CeBIT is an annual trade show exclusively for the digital industry. At this event companies from world over exhibit their products and services, showcase their innovative solutions and industry experts host conferences on prominent IT issues. This year CeBIT is organized in the city of Hannover, Germany from 6 March to 10 March 2012. Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google will be the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony of the event.

Over 20 years, CeBIT has emerged as a vital platform for businesses to meet clients, initiate deals, form synergistic partnership and a unique opportunity to network with top influencers of the digital industry. India is the global hub for offshore IT services. Around thirty companies from various states of the country are participating in CeBIT 2012 trade show. The interesting fact, however is that, about one third of these is from the western state Gujarat. Companies such as OpenXcell Technolabs, Cygnet Infotech, Elitecore Technologies and Radixweb are enterprise solution pioneers in their own rights and will showcase their services in the CeBIT IT trade show.

“It is exciting to know that most of the peer group companies such as Elsner Technologies, Hi-Tech Outsourcing Services, InheritX Solutions are going to exhibit in CeBIT 2012” says Mr. Jayneel Patel, Director of OpenXcell Technolabs, a software and consulting company in Gujarat. Last year the IT trade show attracted over 300,000 visitors from more than 110 countries among which were USA, Romania, Iran, UK, China, Egypt, Germany and Spain. Revealing his mind on such a positive participation of Gujarat based companies Mr. Jayneel Patel says, “This is a strong indication of Gujarat becoming the next big IT center after Bangalore.”

CeBIT is focused on encouraging innovation and developing rewarding solutions in the field of information and communication technology (ICT). This year the event will be organized under four theme-centric platforms such as Lab- for research, Life- for enhancing lifestyle, Gov- for public sector and finally Pro which is a dedicated platform for business operations solutions.

Participants can exhibit their products and services as a stand-alone presentation, in group pavilion or choose from special offer packages. The event attracted 500 top decision makers and CIOs from the world’s biggest companies the last year. Over a thousand journalists directly report about the event. Participation of Indian companies will get their efforts and good work noted by the top IT honchos and potential customers globally.

OpenXcell Technolabs will be presenting at CeBIT 2012 in hall 6, stand D44 all through 6 March to 10 March 2012. The India based company will showcase its premier CRM and ECM solutions along with cross platform mobile solutions at the event. It is an ISO 9001:2008 certified company.

Source:http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/sbwire-126375.htm

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/02/09/cognizant-lessons-for-indian-it/#ixzz1lxmre93s

Indian second-largest software company, Infosys, found out last month that sometimes beating expectations on profits isn’t enough to please the markets.

On Wednesday, Cognizant – the US-headquartered competitor that’s making things tough for Indian behemoths like Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services – found out that sometimes projecting double-industry-standard growth just isn’t enough either, when its stock fell 1.75 per cent compared to a 0.41 per cent rise in the Nasdaq. What’s the problem? And what are the lessons for its Indian competitors?

The problem it seems is that Cognizant, after eight straight quarters of outperformance, merely met expectations. It saw a 16.4 per cent rise in net income to $240.1m for the quarter ending in December, on the back of a 26.9 per cent rise in revenues, to $1.66bn, just below the $1.67bn consensus. It forecast a minimum 23 per cent rise in revenues for 2012, to $7.53bn, according to results released on Wednesday.

Analysts told beyondbrics that the company will benefit from an improving economic environment in the US – where it earned nearly 80 per cent of its revenue in the quarter ending in December – but that its growth projection for the coming year, despite its 33 per cent increase in revenues for 2011, might be a tad ambitious, given the overall economic picture.

“Twenty-three per cent minimum guidance is a good number, but for the first quarter of next year, they are guiding at 2.2 per cent which means that the growth rate for the remaining 3 quarters would have to be at 6.8-6.9 per cent,” said Ashish Chopra, analyst at Motilal Oswal. “[That]is a strong number to assume in the current environment.”

But R Chandrasekaran, Cognizant’s chief executive for technology and operations, told beyondbrics that the company was confident that it could maintain much greater growth than the 11-14 per cent projected for the industry during the fiscal year ending in March 2013 by trade group Nasscom.

“We are also entering 2012 with a great deal of confidence stemming from a very loyal customer base,” he said. “The traction we are seeing from some of the new [products] like consulting [and] infrastructure outsourcing… is really helping us.”

Cognizant, which has around three-quarters of its workforce in India, took over from Infosys in the north American market last year. It competes with the “big four” Indian IT services and consulting firms of Wipro, Infosys, TCS and HCL, and overtook Wipro in terms of reveune mid-2011.

Indeed, analysts told beyondbrics that what separates Cognizant from its Indian competitors is the way it reinvests in itself in order to build up the company’s front-end and sales operations.

“They’re much more market facing, their ability to understand clients’ needs is much higher, their ability to connect with clients is much better and they are more business focused,” said Sudin Apte, analyst at Offshore Insights. “That has helped them to bring in better returns.”

When it comes to tough economic times, IT companies like Cognizant can benefit as other companies need to save money, by outsourcing operations that would cost more to do in-house.

