Tech Mahindra will be rolling out a wider range of services for the MEA region’s telco providers

Tech Mahindra, the IT arm of the Mahindra & Mahindra Group, is looking to expand its reach in the West Asia and Africa (MEA) region by tapping into newer markets and industry verticals, as well as forge new strategic partnerships with key businesses, to drive revenues.

Toward this objective, the systems integrator and business transformation consulting organisation has said it will reinforce its leadership and focus across operations in the region. In line with this move, Tech Mahindra recently appointed Girish Bhat as the new vice-president of sales and operations for MEA region. He is expected to drive business and synergies for the company.

The increasing popularity of business process outsourcing (BPO) and security solutions has made these areas new focal points for growth across the MEA region.

Tech Mahindra announced that it will be rolling out a wider range of services for the MEA region’s telco providers, adding new offerings like value-added services (VAS), BPO, e-security, infrastructure management and network services.

“As the whole MEA region moves toward recovering from the impact left by the recent economic downturn, local telco providers have demonstrated a key shift in their IT spending practices, revealing a concentration on acquiring turnkey outsourcing of applications across the business support services (BSS)/operations support services (OSS) segments,” said Bhat.

Bhat has more than 22 years of industry experience that spans diverse geographies. Prior to his new position, he served as the head of the Africa region at Tech Mahindra, where his leadership skills and strong business acumen were instrumental in strengthening the company’s business in the continent.

In the late afternoon, Tech Mahindra was trading at around Rs575 per share on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 3.65% up from the previous close.

Source:http://www.moneylife.in/article/tech-mahindra-to-focus-on-west-asia-africa-operations/22214.html

Advisors today released the MW Index®, the first-ever Index measuring enterprise Relevant Products/Services value of technology services companies. The Index reveals that SaaS Relevant Products/Services companies have increased in value by 313% since January 2009, more than double the growth in value of other tech services sectors and outpacing the NASDAQ average growth rate of 168%.

The MW Index is a proprietary analysis by martinwolf, a leading middle market IT Relevant Products/Services M&A advisory. The MW Index is an index whose securities are weighted according to the market value of their outstanding shares. It measures 120 companies traded in the U.S. stock markets (NYSE, NASDAQ and OTC) in the following categories:

• IT Services & Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) – 52 companies, including 7 in BPO
• IT Supply Chain Services – 23 companies
• Software – 45 companies, including 20 in SaaS

The MW Index starts on December 31, 2007 with a value of 1,000. All companies in the Index are on Scoreboard (see: http://martinwolf.com/mw-intelligence).

According to the Index, the January 1, 2009 versus October 31, 2011 enterprise values in each sector were as follows:

•IT Services & BPO +150% growth — (from 708.02 to 1062.45)
•IT Supply Chain +142% growth — (from 559.68 to 793.97)
•Software +154% growth — (from 663.10 to 1021.92)
•SaaS +313% growth — (from 465.97 to 1459.29)

•NASDAQ (actual) +168% growth (from 1540.25 to 2592.41)

According to Marty Wolf, president & founder of martinwolf, “For the next 24 months we expect SaaS companies to continue to increase in value. Growth for SaaS companies in specialized services such as financial services and healthcare will be especially strong. In addition, the growth of specialized SaaS offerings such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) will outpace SaaS growth in the same period.

Source:http://www.newsfactor.com/news/Index-of-Enterprise-Value-Released/story.xhtml?story_id=020000CLGA88

Tech Mahindra and Spanco today denied reports of mass job cuts at their Nigerian call centres, which manage services for Airtel, and said they plan to expand outsourcing operations in the African country.
The Nigerian media had reported that Tech Mahindra and Spanco were planning to retrench 50% of the call center agents as part of cost-cutting measures.
The media reports had led to widespread protests by agents, following which the IT companies had to close their call centres on September 30.
The two IT companies in a joint statement said, “There is no issue of mass sack but expiration of existing contracts. Prior to the expiration of the contracts, we had engaged representatives of the Agents and that of the organised Labour on how to manage their transition to our roll.”
“Due to a lack of consensus on the way forward and an apparent threat to our facilities by some of the agents, we were compelled to suspend operations at the call centres last Friday, September 30, 2011.”
Sources said Airtel operations were not affected with the development.
Airtel had entered into an agreement with Tech Mahindra and Spanco in October last year for outsourcing of core customer service functions of African operations. Airtel currently has over 40 million customers across its African countries.
Tech Mahindra and Sapnco said they jointly inherited over 1,600 Call Centre agents from Bezaleel, HR Index and CCSNL who hitherto provided agents for the company known then as Zain.
The contract existing between Indian companies and two of the agencies namely CCSNL and HR Index expired effective Friday September 30, 2011. The third agency, Bezaleel’s, contract will expire in January 2012.
The statement further said the companies have plans to recruit new agents and also offer some of the affected agents a new contract with attendant salaries and benefits based on their qualifications and experience.
“Our vision is to expand the Call Centre business in Nigeria to 5000 capacity, ultimately. On the issue of salaries, we state categorically that as world class organizations, we offer our employees remuneration and benefits comparable to standards across the world and in compliance with the working and labour laws of Nigeria,” the call center operators said.

