Watching expenses like a hawk has been the hallmark of companies that have survived the global recession. So, when did you sign your last outsourcing contract? Specifically, a contract that includes offshore workers, especially in India?
If the answer is July 2011 or earlier, there’s a good chance you’re paying as much as 20 percent too much. Here’s why.
1. The foreign exchange rate. For a decade the exchange rate between the Indian rupee and the US dollar has stayed fairly steady. But last August the rupee suddenly got weaker (meaning the rate went up) against the dollar.
To me, it’s always good business to do well by doing good. That’s the spirit in which Wipro established its rural BPO program in Manjakuddi, a village with a population of 2500. A large percentage of the 54 employees live in a house with a thatched roof. The village is six hours by car from Chennai.
The mover and shaker behind this project is Puneet Chandra, global head and vice president, Corporate Business Services, who was moved by the work of two institutions:
- The Azim Premji Foundation, whose goal is to educate the girl child in rural India
- Swami
Stop people on the street and the answer to that question is obvious. Of course!
Does this happen to you, my outsourcing colleagues? You go somewhere. Start talking to people. They ask what you do. You mention outsourcing. And then you have to don a bomb suit like the munitions squad wears to shield you from the ugly invective that follows. Specifically, they are furious that American companies are using outsourcing service providers who are then offshoring the work.
This is 2011. We’ve been offshoring for a decade. I am still amazed at the misunderstandings out there about the… Read the rest
If I hear one more person complain that outsourcing is the major reason for the seemingly intractable U.S. unemployment rate, I will scream. I live in Las Vegas, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. Here is a quote from a letter to the editor of the local paper dated July 13:
Headline: “Nation’s jobs have gone overseas to the detriment of the U.S.”
Letter: “All I hear is, “Where are the jobs? The answer is they are overseas. … I don’t see other countries sending their jobs to the USA. How come?”
The jingoistic… Read the rest
Procurement outsourcing is maturing. Buyers in the first wave outsourced primarily transactional-rules-based activities, with labor arbitrage in low-cost countries being a key benefit. As those relationships mature, buyers look to their providers to create additional value beyond labor arbitrage. I talked with two Infosys BPO executives, Srikrishna Koneru, Global Sourcing & Procurement Outsourcing-Solution Design Head, and Rajiv Gupta, Geo Business Manager, about procurement/sourcing trends, how Infosys is helping its customers move up stream and capture more value, and about how Infosys’ Joint Innovation Board benefits customers.
Q: How does the value proposition differ in “sourcing support” compared to “procurement,” in… Read the rest
Research firm Forrester reports TCS received the overall highest customer reference scores among the 19 service providers it evaluated for its recent report, ”The Forrester Wave™: Global IT Infrastructure Outsourcing, Q1 2011.”
Assessed on 36 criteria in three categories (current offering, strategy, and market presence), TCS was ranked as a Leader for global IT infrastructure outsourcing.
The long-term evolution of industries has long been studied. A small market grows when competitors fill niches and primary demand increases. Innovation sparks products. Services refinement and differentiation then occurs. More providers enter the market and then, as the growth cycle matures, scale and leverage become forces for consolidation. Now joining those ranks: the IT and business process outsourcing industry.
Three recent transactions – HP buys EDS, Dell buys Perot Systems, and Xerox purchases ACS – point to a future where “one-stop shopping” indeed becomes a reality in the outsourcing market.
With IBM Global Services leading this pack of “full-service” providers, what… Read the rest
The Shared Services and Outsourcing Network announced the winners of the 2011 Excellence Awards winners for the Australasian Region.
Congrats to Infosys, which featured prominently among the winners, in two separate awards categories:
Excellence in Customer Service
National Australia Bank – In Partnership with InfosysPeople’s Choice Award for Personal Contribution to the Industry
Asheesh Mehra, Head of BPO – Asia Pacific, Japan and Middle East, Infosys
The awards recognize organizations that demonstrate leading best practices while generating measurable results in shared services and outsourcing. The focus of this year’s awards shifted from “best in” to “excellence in,” a… Read the rest
The provider’s sales team has gone, all site visits have been conducted, and the contract has been buttoned down. It has been a smooth transition; now it’s time to put offshore delivery and support to the test of meeting business demands. But, in the new outsourced environment, how do you know whether the objectives against which the provider’s teams are managed are favorable to your goals?
In outsourcing, the key raw materials are people and their abilities. Delivery teams are incentivized to control the cost of people through a series of measures. By understanding these measures, you can… Read the rest
News reports over the past two weeks highlight the movement of midsized Indian service providers, Firstsource Solutions, WNS Global Services, and Intelenet Global Services deeper into North America instead of Europe. Others are moving deeper into Latin America and China. China’s outsourcing providers are taking hold in North America. Over the years I’ve followed and written about outsourcing, I’ve pointed out that competition in the service provider landscape is good for the buyers.
But maybe not. Let’s look at the bigger picture.
When a competing provider enters a market, an incumbent provider’s customers are vulnerable. The “hunters” on the new… Read the rest
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