“Even if [a customer’s budget] remains flat… in absolute dollars he’s spending same amount on technology but wants to do more with the same budget,” said Chopra. “The only way to do that is to take out costs on the existing work – if it’s being done onsite then you have to move it off-shore, and that directly plays into the hands of the offshore providers.”

“That drives the growth for these guys even during the tough times,” he added.

It’s not necessarily a new lesson – just one that needs to be done better than before as competition increases and the market demands ever-better results.

Source:http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2012/02/09/cognizant-lessons-for-indian-it/#axzz1lxmYyVXN

According to a new report from analyst firm IDC, amid the threat of “another recession” the cautious optimism will continue in New Zealand and that the IT services market in the country will still grow by 3.8% to reach NZ$3.08 billion this year.

While many of New Zealand’s CIOs are reviewing all their IT spending, IDC predicts that many will continue to spend on strategic areas of investment, particularly on mobile devices, virtualisation and security, lifting the opportunity for service providers (SPs) in 2012.

“2012 looks set to be another economically uncertain year, but nonetheless organisations and SPs alike will need to seek opportunities that not only make business sense but also capture the innovative element that will make organisations stand out in the competitive ecosystem,” Rasika Versleijen-Pradhan, senior IT services analyst, New Zealand IT services market, said.

“Ultimately it will require SPs to rethink their aspirations and capabilities in the market, forcing some organisations to move out of their comfort zones.

“As the demand for technologies such as cloud computing, analytics, mobility and the rate of convergence accelerates, IDC expects to see a more fragmented ecosystem develop, resulting in the restructuring of business models for some SPs,” Versleijen-Pradhan added.

Other key predictions by IDC for the New Zealand market this year include:

• Cloud Will Move from a Cost Management to Innovation Driver Role: The role of cloud to help manage costs will shift towards one that will encompass cloud as a means to driving innovation within an organisation.

• Business Analytics Will Ride a New Wave, Sending “Big Data” Further in Motion: Big Data analytics will become critical in verticals that are challenged by the huge amounts of data sets and the widespread use of collaborative and mobile technologies.

• The Government Will Reduce and Reallocate IT Budgets: The government has stated that its initial focus will be on common capability, networks and infrastructure and the sharing of business systems resulting in greater shifts in IT spending allocations in 2012.

• The Services Ecosystem Will See the Formation of More Service Aggregators: This will be driven by customers who lack resources and will look for service aggregators as the external managers to their organisation.

• Market Pressures Will Reshape and Restructure Existing Outsourcing Contracts: The outsourcing market remains competitive, and existing customers continue to challenge their incumbent SPs to match the services and benefits offered by competitors, sometimes insisting on renegotiating an existing contract.

• Service Providers Will be Forced to Create Disruptive Business Units: If traditional SPs are to really compete in the cloud space they will need to make some radical changes to their business model. Subsequently this will, lead to the creation of a disruptive business unit.

• The Channel will Make Bigger Strides in Delivering Higher-Value add Services: IDC predicts that in 2012, the services component of partner businesses will be led by managed and cloud-oriented services as opposed to legacy maintenance and support services.

• Datacentre Services Will Experience High Growth: IDC’s Asia-Pacific Continuum survey in 2011, revealed that 40% of organisations surveyed plan to utilise third party datacentres by the end of 2012.

• Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Will Maintain its Priority Level: IDC believes that business continuity will remain a key component of the executive agenda, regardless of the next upheaval.

Source:http://www.itwire.com/it-industry-news/market/52705-nz-getting-on-with-it-but-caution-prevails-report

Accent Computer Solutions Inc., an information technology service provider, has achieved Gold Desktop and Server Platform Competencies in the Microsoft Partner Network, establishing its ability to meet Microsoft customers’ needs in today’s ever-changing business environment. To earn a Microsoft Gold Competency, organizations must complete a formidable set of tests to prove their level of technology expertise; employ a sufficient number of Microsoft Certified Professionals; submit consumer references; and show their commitment to customer satisfaction by participating in an annual survey.

One of the largest IT service providers in Southern California, Accent Computer Solutions provides clients with user support, strategic technology planning and consulting, systems maintenance and security, monitoring services, problem isolation and resolution, and backup- and disaster-recovery support. Founded in 1987, the company focuses on reducing the cost and risk of utilizing information technology by offering IT services, IT outsourcing, network services, cloud computing, new building and remodel cabling, and wireless solutions.

Marty Kaufman, Accent’s president and founder, leads the company in catering to small- to medium-sized businesses.

When utilizing the Microsoft Server Platform competency, a business must demonstrate knowledge in building, designing, deploying and supporting the Windows Server operating system, Windows Server–based applications and Microsoft server infrastructure.

The Microsoft Partner Network is designed to supply organizations that deliver products and services based on the Microsoft platform with the training, resources and help they need to bring their customers a superior experience and exceptional results.