Source:http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/tech-mahindra-spanco-plans-to-expand-nigerian-call-centres_594581.html

Tech Mahindra, an IT outsourcing company offering web development, Offshore development, application development, software development and is part of the Mahindra Group, has released the consolidated financial results for its first quarter ending June 30, 2011, revealing a 15.4% Year-on-Year (YoY) growth in global revenue.

The report shows that revenue for the first quarter reached $289.8m, up by a 4.1% Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) growth. The company has also revealed some new wins during the first quarter for the Middle East and African (MEA) regions. With multiple projects underway across the Middle East, Tech Mahindra is enjoying penetration levels in GCC countries exceeding 100%. Operators are currently seized with the issue of controlling costs, increasing revenues and sweating assets. Tech Mahindra aims at addressing these issues by enabling businesses to focus on core business and handle key functions like IT and networks. Present trends also show an increased focus on market segmentation and customer loyalty.

In the Middle East region, Tech Mahindra has strong relationships with all operators and the company plans to focus on expanding its footprint in Saudi Arabia and are investing in efforts to make that happen. While Tech Mahindra has successfully done projects in the IT space covering OSS, BSS, ERP, EAI etc, the strategy is to offer a broader range of services to operators covering VAS, BPO, e-Security, Infrastructure Management Services and Network Services also to customers and prospects in the Middle East.

Some of the company’s offerings can be leveraged across key industry verticals. One that offers itself immediately is e-Security, where it has already started working with a leading bank in Dubai. In addition, software testing and infra services are areas where the company plans to use the Mahindra Satyam customer or prospect base to seek revenue streams. Also, with the recent contracts around Managed Services, Tech Mahindra has positioned resources and also hired resources locally. BPO and Security are new areas of growth in addition to systems integration work and managed services.

“Middle East and Africa are clearly the emerging markets that are crucial for our growth,” said Krishna Gopal, Vice President, MEA – Sales, Tech Mahindra. “These markets offer us the opportunity to develop and showcase some of our high end capabilities in terms of consulting, system integration and managed services. Our wins and healthy ongoing traction bears testimony to our growth momentum in the region and we will continue to leverage the same.”

Tech Mahindra also reported that revenue, in terms of a constant currency basis, came to $284.1m, which increased by 2% QoQ. The company’s operating profit was $54.1m and showed an increase of 16.6% YoY. Profit After Tax (PAT) was $61.7m, driving in a 96.3% YoY increase and a 203.6% QoQ. Tech Mahindra has also posted a total head count of 42,850 with 27,920 software professionals, 13,804 BPO employees and a support staff of 1,126. The company added 4,517 personnel during the first quarter, where 2,793 were in BPO.

“We continue to build our business portfolio at a measured pace, despite low discretionary spend in the telecom vertical. This has been enabled by our diversification into new geographies and customers,” said Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Tech Mahindra.

Other developments during the first quarter include the announcement of Nigeria as the headquarters for Tech Mahindra’s BPO operations in Africa with operations already commencing in Gabon. Also, the company has been selected by Microsoft to set up an authorized Encoder Conformance Testing Lab (ECT Lab) for video encoders used in deployment of IPTV solutions on Microsoft Media room based platforms.

“We have aligned ourselves with changing customer priorities and needs, which has helped us navigate in these volatile times. Our continued focus on core competencies has enabled us to show sustained growth across our key clients and geographies. The changing macro economic conditions could pose new challenges, which we are closely monitoring,” concluded Vineet Nayyar, Vice Chairman, MD and CEO of Tech Mahindra.

