We are very sad to learn that Joe Vales, a dear colleague and an outsourcing industry giant and pioneer, passed away on January 12.
We will miss him. But his undeniable and valuable impact on the outsourcing industry will live on, and many buyers and providers of outsourcing services will benefit greatly from his work to make outsourcing more effective.
“Fear and uncertainty gripped the city” . . . “Rumors have been swirling” . . . . A great opening line like these just isn’t coming to mind today for this blog. Nevertheless, the importance of the outsourcing news items I’m blogging about shouldn’t be underestimated. Making my pulse list today are outsourcing developments we should all keep on our radar screens.
But then . . . along came IBM. Amidst countless media articles and industry surveys and reports predicting the adoption of outsourced cloud services are many that point to the inherent security risks and complexities that may slow adoption. But… Read the rest
An article in Government Technology reports that the City of Minneapolis just renewed its contract for IT services with Unisys for another five years. It should add another $2.2 million in savings to the city’s coffers and will expand services to include cloud-based e-mail management, archiving, and retrieval services.
The article quotes Beth Cousins, the city’s interim CIO, as saying the partnership with Unisys is strong and very successful so far.
I’d say that’s almost an understatement. At Outsourcing Center, we selected the Minneapolis / Unisys relationship for two of the annual Outsourcing Excellence… Read the rest
Three statistics caught my eye as important outsourcing news today: #1, 3/4, and 24.
#1 - Congratulations to Océ Business Services!
The Black Book of Outsourcing’s 2010 “State of the Industry” survey ranked Océ as the leading document process outsourcing provider among the Global Top 50 Outsourcing Providers. Océ Business Services received the highest scores of any DPO provider in the three criteria that 6,500 respondents considered to be the most important. These include awareness of requirements, closely followed by the ability to resolve problems as and when they arise, and the skills and resources that providers can bring to the work they… Read the rest
In tracking what’s been pulsating through the outsourcing world recently, two items rose to the top of my list of developments that buyers of outsourcing services should keep on their radar screens.
First is the launch of OPInvoice, Outsource Partners International’s new on-demand end-to-end solution for the Source-to-Pay cycle. This is important not only because of the solution’s capabilities to reduce costs and provide visibility into the process but also because it is OPI’s entry into the world of Platform BPO offerings.
It’s part of a significant trend in providing more predictable value in outsourced services. Look… Read the rest
Look for more outsourcing to occur in the insurance industry. An Ovum research report recently released says insurance companies that don’t take advantage of the benefits of m-commerce technologies will be left behind by their competitors.
Outsourcing is the best strategy for quickly gaining access to these technologies at lower cost and with lower risk as the technologies continue to evolve.
Consumer Health Technologies, Inc. (CHT) today announced the acquisition of MyHealthFunds, Inc. (MHF). MHF is a Denver, Colorado-based consumer directed healthcare services company providing outsourced services for outreach, education, enrollment, business development and fiscal administration to Health Insurance Plans and Third Party Administrators (TPAs).
The acquisition will allow CHT to deliver a complete technology solution coupled with certified and specialized Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services to its CDH client base.
CHT has experienced rapid growth in the last twelve months via a targeted acquisition strategy and organic growth. Read the full press release.
Two outsourcing news items grabbed my attention for today’s Pulse list — one deserving of a thumb’s up, and one a thumbs-down rating.
Thumbs Up
Congratulations to Motif, a global BPO service provider now celebrating its tenth anniversary as an outsourcing firm coinciding with the inauguration of its new delivery center in Costa Rica (adding to its global footprint in the USA, the Philippines, India, Singapore, and Australia).
Thumbs Down
An Ecademy blog focuses on what it calls the “Seven Deadly Sins of Outsourcing.” This blogger makes the Outsourcing Pulse List for using a title focused on sensationalism – something not helpful to outsourcing,… Read the rest
Headline news recently has highlighted several areas of the world where outsourcing is taking a different turn.
Midsized companies are demonstrating a trend of accepting offshore services in outsourcing. Companies in the United States, Europe, and leading banks in Africa, are offshoring to India’s outsourcers.
Wipro is targeting domestic business in China, Korea, and South Africa.
Wipro also established its first data center in Europe, taking over a Citibank center in Germany.
DbyDx Software, an application development firm headquartered in India, is starting to expand its global footprint and announced it’s opening a delivery center in Sunnyvale, California.
The adoption of outsourcing legal functions is booming, especially for offshore service providers. An article in the Deccan Herald points out there are more than 140 legal outsourcing companies in India, some charging one-third less than American law firms’ hourly billable rate. And they’re recruiting North American and European lawyers with experience.
How long will this movement last and how far will it go? The Deccan Herald says it’s “here to stay.”
But a New York Times blogger points out a potential problem that has already impacted other business processes commonly outsourced to India.
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