Source:http://www.ocmetro.com/t-Accent-Computer-Solutions-earns-top-Microsoft-service-designation-2-9-12x.aspx

Growth in India’s exports of IT services, business process outsourcing and related services is forecast to drop to 11 to 14 percent in the Indian fiscal year to March 31, 2013 from an estimated 16.3 percent in the current fiscal year, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said.

The trade body said Wednesday it had taken into account the economic uncertainty in key markets like Europe, and delayed purchase decisions by customers, to arrive at the forecast.

India’s ability to achieve the growth forecast by Nasscom will largely depend on developments in Europe, analysts said.

Global outsourcing revenue was down 15 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, in comparison to the previous quarter, and growth is expected to stay flat through the first six months of this year, unless the economic conditions in Europe improve, said Salil Dani, research director for global sourcing at Everest Group.

Government and public-sector spending on outsourcing in Europe and the U.S., the largest market for Indian outsourcers, is also likely to take a hit, Dani added.

Client sentiment is down, and IT budgets are stagnant and even getting cut, said Sudin Apte, principal analyst and CEO of Offshore Insights, a research and advisory firm in Pune, India. Clients are not yet spending significantly on emerging technologies that were once seen as growth markets, such as cloud, mobility, social networking, and analytics, he added.

Apte expects IT services and related exports to grow by 8 to 9 percent in the fiscal year to March 31, 2013.

Nasscom’s export data includes exports to parent companies by Indian subsidiaries of multinational companies like Microsoft and Dell, commonly known as “captives”. But Dani does not expect new projects to captives to make up for lackluster business to third-party IT service providers in the country.

Cognizant Technology Solutions on Wednesday forecast its revenue would grow by at least 23 percent in 2012. The Teaneck, New Jersey, outsourcer is usually grouped with Indian outsourcers as it has 75 percent of its staff in India, and competes with Indian outsourcers like Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro both for business and staff.

In a difficult period, companies like Cognizant and TCS that understand customer needs better, and have strong domain expertise will likely grow faster than other Indian companies, Apte said.

TCS said last month that its revenue for the quarter ended Dec. 31 was US$2.6 billion, up by 20.6 percent from the same quarter a year earlier, with net profit up 9 percent at $568 million. Wipro posted lower growth in the same quarter, as the company is going through a reorganization of its business focus. Infosys, another outsourcer in Bangalore, lowered its revenue growth forecast for the fiscal year ending March 31, citing the debt crisis in Europe and an uncertain market.

Exports in the year to March 31, 2012 are expected to be $69 billion, with IT services the largest component growing at 19 percent to $40 billion, Nasscom said. Business process outsourcing is expected to grow 13 percent to $16 billion.

Source:http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9224098/Growth_in_Indian_IT_services_exports_to_slow_down_says_Nasscom

On the back of the telecommunications boom in Africa, more IT service vendors are moving into the continent in search of new opportunities.

So says Brent Flint, services executive at Dimension Data MEA, who believes this trend is also driven by the maturation and growth of competition in the South African IT services market.

“This expansion is often on the back of clients’ businesses expansion into the rest of Africa,” he explains. “More businesses are moving into Africa and require IT service providers that will help drive IT efficiency as a key strategic business enabler and also an engine of innovation.”

Flint explains that organisations are looking for infrastructure, desktop, database and application support, as these play a key role in enabling business.

“Without a large IT department or justification for big expenditure on technology, businesses are looking for solutions that will get the job done cost-effectively and simply, while delivering a rapid return on investment.”

However, Flint says there is a shortage of specific skills in the African IT services market, and this is resulting in companies not always being able to efficiently provide the IT services needed to enable business.
Click here

He adds that there is, therefore, a demand for IT service providers with experience and knowledge to enable business strategy, improve competitiveness, and drive business outcomes.

“Businesses are moving from ‘out-tasking’ discrete managed and professional services to a complete IT outsourcing solution.”

Garth Hayward, regional manager, Africa, at Kaseya, also cites skills shortage as one of the challenges besetting managed service providers in Africa.

“Finding and keeping good staff in the managed services industry is a challenge,” says Hayward. “There’s also a perception by business that IT companies don’t need to pay their staff.”

Hayward adds that the managed service providers are also finding it tough to craft value propositions that have relevance within their target markets.

Source:http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51416:it-service-vendors-eye-african-expansion

No multinational information technology firms have so far committed to renting commercial space at Bhutan’s first IT park, operated by joint venture Thimphu TechPark (TTP).

Business processes outsourcing (BPO) company Genpact, which was supposed to have moved in this year, has also recently deferred its entry to 2013.

“We were in discussions with Genpact but they have recently informed MoIC (the information and communications ministry) that they have deferred their decision to come in this year,” said TTP’s Bhutan Innovation & Technology Centre (BITC) consultant, Anjali Gulati. “They might consider it for 2013,” she said.

Anjali Gulati added that discussions with other potential companies like WIPRO and WorldBridge, a BPO, are ongoing. She said that for 2012, only local companies would be taking up space at TTP, both commercial and in the BITC.

The park’s BITC is scheduled to be completed and operational by the end of March the centre’s chief operating officer, Tshering Cigay Dorji, said.