Source:http://www.ameinfo.com/273008.html

Tech Mahindra wins multi-million dollar BPO business in the Philippines, will also expand its footprint in Africa

Tech Mahindra, India’s fifth largest software exporter has announced its plans to set up BPO operations in the Philippines. The company has recently signed a multi-million dollar deal, as one of the preferred BPO partners for strategic outsourcing with a leading full-service telecommunications company in the Philippines, according to a company release. The deal is spread over a period of three years. Tech Mahindra will provide the client with contact centre support for sales and back office, customer care and technical support for their wireless post-paid, landline and broadband customers. The end-customer mix will include both retail as well as high-end business customers of the client. Tech Mahindra has set up the contact centre at Manila to enable and deliver these services to the client and has already recruited over 600 associates locally. The past year saw Tech Mahindra opening centres in Nigeria, Zambia, Malawi, Ghana and Gabon, while Congo DRC and Congo B are expected to start operations within the next few months. According to Sujit Baksi, president-corporate affairs & BPO, Tech Mahindra, “The Philippines is not only a key market for us, but also a strategic location from where we plan to service our global clients. We look forward to strengthening our presence in Philippines through our engagement with one of the leading players in the Philippines telecom industry and will actively support our client’s innovative plans to address the mobile telephony and broadband services market.” At 15:59 hours, Tech Mahindra was trading Rs670.25 (2.5%) down on the BSE. The Sensex was 463.33 points down at 18,534.69 at this time.

Source:http://www.moneylife.in/article/tech-mahindra-starts-bpo-operations-in-the-philippines/16075.html

New Zealand is the ideal country to expand the global outsourcing website freelancer.com, its chief executive says.

The Sydney-based company is launching a New Zealand version of its site and Matt Barrie said it’s a “great place to kick off” its global expansion because New Zealanders have a global perspective.

“New Zealand is the land of the small business,” he told NZI Business today.

Barrie said NZ is geographically remote but is “very technologically savvy” and New Zealanders are “renowned as early adopters”.

Freelancer claims to already connect over 1.8 million employers with freelance workers from around the world and Barrie said it is about outsourcing work at a fraction of the cost paid locally.

It’s a bit like Trade Me, he says, with small businesses looking to place small jobs from $30 to $200.

He explained a job is posted and freelancers around the world are notified within seconds – about 30 to 40 people usually bid.

Barrie says freelancer.com is very popular with a huge amount of traffic and the site has just hit 800,000 jobs globally.

He said they have outsourced about $NZ88 million worth of work which is roughly equivalent to about half a billion dollars worth of western world jobs.

Although there is a domestic market, Barrie said the work is mostly going from developed countries in the west such as the US, UK and Canada to poorer developing countries like India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

While outsourcing has come under criticism, especially from unions, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive Barrie said, with businesses becoming very competitive and increasing sales while cutting costs.

He said the company provides job opportunities in technical areas that don’t exist, particularly in the developing world. And he claims Freelancer “fills the gap” in a lot of jobs the western world is short of.

IT is the starting point but Barrie said increasingly every job is being digitised and involves an interchange of digital files and digital information.

“As broadband increases different types of jobs to outsource will just increase.”

Source:http://tvnz.co.nz/business-news/tech-savvy-nz-perfect-freelance-expansion-3801888

People are willing to adjust their ideas about privacy if they can benefit from revealing more of their personal information, the CEO of Infosys Technologies said Thursday.

“You allow that privacy to be compromised for a benefit,” CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan said during a talk at MIT’s Emerging Technologies conference. The definition of privacy must now take into account whether personal information is “properly used to give additional benefits,” he said.

His remarks came in a speech about how most everyday items, from appliances to roadways, will contain processors and connect to the Internet. This pervasive network will carry data that generates real-time traffic reports from sensors embedded in roadways or allows a doctor to monitor a patient’s blood pressure remotely, he said.

Gopalakrishnan, whose company is one of India’s largest IT outsourcing providers, estimates that 50 billion to 60 billion devices will be connected to the Internet in the coming decades as processor prices decrease.

“That is an incredible expansion of the network,” he said. “These devices will have intelligence, but most intelligence will rely on the network.”

While some will argue whether such a ubiquitous network sacrifices privacy, Gopalakrishnan contends that technology has already changed the word’s meaning.

