’s long- standing demand for STPI scheme extension.

The much-anticipated extension of SEZ benefits for STPI units did not come through (once again) in FM’s budget. In addition, the rise in MAT from 15% to 18% will impact the industry, especially small and medium size software firms.

Small and mid-size outsourcing companies function from STPI units and tax benefits under the STPI scheme are getting phased out in 2010-11.

Most large outsourcing firms have set up in SEZs and will not be impacted significantly. “I am very disappointed. There was no mention of mirroring of SEZ benefits for STPI units,” said Ashank Desai, chairman of Mastek Ltd.

The mirroring of SEZ benefits for STPI units was one of the demands of the software industry. Exports from SEZs are eligible for exemption for a period of 15 years in all — 100% of profits are tax exempt in the first five years, 50% in the next five and 50% in the last five years provided the profits are invested in specified areas. “The top 50 software companies contribute 60-65% of the revenues of the industry and 90% of the profits. When they grow their business, they will grow into SEZs.

Many of their older units have already come out of the tax benefits offered under STPI because they are over 10 years. It is the smaller firms that have set up STPI units in last few years that will be hit though the government will not gain much in terms of tax inflows,” said a Nasscom official.

However, IT companies focussed on the domestic market will gain from the IT mission mode projects announced in the budget. The allocation of Rs 1900 crore for UID project and the announcement of the modernization of national employment exchanges are some moves that would help the IT industry as a whole.

Refunds for IT/BPO companies have also made easier. Over Rs 4,000 crore refunds are pending and just last month there were some changes made to make refunds easier. The budget gives it further filip.

Source:http://www.optoiq.com/index/lasers-for-manufacturing/display/ils-wire-news-display/141843543.html

The business process outsourcing (BPO) sector expects sales to grow by a quarter to $9 billion this year as the industry rides the wave of a general economic recovery,

The industry’s revenues of $7.2 billion last year — a 19% increase — came in at the lower end of its target of $7.2 billion to $7.4 billion due to the caution that prevailed among businesses in the first half. In 2008, sales went up by 24%.

The head of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT), says the industry should prepare for an expected pickup in business this year. “What we need to do is to maintain our supply of talent and focus on infrastructure. We expect the BPO industry to grow more as our markets emerge from the recession,” said CICT chief Ray Anthony Roxas Chua III.

Source:http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30192:bpo-industry-geared-for-growth&catid=69:business&Itemid=58

The government may relax rules that prohibit foreigners on business visas from working in India, acceding to the demand of the $60-billion IT industry that needs foreign expertise to run businesses smoothly.

“We are preparing a list of activities in the IT sector for which companies may be allowed to employ foreign nationals without work permits for a limited period,” said a government official, who asked not to be named.

The IT industry welcomed the move but sought relaxation of another rule that limit the number of business visas. Last year, the labour ministry had, in consultation with the home ministry, introduced a number of changes in visa rules, after it found that there were thousands of Chinese workers, including low-skilled ones like cooks and masons, employed in power and steel projects being built by Chinese contractors.

But these rules prevented foreign nationals with business visas from working in India even in short stints if they did not have work permits. The government also stipulated that employment visas will be given to only 1% of the total number of workers in a particular project. It also imposed an upper limit of twenty workers for projects.

“After the visa rules were changed, the number of Chinese working in the country has come down from 42,000 to about 3,000,” said the government official quoted earlier, adding that the move created employment opportunity for locals. But the rule hurt those industries that need foreign expertise to run their businesses smoothly.

Finding some merit in IT industry’s demand, the government is identifying activities such as training of work force, wherein foreign professionals with business visas would be allowed to work for short stints, even without permits, the government official said.

“IT industry is a people’s business and companies are globally integrated,” said Som Mittal, president of Nasscom, an industry body of IT and outsourcing firms. “Restricting the number of foreign nationals in individual companies would hamper activities,” he added. IT industry wants even the 1% ceiling on work visas to be relaxed.

“We are talking about highly-skilled persons here. So, logically there shouldn’t be any restriction,” Mr Mittal said. Any company seeking to employ foreign nationals beyond the limits prescribed will have to seek special permission from the government, clearly establishing the need for additional work visas.

India’s foreign missions are no longer allowed to issue the additional visas at their discretion. The industry has found the mechanism cumbersome and said there was no clarity on the kind of references that were required to be furnished by companies. The home and labour ministries are non-committal on further relaxations.

“We make changes in the visa rules according to the situation,” another government official said, requesting anonymity.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/Govt-may-relax-business-visa-norms-for-IT-industry/articleshow/5530542.cms

In what can be termed as the first ever industry panel at the Society for Technical Communication Annual conference, experts and industry leaders came together to agree that Technical Communication has evolved to be recognized as a industry. It is a $100 million market today and growing to reach $800 million by 2012 and over a billion in the next 5-6 years. This growth is backed by a surge in outsourcing demand, improved human capital supplies and larger domestic customer bench.

Speaking at a STC-TIE panel on the growth and evolution of the Technical Communication industry, Rakesh Shukla, Managing Director, The Writers Block said, “The Technical Communication space is evolving into a fast growing industry owing to a rise up the value chain in terms of delivery for the domestic and global customer. It is also an enhanced ROI proposition for customers and further aided by superior technologies and tools. One is likely to see technical communication evolve into a diverse, technology intensive, consumer friendly-collaborative space.”

“Globally Technical Communication industry is about 15 percent the size of the software industry, however in India the trend is fortified by the growing aerospace and defence sectors, the growth of the digital economy and the growing focus on product engineering,“ he added.

Also speaking on the occasion, Ravindranath Parameswaran, Executive Director, TIE, Bangalore reflected on the growth of the Technical Communication industry and how innovation and entrepreneurship needs to be encouraged to make the most of the opportunity available in India. The other speakers at the Panel included – Usha Mohan, Managing Director – Triumph India; K Narssimhan, CEO – Commit Technologies; Aruna Panangipally, Managing Director – ibrik Consulting; and Sandhya Prasad, President – STC India Chapter.

The Technical Communication industry has seen a surge in demands for Outsourcing projects, which has gone up, especially after the US economic meltdown. The number of companies banking large documentation and technical communication projects in India has increased significantly. This is backed by the rise in availability of trained and experienced technical communication talent and workforce. This confidence in this nascent industry is also strengthened by a large number of domestic companies spending at significant percentage of their budgets on Technical Communication and Documentation needs.

What used to be an amateur career or a one made only with hands on experience of many years is now a lucrative career option for millions of young professionals. The multitude of career opportunities available, backed by international standard education and training facilities have converted Technical Communication into a growing and attractive career option for many.

Technical Communication covers a vast range of products and services. These include User Manuals, Instruction Guides, Quick Reference Guides, Product overviews, Illustrations/ 3D Drawings, White Papers, Case Studies, Brochures, Flyers, Web sites, Press releases, Installation Guides, Troubleshooting guides, IETM generated documents, Course material, Multimedia Demos, e-learning, Computer based training, Proposals, Research reports, News Letters, ISO & CMMi documentation, Process workflow documents, Policy Manuals and Process Manuals. The customers for Technical Communication and Documentation services includes sectors like IT Technology Products, Outsourcing, Manufacturing, Banking, Financial and Insurance, Aerospace, Defence, Hi-Tech Manufacturing, ERP and CRM, Pharmaceutical, Education and Business Consulting. Functions like Engineering, Marketing, Sales, Training, Deployment & Support and Development are often consumers of Technical Communication services and products.

Source:http://www.businesswireindia.com/PressRelease.asp?b2mid=20879