The BITC’s objective is to promote the private sector and Bhutanese entrepreneurs by providing an environment designed to allow businesses to be mentored, networked, and grow to the point they can move out and operate.

Currently, the BITC is still being fitted out but MoUs have already been signed with 10 local companies. A further three are due to be signed within this week, Anjali Gulati said. She said that the companies’ business proposals are being reviewed and a selection process is underway. Companies with business proposals that provide high potential such as in growth and job creation, among others, will be selected.

Once operating in the BITC, the ‘tenants’ will be able to access the centre’s various services and facilities. They will also be able to avail mentoring from international organisations and individual experts. BITC recently launched it overseas expert program. The program’s objective is to facilitate training and teaching of the Bhutanese business community by bringing in foreign expertise to share their knowledge and experience for a period between 3-6 months.

Anjali Gulati said that BITC has about three foreign individuals already interested in the program.

DHI’s BEGIN (business entrepreneurship growth and innovation) program, slated to begin in March, will also be run in tandem with BITC, said Anjali Gulati. The BEGIN program seeks to provide mainstream entrepreneurship by providing comprehensive training, sustained mentoring, and financing to individuals with strong entrepreneurial traits and sound business ideas. Anjali Gulati said that the BEGIN program will be available to BITC incubatees.

BITC incubatees will have to pay rent to TTP, but Anjali Gulati said that the rent would be subsidised and as a result cheaper than market rates.

Bhutan’s first IT park was inaugurated three months ago in November. TTP is a joint venture between Assetz Property Group of Singapore and DHI. The park was built at a cost of about Nu 250M.

Source:http://www.kuenselonline.com/2011/?p=26699

Sunrise industry investors will provide revenue and job opportunities to Balangueños. Although, Sunrise industries are new in the province, they are growing fast. Through the partnership of Public Employment Services Office (PESO) and the Software Ventures International (SVI) and a business process outsourcing (BPO) company, 150 residents are given job and they started their data encoding training. Eventually, they will be hired by a client of SVI.

In a statement of Mayor Garcia, this initial start of BPO industry in the City of Balanga has the possibility to reach 1,000 to 2,000 qualified workers. SVI is known as one of the premier global companies in the field of information technology (IT) consulting and business solutions development.

They provide software services and business services capitalizing in a team of more than 2,000 highly skilled employees. The firm also pioneered in the Philippine IT offshore outsourcing industry.

Garcia further explained that BPO is a subset of outsourcing which entails the outsourcing the operations and responsibilities of a specific business to what we call third-party service provider. For instance, real estate like Camella Homes had poured almost P700 million investment to generate employment here. The city government had also business ventures with the big names in the real-estate industry such as Ayala Land, Megaworld, Sta. Lucia, and Robinsons Land.

Source:http://www.mybataan.com/content/view/593/96/

High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights.

Shares in IT outsourcing company Computer Sciences Corp soared as much as 25 per cent in the morning session as the company wrote down losses from a UK government contract.

The shares pared gains but still closed up 18.5 per cent to $31.39.

CSC booked a loss of $1.5bn, or almost $10 a share, on a contract to computerise the records of the UK’s National Health Service. Shares had fallen 50 per cent in the 12 months to the end of last week on concerns about the UK contract and an accounting probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and, although CSC had pre-warned about the writedown in late December, some analysts said the move provided a degree of closure for investors.

“The risk of further large writedowns is significantly smaller than it was yesterday,” said Tien-Tsin Huang at JPMorgan. “People feel like we may have seen a bottom for CSC.”

But other analysts were unimpressed, and suggested investors might be well advised to take profit, with CSC now trading at an earnings multiple equal to industry peers.

“To say CSC should trade in line with its peers when it can’t give guidance for 2012, is subject to an SEC accounting investigation and has the overhang of further potential losses on the UK NHS contract is presumptuous,” said Darrin Peller at Barclays Capital.

He said the share price move was largely a result of short sellers covering positions. More than 10 per cent of available CSC stock had been on loan to short sellers at the start of the day, with many investors anticipating a sell-off if the company declared a larger writedown on the NHS contract.

Elsewhere, US stocks climbed, but gains were moderate as eurozone worries once again weighed on Wall Street.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.2 per cent to 1,349.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 5 points to 12,883.95, while the Nasdaq Composite index rallied 0.4 per cent to 2,915.86.

Energy stocks were the laggards with coal miners falling for a second successive day, as SocGen analysts said iron-ore shipments to China through Australia’s Port Hedland fell in January compared with December.

Peabody fell 1.6 per cent to $41.27 and Alpha Natural Resources fell 2.1 per cent to $21.85.

Option traders appeared sceptical about the latest rally in the face of renewed Greek default concerns, with data showing large bearish bets that would profit from a fall in the Dow Transport index.

The index is closely watched as a leading indicator for movements in broader indices.