“In the digital world you are leaving trails all over the place,” he said.

Simple acts like using a cell phone and buying an airline ticket leave digital “fingerprints,” and closed-circuit cameras are scattered throughout cities like New York and London. But there are positive trade-offs for sharing personal information, he argued. Mobile phones and the Web have made life far more convenient, and closed-circuit cameras can prevent crime and help fight terrorism.

Social networking is a great example of our willingness to give up some of our privacy for what people see as a benefit — being part of an online community of friends.

For the Internet of Things to come about, though, all the legacy devices will need to be gradually upgraded. “The big issue is the legacy problem,” Gopalakrishnan said, “appliances that don’t have sensors because they’re old.”

But he implied that sensor networks will help save money, and there are ways to get around the shortage of sensor-enabled equipment. Infosys developed a power strip, he said, into which devices that lack sensors can be plugged. By controlling devices plugged into the strip, Infosys was able to cut the electricity use in an office 10 percent.

Smart networks will be used for a wide range of things and will lead to changes in data storage and parsing, he said. “This will happen over 20 to 30 years. We will need to develop new databases and analytical tools to use the data.”

Source:http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/206103/infosys_ceo_people_trade_privacy_for_tech_benefits.html

Indian exporters of software and related services are seeking to tap an expected increase in technology spending in the US, their biggest market, but concerns of protectionist barriers in the world’s largest economy are still rife.

Late last month, Congressmen Gary Peters, Tim Bishop and Jerry McNerney proposed another legislation to curb outsourcing to countries such as India. Called the Stop Outsourcing and Create American Jobs Act of 2010, the Bill aims to discourage US firms from shipping jobs overseas.

“Outsourcing has contributed to unprecedented job losses in my home state of Michigan over the past decade,” Peters said in an email on the rationale for the legislation.

Indian software exporters have been hopeful of receiving a boost from the US recovery from recession that prompted US clients to slash technology spending. Industry body Nasscom has forecast that exports would rise to $57 billion (Rs2.65 trillion) in the year to next March from $49.7 billion in the last fiscal.

If enacted, the legislation proposed by Peters, Bishop and McNerney would allow the US government to give preference to firms not engaged in shipping jobs overseas in awarding contracts. It deters US firms from using tax havens and creating jobs overseas by increasing civil and criminal penalties for illegal transactions involving a tax haven country, such as fraud, false claims and tax evasion.

“I don’t believe that the US government should be rewarding companies that move jobs overseas with contracts funded by American taxpayers,” said Peters, a Democratic member of the US House of Representatives. He referred to two non-partisan studies to back his argument. While the Congressional Research Service says 3.4 million service sector US jobs would be outsourced overseas by 2015, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a 2009 study that around 83 of the 100 biggest public corporations have subsidiaries in tax haven countries.

Nasscom has been lobbying with US senators and policymakers for several years now to stop any such legislation from going through.

“Any kind of Bill which penalizes IT outsourcing would lead to distortion in the globalized marketplace,” said Ameet Nivsarkar, vice-president, global trade development, Nasscom. “There have been quite a few Bills aimed at curbing outsourcing that have been introduced recently. The high unemployment rate in the US—9.5% in June—is a big challenge and the government there is trying various ways to create more jobs. But we have to see how many of such legislations are actually passed and become law,” he said.

Infosys Technologies Ltd, India’s second largest software maker, is not feeling the heat of anti-outsourcing sentiment in the US, but is keeping a close watch on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill which yet to be introduced, CEO S. Gopalakrishnan said on Tuesday.

The Bill, being initiated by Senator Charles Schumer, is expected to focus on H-1B and L1 visas given to IT and other professionals and could possibly impose some restrictions on them. Infosys plans to apply for 3,000 visas this fiscal.

“The success of such Bills depends on (the) length to which people would go to stop outsourcing. Barring companies from participating in government contracts could be one of the ways to punish them for outsourcing,” Bala Rajaraman, a partner at consultancy Deloitte, said.

Another cause of worry for the software industry is the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, which is on similar lines as the Stop Outsourcing and Create American Jobs Act. While the former has been passed by the House of Representatives, it is yet to be cleared by the US Senate.

“With the elections to the US Senate scheduled to be held in November, the protectionism sentiment will only rise in the months to come,” said the CEO of a leading business process outsourcing firm, who did not want to be identified.

Source:http://www.livemint.com/2010/07/14220457/Protectionist-US-moves-worry-I.html?atype=tp

The tech outsourcing business is going mainstream. Far from being a service that only big and mighty players like IBM and GE could master, its benefits are more obvious and it’s becoming accessible to a larger number of companies both as beneficiaries and providers. That means the industry’s pioneers have to change their business models and move faster than their new rivals, anticipating what the upcoming challenges and opportunities are, and seizing them.

One such firm is California-based NeoIT, one of the early advisory firms in the business. Neo-IT, run by former techies from companies like Nortel, discovered a niche for itself as a match maker, identifying tech services providers in India for the big multinational global players who were then new to the game, and hadn’t figured out the landscape.

Problem is, the outsourcing industry has been demystified. So that means there isn’t much use for matchmakers anymore, Avinash Vashistha, Neo-IT’s founder. “Everyone is smart about who to join with, what their expertise is, what the requirements are, which countries, which players offer what, who the legacy systems experts are, the enterprise services, the insurance experts. It’s all there on the Nasscom Web site. That edge of information is gone just by Googling,” he says.

What’s the next level, then? Four months ago, Vashishta started a new firm, Tholons, to lead the new wave. The large firms are starting to integrate their offshore outsourcing and onshore outsourcing models, he explains. The big ones are doing a mix of both, and so Vashistha will partner with consultants like TPI, Everest and even Boston Consulting Group to help big firms identify performance standards, and potential acquisition targets which can be a good fit for the company’s outsourcing needs. “Normally they’d go to the investment bankers,” says Vashistha. “But we bring more value because we are insiders in the business, and know which players will benefit from being acquired or acquiring.”

But the most interesting part of Tholons’ strategy will benefit small and medium sized companies, which have not been able to take full advantage of the outsourcing game. “Now the small guys will have a chance to play the big game,” says Vashishta. Because small firms can’t pay Tholons’ fat fees, Vashistha asks for a piece of their equity in lieu of payment, and promises them doubled profits by advising them what to offshore and how to save costs. So if Tholons takes a 50% stake in a small, $10 million in revenues firm that needs to offshore its business to survive, Tholons helps them navigate, watches their performance, and then when business grows to $20 million in revenues, they split the profits.

Tholons has raised $35 million from the hedge funds, and Vashistha says they can have more. So far, there have been no deals, but the firm expects to do four over the next 12 months.

Source:http://www.businessweek.com/blogs/eyeonasia/archives/2006/06/a_new_face_in_tech_services.html

HCL Technologies on Wednesday said that the company has registered a profit of Rs. 262.57 crore for the third quarter ending March 31. In percentage terms, it means that it has increased by 72 per cent for the period as compared to last year.

The company which is into the business of software outsourcing said that it has managed to show such an increase since it went for many strategic moves.

HCL Tech also reported a total income of Rs. 1,287.11 crore, that is higher than the Rs. 1,048.90 crore reported last year. The figures have been calculated based on the Indian Accounting Standards, it said in its filing with the BSE.

Post the profits, the board of the company has proposed an interim dividend of Re. 1 per share with a face value of Rs. 2.

Talking about the same, Shiv Nadar the Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of HCL Tech said that the post-recession phase has been transformational for the company. He also added that he was sure that the company with its unique position can face any tough situation.

The company has 58,129 employees working for it at present.

Source:http://www.topnews.in/hcl-tech-reports-high-q3-results-2259322

As India’s top tech firms chase nearly $15 billion worth of outsourcing contracts to be renewed this year by global customers, they face increased competition from multinational rivals offering price discounts.

Around 422 outsourcing contracts, worth nearly $15 billion, are set to expire this year, providing an opportunity to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro, according to outsourcing experts.

“The time when Indian companies had a price advantage over non-Indian ones is gone,” said Siddharth (Sid) A Pai, partner & managing director at outsourcing advisory firm TPI India. “Global players have lower operating margin expectation and thus greater flexibility to offer discounts,” he added.

Multinational rivals IBM, Accenture, and Capgemini have increased their India presence to offer lower prices to clients by offshoring more projects to the country. At the peak of the economic downturn, global majors offered 35-50 percent discounts on high-end services, and continue to offer 8-10 percent discount till date, said Arup Roy, senior research analyst at Gartner.