But some analysts remained bullish. “Given other efforts to stabilise the eurozone, we tend to think a Greek default would only lead to a momentary pullback in US stocks, lasting one or two days, and indeed would present a good buying opportunity,” said Randy Frederick, managing director for active trading at Charles Schwab.
Luxury clothing chain Ralph Lauren rose 9.2 per cent to $17.73 after forecasting stronger than expected 2012 revenue.

Unlike jeweller Tiffany , Ralph Lauren did not see a slowdown in US or European sales in the fourth quarter, leaving investors free to focus on strong sales growth in emerging markets that Ralph Lauren reported in common with other luxury brands. The company also raised its forecast for 2012 margins.

“If we were to look for trouble, a cause for concern could be the recent gross margin deterioration, which reflects an increasing amount of technology resale that both boosts revenue growth and hurts gross margin,” said George Hill at Citigroup, although, along with most other analysts, he was upbeat on the results.

Bank stocks traded higher despite the Greek concerns. Citigroup was up 3.5 per cent to $34.23 and Bank of America topped $8 for the first time since September, closing up 3.6 per cent to $8.13 for the best performance in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Walt Disney shares climbed 0.7 per cent to $41.27 as earnings rose despite flat revenues.

The initial public offering of Caesars Entertainment made a surprise leap on its debut, jumping 71 per cent to $15.39 over its $9 debut price, the most of any US IPO since Zillow last July.

The offering of just 1.8m shares had been intended only to provide liquidity to a small clutch of investors in its 2008 leveraged buyout, ahead of potential larger exits by investors such Paulson & Co, Apollo Group and TPG Capital. But traders said that retail investors swooped on the offering at the discounted valuation, despite the risk of future dilution.

Source:http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/5231a8f8-5264-11e1-a155-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1llILQk4A

IT outsourcing firm Tech Mahindra on Wednesday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 276 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2011.

“Profit after tax for the quarter ended December 31, 2011 and 2010 are not comparable as the figures in respect of 2010 do not include share in profit of Satyam Computer Services Limited (SCSL) for the period,” Tech Mahindra said in a filing to the BSE.

The company had a net profit of Rs 257 crore during the October-December quarter 2010, the company said.

Income from operations rose to Rs 1,444.87 crore during the quarter under review, against Rs 1,211.14 crore in the same period last year.

The total headcount of the company at the end of December 31, 2011 stood at 42,746 out of which software professional headcount stood at 25,218, BPO at 16,419 and support staff at 1,109.

The debt stood at Rs 1,376 crore as of December 31, 2011 and cash and cash equivalent stood at Rs 321 crore on balance sheet during the same period.

“We have had a satisfactory quarter, with growth in both revenue and margins. This is a result of our investments in growth markets, and in emerging technologies. We continue to focus on delivering enhanced value to our customers in an uncertain economic environment,” Tech Mahindra Vice Chairman, MD and CEO Vineet Nayyar said.

At the end of December quarter, the company’s active clients stood at 130.

Shares of Tech Mahindra settled at Rs 650.75 on the BSE, up 1.28 per cent from the previous close.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-company/earnings/earnings-news/tech-mahindra-posts-q3-profit-of-rs-276-cr-shares-up-1-28/articleshow/11807950.cms

If you are a professional in India’s information technology – business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, brace for a lower pay hike this year. Come April, wage increases will be in the 8 to 10% range on an average, against the 10 to 12% hikes effected last year, with slower growth expected in the wake of a shaky recovery in the US and a lingering economic crisis in Europe, industry officials said on Wednesday.

“We are currently looking at growth of 11 to 14%,” Rajendra Pawar, chairman of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom), speaking of IT and BPO export revenues in the fiscal year 2012-13, after the industry association announced a 16.3% growth estimate for the current year.

IT-BPO exports for the current year are expected at $69 billion (R3,38,100 cr), up from $59 billion (R2,89,100in the year to March 2011.

India’s infotech industry kisses $100 billion

The industry is estimated to have added 230,000 employees in the current fiscal year, taking the number of direct employees in the IT-BPO sector to 2.8 million.

Pawar said uncertainties linked to political changes in France, China, Russia and the euro zone economies weighed heavily on Nasscom as it toned down expectations but the association expected to revisit the scenario around October and may tweak up its growth outlook at that time.

A rebounding US economy could yield a stronger expectations once presidential elections are over, he said. Currency volatility was also a factor influencing expectations, he added.

The industry expects its medium term outlook to turn favourable, aided by emerging opportunities in cloud computing (services over the Internet), mobility, social media and advanced data analytics.

“With strong fundamentals and need for technology adoption across the globe, we are confident on the continued growth prospects for the sector,” Pawar said.