Operating margin, or profitability, of Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Wipro are between 17-30 percent, compared with 11-16 percent for Accenture and IBM. “Their Indian counterparts have an established reputation in financial markets of delivering higher margins, which will make it harder for them to offer lower billing rates, Mr Pai added.

TPI estimates that nearly two-thirds of the $15-billion deals are currently with companies from US and Western Europe. Around 89 percent of renegotiated deals are awarded to the incumbent outsourcing partner, Mr Pai added.

As an aftermath of the global slowdown, most of the remaining deals will go to larger, established Indian companies. An analyst with a domestic brokerage said India’s top-five IT outsourcing companies can easily expect $3.5 billion worth of new deals this year.

Large deals are being broken down and customers are outsourcing to multiple vendors where earlier there was only one. Accenture’s percentage of revenue from contracts, in which it is the only partner, has fallen from 60 percent to 50 percent in one year, said an analyst with an MNC brokerage who asked not to be named. Indian companies stand to gain from this, he added.

Volume of business outsourced to India, including to MNC operations in the country, is expected to rise to 40 percent of total outsourcing by the end of 2010 from 23 percent last year, he said.

“Outsourcing revenue from India will double.” Yet these new contracts will come at around 5 percent lower billing rates, according to an average estimate of five analysts. New business would account for around 20 percent of total business, given faster client addition affecting realised billing rates by 1 percent if all else remains constant.

Indian companies may also need to forgo some margins as clients aim for better service, which vendors have to commit to at the start of the contract, said Mr Pai of TPI.

“Companies will change services mix and billing models to absorb this hit,” the MNC brokerage analyst said.

Clients are also beginning to pay a premium for more onsite presence and alternate locations to India for some functions, which puts Indian players at a disadvantage, Mr Pai of TPI, that helps clients negotiate outsourcing deals, said.

Mr Roy of Gartner added: “Indian companies have several challenges to cope with like linearity in business model, high dependence on few countries and regions and high business volume from low end services such as application management.”

Source:http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/tacsf_wit_mncs-local-cos-slug-it-out-for-tech-deals-886873.html

Government and business spending on information technology will grow 6.6 percent in 2010, a new report from Forrester Research says.

IT spending will grow “at more than twice the rate of gross domestic product this year,” company vice president and principal analyst Andrew Bartels noted. IT spending in the U.S. dropped 8.2 percent last year.

GDP is projected to grow about 3 percent this year, economists polled for the most recent Blue Chip Economic Indicators report say.

On a global basis, Forrester Research reports, IT spending is expected to rise 8.1 percent in 2010 after falling 8.9 percent in 2009. Hardware and software spending will increase the most – 8.2 and 9.7 percent, respectively – and expenditures on IT outsourcing are anticipated to grow 7.1 percent.

Businesses may spend more on smartphones and other connectivity devices in 2010. Smart mobile devices like iPhones and BlackBerry phones will see rapid uptake this year, Morgan Stanley suggested late in December: Smart mobile uptake is growing five times faster than desktop internet uptake did.

Source:http://job-news.odesk.com/technology-platform-news/tech-spending-will-grow-significantly-in-2010-report/

India’s IT sector has moved on from being a “low-cost IT service” to the world to being a “high-value business facilitator”and the country can no longer depend on cost advantage alone but look to deliver value, according to VK Mathews, convenor of the IT panel of CII’s Kerala state council.

Speaking at the CII-Kerala IT department organized India IT Summit here, Mr Mathews said the Indian IT sector had contributed more as an “exporting producer of software” during 2000-2009 rather than a consumer of IT, and that the industry had transitioned through body shopping to system development/maintenance to strategic IT outsourcing.

Tracing the transformation of the tech sector in the country, he said it was underlined by MNCs setting up massive offshore centers in India, emergence of big Indian IT companies, and hundreds of thousands of university students opting to graduate in IT-related subjects.

Mr Mathews said cost and scalability were key contributions of the tech sector and that technology and process competence were the key strengths.

Pointing to the changing trends in the sector, he said the role of IT was fast changing from that of supporting to transforming businesses, with customers wanting to relate IT with value. This, in turn, has put the onus on IT companies to explore how IT can help reduce cost of business and manage growth.

Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandan said the state government planned to invest nearly Rs 2,000 crore during 2009-11 towards infrastructure development at its IT parks, and invited IT companies to participate “in the e-governance journey of the state and help make it a success”.