Source:http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/SectorsInfotech/IT-BPO-pay-hikes-to-fall-outlook-down/Article1-808671.aspx

The fate of over a billion dollars worth of information technology outsourcing contracts is in limbo after Thursday’s US Supreme Court verdict cancelling 122 licences of telecoms firms, The Outsource Blog reports.
The order comes at a time when both Indian and multinational IT firms like Wipro, Tech Mahindra and IBM, besides business process firms such as Firstsource, Intelenet and Aegis, have signed multimillion-dollar deals with telecoms firms including Uninor, Etisalat DB, Videocon and Idea.
For instance, Wipro had signed an estimated $500 million to $600 million outsourcing deal with Uninor in 2009. Similarly, Tech Mahindra had signed an outsourcing deal from Etisalat, with a revenue estimate of $400 million $500 million. MNC firm IBM, which has a $1 billion outsourcing deal with Bharti-Airtel, had also bagged a $200 million deal from Videocon-led Datacom Solutions.
Tech Mahindra, when contacted, said it was aware of the matter and was “closely monitoring” the development, Global Services says.
“At this point in time, we would not be able to offer any comment. Further, as a policy, we do not comment on any details pertaining to client-specific engagements,” it said. Tech Mahindra had won deals from Etisalat and Sistema Shyam. An estimated 500 employees manage the Etisalat deal at Tech Mahindra.
“The verdict will have a domino effect on both vendors and suppliers,” according to Kamlesh Bhatia, research director at Gartner. “The only way IT vendors can mitigate a large-scale impact is if the contract had factored in some market risk. Even then, there will be an impact.”
Bhatia says these deals were signed during 2009/10, when the telecoms vendor segment was much more mature. “Most of these contracts would be structured as partnerships with revenue related to the milestones achieved by the telecoms vendors. Many would even incorporate a situation where the company might wind up operations. Some might also have asked for an upfront capital investment from the telcos, which might buffer the vendors. But even then, there will be considerable impact,” he notes.

Source:http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51328:it-outsourcing-contracts-in-limbo

More technology companies from Gujarat are now seeking global visibility by increasing participation in international exhibitions.

Of the 23 Indian companies participating in CeBIT (Centrum fur Buroautomation, Informationstechnologie und Telekommunikation i.e. Centre for Office Automation, Information Technology and Telecommunication) to be organised in Germany, eight are from Gujarat.

Local players believe ecosystem for IT industry is coming up in the state and that is encouraging the companies to directly hunt globally for partners and clients.

“This is a good score,” said deputy director of Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC), which subsidises the expenses of the companies.

Considered as the barometer in state of the art information technology CeBIT will be held during March 6-10 at Hanover. Ahmedabad-based OpenXcell Technolabs, Cygnet Infotech, Radix Web, Elsner Technologies, SP Technolab, Matrix Comsec (Vadodara) are amongst the list of IT companies expanding their horizon in international market by exhibiting their capabilities in mobile application, game development, web application development, internet marketing, telecom and security solutions.

OpenXcell MD Jayneel Patel believes that CeBIT is an opportunity for smaller companies to get in direct touch with present and potential clients. “Unlike US, companies in Europe like to know their business partners very well before entering into contract. CeBIT is a good place to network with them,” he said.

Over 3,00,000 visitors and 4,200 companies from over 70 countries are likely to participate in CeBIT. Gujarat has over 1,000 small and medium IT companies, mainly relying on outsourcing and scouting for orders using internet. At CeBIT they will showcase their strengths to the visitors in a direct interaction. “Many of the companies in Gujarat are in business for over a decade and have experience and confidence to participate in global events to realise their global dreams,” Minesh Patel, MD of SP Technolabs.

Vadodara-based Matrix Comsec, producer of hardware and software for telecommunications and security solutions is participating in CeBIT for the ninth time. Company officials say the exposure has enabled them to gain business. “Earlier only one or two companies participated in CeBIT. The number of companies is growing steadily,” the Sajeev Nair, head of products (telecom) at Matrix told ET.

Jaimin Shah, former president of Gujarat Electronics and Software Industries Association (GESIA) feels that although the participation is on rise, it is much less compared to the potential Gujarat has for IT industry. “Ecosystem of IT industry is slowly getting build in Gujarat. We have the best infrastructure in terms of availability of power and affordability of real estate. Now talent is also available. More companies should participate in such shows,” he said.

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/ites/more-gujarat-it-companies-seek-global-visibility-by-participating-in-cebit/articleshow/11805787.cms

The State government on Tuesday inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Cognizant, a NASDAQ-listed, USheadquartered provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services to lease out 15 acres of land in Kochi Infopark Phase II.

Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty, Infopark CEO Gigo Joseph, IT special secretary K S Srinivas, Joseph Korah, head of Cognizant’s Kochi operations and Anand Bhushan, senior associate general counsel of Cognizant were present.

Cognizant’s new campus in Infopark Phase II ,when fully completed, will have a built-up area of 1.6 million sq.ft.

and a capacity to accommodate around 12,000 professionals.

Planned for a campus development in various phases, Cognizant will chip in Rs 250 crore for the first phase and it will consist of a 5.5 lakh sq.

ft.software development block meant to house over 4,000 professionals.

Cognizant, presently, has over 1,500 professionals working from the first phase of Kochi Infopark.

Speaking on the occasion, Industries minister P K Kunhalikutty said that with the recent release of the ‘Emerging Kerala’ tagline, the government has been strongly advocating that Kerala is a land of great opportunities.