He said the state government had declared free and open source software as the medium for software application in the state, and welcomed companies working in the free and open source domain to make Kerala their base.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/ites/Indian-tech-sector-seen-to-have-turned-biz-facilitator/articleshow/5324306.cms

The Kolkata operation of Tech Mahindra (TechM), the telecom software arm of the Mahindra Group, is picking up steam. The company’s 1,000-member Kolkata team has just been asked to execute a string of mega telecom outsourcing contracts for South Africa’s MTN, UAE’s Etisalat and Saudi Telecom, a senior official familiar with the matter told ET.

Not only is TechM developing advanced business intelligence solutions for MTN’s Nigerian operation out of Kolkata, it is also doing a sizeable chunk of the systems integration work for Etisalat and Saudi Telecom’s greenfield rollouts in India and Bahrain, respectively.

“Since the rollout of any greenfield mobile network involves installation of diverse network equipment and business support systems procured from multiple vendors, systems integration is a critical exercise. That is what Tech Mahindra is doing for Etisalat and Saudi Telecom through its delivery centres like the one in Kolkata,” said a source close to developments.

Mum’s the word at Tech Mahindra on the Etisalat, Saudi Telecom and MTN outsourcing deals being implemented by the Kolkata team. In response to ET’s email query on the details of these contracts, a Tech Mahindra spokesman wrote back: “As a company policy, we do not comment on client information or market speculation.”

Be that as it may, the latest developments come at a time when Tech Mahindra is ramping up its Kolkata operation in a big way. Indications are that the company’s upcoming 12-acre campus in the Bantala IT SEZ in the city’s eastern fringes will house the operations of its IT/telecom software development delivery centre and its BPO unit. Close to 2,000 IT professionals will initially work at this campus that is slated to become operational by December 2010. Once fully ramped up, it will be equipped to hold close to 4000 professionals.

At present, Tech Mahindra’s IT services and BPO operations happen out of separate facilities in the city. What is, however, not known is whether its Bantala SEZ will also house the city operations of Mahindra Satyam. Tech Mahindra recently surrendered the 2.77-acre plot that was alloted by the West Bengal government to Satyam Computers for a software development facility at Salt Lake Sector V, which never happened.

“Tech Mahindra, which now owns Satyam Computer, has decided to surrender the 2.77-acre plot as it says it is setting up a brand new IT campus at the Bantala IT SEZ. We have no information at this stage whether the campus will also include the offices of Mahindra Satyam,” said a senior official in the state IT department.

Source : http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2714041/

The Kolkata operation of Tech Mahindra (TechM), the telecom software arm of the Mahindra Group, is picking up steam. The company’s 1,000-member Kolkata team has just been asked to execute a string of mega telecom outsourcing contracts for South Africa’s MTN, UAE’s Etisalat and Saudi Telecom, a senior official familiar with the matter told ET.

Not only is TechM developing advanced business intelligence solutions for MTN’s Nigerian operation out of Kolkata, it is also doing a sizeable chunk of the systems integration work for Etisalat and Saudi Telecom’s greenfield rollouts in India and Bahrain, respectively.

“Since the rollout of any greenfield mobile network involves installation of diverse network equipment and business support systems procured from multiple vendors, systems integration is a critical exercise. That is what Tech Mahindra is doing for Etisalat and Saudi Telecom through its delivery centres like the one in Kolkata,” said a source close to developments.

Mum’s the word at Tech Mahindra on the Etisalat, Saudi Telecom and MTN outsourcing deals being implemented by the Kolkata team. In response to ET’s email query on the details of these contracts, a Tech Mahindra spokesman wrote back: “As a company policy, we do not comment on client information or market speculation.”

Be that as it may, the latest developments come at a time when Tech Mahindra is ramping up its Kolkata operation in a big way. Indications are that the company’s upcoming 12-acre campus in the Bantala IT SEZ in the city’s eastern fringes will house the operations of its IT/telecom software development delivery centre and its BPO unit. Close to 2,000 IT professionals will initially work at this campus that is slated to become operational by December 2010. Once fully ramped up, it will be equipped to hold close to 4000 professionals.

At present, Tech Mahindra’s IT services and BPO operations happen out of separate facilities in the city. What is, however, not known is whether its Bantala SEZ will also house the city operations of Mahindra Satyam. Tech Mahindra recently surrendered the 2.77-acre plot that was alloted by the West Bengal government to Satyam Computers for a software development facility at Salt Lake Sector V, which never happened.

“Tech Mahindra, which now owns Satyam Computer, has decided to surrender the 2.77-acre plot as it says it is setting up a brand new IT campus at the Bantala IT SEZ. We have no information at this stage whether the campus will also include the offices of Mahindra Satyam,” said a senior official in the state IT department.

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/ites/Tech-Mahindra-to-execute-contracts-for-MTN-Etisalat/articleshow/5308975.cms

Indian outsourcer Tech Mahindra is considering a new business process outsourcing operation in the Philippines, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed source.

An affiliate of utility vehicles maker Mahindra & Mahindra, the outsourcer already has offshore centres in Ireland and the UK. A Tech Mahindra spokesman did not respond to phone calls for comment.

Source : http://www.dnaindia.com/money/report_tech-mahindra-to-consider-bpo-unit-in-philippines-report_1319103

India’s fraud-hit outsourcing giant Satyam defended itself against police allegations that the scale of its false accounting scandal was far larger than originally believed.

Last week, police said the fraud enmeshing Satyam totalled more than three billion dollars — double the amount suspected when the revelations broke in January.

“Allegations regarding the magnitude of investor harm or historical misstatements in the company’s accounting records do not necessarily shed light on the present financial position and liabilities,” Satyam said late Tuesday.

The statement marked the first detailed response by Mahindra Satyam — as the company is now called — on the deepening scandal.

Satyam founder B. Ramalinga Raju stunned India’s financial world 11 months ago by declaring he had overstated profits for years and inflated the company’s balance sheet.
The Hyderabad-based company, which is defending lawsuits in the US, also reiterated on Tuesday that it could not quantify its potential liability in those lawsuits.
Satyam was ranked as India’s fourth-largest information technology services group by revenues when the scandal broke. Its clients included some of the world’s biggest firms such as Nestle, General Electric and General Motors.

The trial of Raju and other defendants is expected to begin on December 9, according to a report last month in India’s Mint newspaper.
All suspects are in custody in Hyderabad on charges of conspiracy, cheating, forgery and falsification of accounts.

The suspects had allegedly used various methods to swindle money including forging board resolutions to illegally obtain loans, using fake invoices to get money and falsifying other accounts.

In April, Satyam was taken over by the mid-sized Indian computer outsourcer Tech Mahindra, part of leading Indian vehicle maker Mahindra and Mahindra, for nearly 600 million dollars.

Source : http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ip3MH8uqLzh5Y6BGoZvc6Gd3aW9w

Salt River Project officials said Tuesday they decided not to outsource about 50 technology jobs, which the utility has been considering for several months.

After requesting information from local and global outsourcing companies earlier this year, SRP asked for formal bids from an Irish and an Indian company.

SRP could save money by outsourcing the jobs, but the up-front costs are too much for the company to take on during the current recession, Assistant General Manager Barbara Hoffnagle said.

Outsourcing the jobs would cost money up front because the new contract workers would have to work side by side with SRP employees for about a year to learn their jobs, she said.

“I know there was initial euphoria among the employees,” she said of the decision. “But the heavy lifting has just begun.”

She said that after consulting with Accenture Ltd. of Ireland and Infosys Technologies Ltd. of India, she believes the information-technology department at SRP can make significant cuts to its $120 million annual budget.

The 40 to 50 jobs SRP was looking to outsource represent only a small fraction of that IT budget, Hoffnagle said.

“There were cost savings (with outsourcing), but not as high as anticipated,” she said of the bids from Accenture and Infosys. “They certainly could help us.”

Hoffnagle declined to answer how much money SRP could save after the first year by using one of the companies, or whether Accenture or Infosys presented a better offer.

She said outsourcing could be an option when the economy rebounds and the up-front costs are not such a critical issue.

“Never say never,” she said.

Like Arizona Public Service Co., the other Phoenix-area utility, SRP uses some workers from outsourcing companies for supplemental contract work in its IT department.

APS’ Chief Financial Officer James Hatfield got in a heated debate with a state regulator in September regarding his company’s outsourcing efforts.

APS asked all the companies bidding on contract labor for its IT department to provide rates for onshore and offshore labor, which Hatfield said was “the cheapest way to get the job done and keep the permanent payroll down.”

Source: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/2009/11/03/20091103biz-srp1104.html