“With big IT names like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Oracle, HCL, Cognizant and Capgemini setting up offices in the state, it is very obvious that Kerala is becoming a hot IT destination and an investmentfriendly state.

Today, we are on the brim of the next phase of IT growth in Kerala and the government assures all support to all companies who will play a key role in the development of the state as a leading IT hub of the country,” he promised.

“We are committed to grow our operations in Kochi and tapping into the world-class talent in the state of Kerala,” said R Chandrasekaran, president and managing director, Global Delivery, Cognizant.

Infopark has ambitious plans to become one of the major IT Park clusters in the country.

Ever since its inception in 2004, Infopark is well known among the IT/ ITES investors for its potential and is currently expanding to new locations in Cherthala and Koratty.

Infopark Phase II is planned in a PPP model by inviting investments from IT companies and other infrastructure developers.

Source:http://ibnlive.in.com/news/kerala-aims-to-be-the-countrys-biggest-it-hub/228237-60-122.html

India on Tuesday expressed hope that the current economic woes in the US would not lead to protectionism and said that concerns of the Indian IT industry over anti-outsourcing measures announced by President Barack Obama recently will be addressed quickly.

Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai on his first bilateral visit to the US said that the Indian IT industry in the US has contributed $15 billion in taxes alone in the last five years and underlined the need to eliminate discriminatory actions.

Mathai is believed to have raised the issue in his meeting with the officials of Commerce Department yesterday in the backdrop of Obama’s State of the Union address in which he outlined measures to bring jobs back to the country.

Obama had said his administration would offer incentives to those firms which will create jobs in the country.

Mathai in his address to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said, “Indian IT industry contributed $15 billion in taxes over the last five years. This success story should not be set back by stringent visa regulations which act as a non-tariff barrier.”

“We do hope the current economic challenges in the US would not lead to protectionism and that concerns of Indian IT industry will be addressed quickly,” he said.

NASSCOM estimates that Indian industry employs over 100,000 in the US up from 20,000 six years ago, he said adding it supports 200,000 other jobs, including indirect ones, apart from enhancing the competitiveness of some the US industries.

Source:http://ibnlive.in.com/news/address-concerns-of-it-industry-india-to-us/228143-2.html

Norway’s Telenor, which retails mobile services under the Uninor brand, plans to broaden its IT outsourcing pact with Wipro beyond India to ring in cost efficiencies in other Asian markets where it is a mobile operator, Economic Times reported on 30 January.

Telenor plans to ask Wipro to handle all its IT requirements in Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh as systems integrator and front-end IT partner, a top company executive familiar with the matter told ET. At present, Wipro manages the IT resources of Telenor’s Indian arm only and its contract extends till 2016.

Executives familiar with the partnership claim the IT outsourcing arrangement with Wipro has helped Telenor become more nimble and cost-efficient by at least 40% in India, which is now prompting it to leverage this strategic partnership in key international markets.

Telenor generates roughly $7.5 billion of revenue annually from its India, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh operations. “We are satisfied with the IT outsourcing arrangement in India and if Wipro is interested in expanding this relationship into other Telenor companies in Asia, we would be open to explore,” Telenor’s executive vice-president and Asia head Sigve Brekke said, while adding that such a pact would exclude Pakistan which directly reports to Norway and is outside the ambit of Asia operations.

The deal is slated to be signed in the coming weeks. Outsourcing of all key operational functions is the key to most telcos’ low-cost high-volume business model in India.

The move is in sync with the Telenor Group’s philosophy of constantly leveraging the learnings and innovations from one operating company to another. For instance, a large part of Uninor’s sales and distribution model in India was anchored on the innovations developed in the Nordic telco’s DTAC operations in Thailand.

Source:http://www.neurope.eu/article/telenor-keen-broaden-it-outsourcing-pact

A survey of insurance industry CIOs on the level of IT outsourcing shows 85 percent currently are using outsourcing firms for some elements of their operation, according to a new report by the research and advisory firm Novarica.

Between 25 and 35 percent of those surveyed also reported plans to increase their level of outsourcing in 2012, according to Matt Josefowicz, partner and managing director for Novarica. “Insurer CIOs across the industry are embracing outsourcing and blended staffing strategies in order to enhance productivity without increasing fixed overhead,” says Josefowicz. “With the imperative to ‘do a lot more with a little more,’ blended sourcing can help insurers stretch their IT resources.” Among the key findings of the report:

85 percent of insurers are using at least some outsourcing services today in either variable staffing/staff augmentation, legacy application maintenance, or data center or infrastructure management.
Large insurers outsource more than 25 percent of their IT work, while small and mid-size companies typically outsource only 15 percent of their IT work.
More than a quarter of large insurers are planning to increase their reliance on outsourcing in variable staffing, legacy application maintenance, and data center/infrastructure.
Midsize and small insurers are half as likely to be planning to increase their usage rates of variable staffing and legacy application maintenance, but are nearly as likely to be planning to increase data center or infrastructure management outsourcing.
Midsize and small insurers are twice as likely to see a high value in data center and infrastructure management outsourcing than larger insurers are. About a third of the respondents intend to increase infrastructure outsourcing, regardless of company size.

Source:http://www.propertycasualty360.com/2012/02/07/number-of-insurers-outsourcing-some-it-functions-r?t=tech-management

Through experience and in-depth analysis of various change processes succeed the LAS GmbH, improve the quality of customer data is critical. An automated system assisted Plausibilisierungsverfahren provides excellent data quality and ultimately creates the conditions for accelerated change processes and a success rate of up to 95%.

Regardless of whether it is for customers to utilities with a strong market experience, training or start-ups is: A schedule-live with assured data quality and the optimization of processes apply to all equally.

The LAS GmbH takes over the running process, the end customer care and billing, including all upstream and downstream suppliers change processes based on a cost-effective SAP IT and process landscape. When communicating with customers and channel partners are robust and flexible white-label solutions, IT (e-Store and Affiliate Directory) is used to allow the contractor a complete brand consistency.

Additional advantages of modular design provides the architecture of LAS BPOenergy. Especially when it comes to the processing of individual sub-processes, the advantages of the system to combine individual services flexible, clear. Experience has shown that regardless of the extent of the outsourced processes of scale are realized, which ultimately lead to cost reduction.

Industry experts have recognized: For the long-term success is the professional business process outsourcing in the energy market-specific development processes inevitable.

The LAS GmbH is a Germany-wide service company in the utilities and real estate industry. The product portfolio includes the LAS GmbH for both industries equally billing and collection services, consulting and solution development

Source:http://www.artikel-presse.de/?p=475329

CeBIT is the world’s largest IT fair, the participating companies and visitors from all corners of the world attracts. Indian IT companies to participate in such an international forum to make their presence at the international level.

CeBIT is an annual trade show exclusively for the digital industry. At this event are companies from around the world, their products and services, will present their innovative solutions and conferences on prominent experts from the IT industry topics. This year at CeBIT in Hannover, Germany organized by sixth March to 10 March 2012. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google will be the keynote speaker at the opening of the event.

More than 20 years has become important to CeBIT as a platform for companies to meet customers to initiate offers to form synergistic partner in prison and a unique opportunity for networks with top influencers of the digital industry. India is the hub for offshore IT services. Some 30 companies from different states of the country are participating in CeBIT 2012 Exhibition. The interesting fact is that about a third of them from the western state of Gujarat. Companies like OpenXcell Technolabs Cygnet Infotech, Elitecore Technologies and enterprise solution Radixweb are pioneers in their own rights and present their services at the CeBIT IT fair.

“It is good to know interesting that most of the company peer group as Elsner Technologies, Hi-Tech Outsourcing Services InheritX Solutions exhibition in CeBIT 2012,” says Mr. Jayneel Patel, Director of OpenXcell Technolabs, a software and consulting company in Gujarat. Last year, the IT show over 300,000 visitors from more than 110 countries, has attracted, among whom were United States, Romania, Iran, Great Britain, China, Egypt, Germany and Spain. He reveals his soul in such a positive part of Gujarat-based company, Mr. Jayneel Patel says: “This is a strong indication of Gujarat, the next major IT hub of Bangalore to be.”

CeBIT focuses on the promotion of innovation and development of profitable solutions in information and communication technology (ICT). The event will be this year as part of four topic-centric platforms will be organized in such as laboratory research, the life-to improve the lifestyle, directing the public sector and finally Pro, which is a dedicated platform for business solutions.

Participants can stand-alone presentation to show their products and services, select the group or pavilion offers from top. The event attracted 500 top decision-makers and CIOs from the largest companies in the last year. More than a thousand journalists will report on the event. The participation of Indian companies maintain their efforts and good work from the top IT honchos and potential customers worldwide noted.

OpenXcell Technolabs presented at CeBIT 2012 in hall 6, stand D44 until March 6th to 10th March 2012. The company, based in India presents its leading CRM and ECM solutions, together with cross-platform mobile solutions at the event.

Source:http://www.artikel-presse.de/?p=475173

NCO Group, Inc. (”NCO” or the “Company”), a leading provider of business process outsourcing services, announced today that it will hire approximately 400 individuals in its Protocol Customer Management Contact Center located in Sarasota, Florida. The hiring will coincide with a service opportunity for a new client.

Employment opportunities will largely include positions for Customer Care Associates, but will also include opportunities for team management, trainers, and other program specialist roles. Most positions are full-time and offer a complete employment benefit package. Customer Care Associates will handle inbound inquiries from customers requiring administrative services and support. Associates will apply and learn skills in customer support, data processing, and on-line business processing support services.

Commenting on the expansion, James McGrath, Senior Vice President, stated, “We are very pleased to have the opportunity to expand our service offerings in Sarasota in support of our new client. This opportunity is a great testament to the quality of our employees and the reputation of our offerings. This offers potential employees excellent opportunities today and in the future.”

Source:http://www.sacbee.com/2012/02/06/4243562/protocol-global-solutions-adding.html