Economic Crime and Public Sector Offshoring

eGov Monitor
Mark Kobayashi-Hillary, Global Research Director of Commonwealth Business Council Technologies lays out a strong case for public sector IT teams to play a proactive role in combating economic crimes that cost the UK economy an estimated £100m per day. Economic crime has come of age in a digital society where we now entrust our identity and finances on a daily basis to organisations across the world. Once considered to be a victimless nuisance and glossed over or relegated to the latter pages of the business press it has come to the fore in recent years with high-profile prosecutions and a post-7/7 focus on terrorist financing. more...

Challenges before Indian call centres

Domain-b.com
The Indian contact centre market continues to grow, providing offshore investors with services at prices that are much lower than those found in western locations. Investors across verticals in both North America and the United Kingdom have been quick to use Indian call centre services, and despite recent negative press, evidence suggests that this trend is set to continue. However, market maturity and increased competition from other emerging offshore locations means outsourcing service providers will need to overcome significant challenges. Peter Ryan, call centre and CRM analyst with independent market analyst Datamonitor (DTM.L), explains. more...

Offshoring 101: How to minimize the risk to your career

Computerworld
The debate surrounding offshoring may have cooled somewhat in recent months, but many IT professionals in the U.S. remain concerned about losing their jobs to employees overseas. Little wonder, considering that a white paper released late last year by Ventoro, an offshoring research and consulting firm, showed that 95% of Fortune 1,000 firms currently have an offshore strategy in place. The report also indicated that a sizable number of companies are planning to explore offshore options or increase spending in this area. However, even if you've begun to hear rumblings within your organization about moving some IT operations overseas, a number of factors may prevent your firm from doing so: more...

How to keep data safe when outsourcing offshore

Computerworld
As U.S. businesses, policy-makers and security experts work to stem the tide of data thefts, an equal or greater vulnerability lurks overseas -- the level of network and physical security at outsourced operations of U.S. corporations. Cheap labor and increased efficiencies continue to drive major U.S. companies to open and expand offshore operations throughout India, Southeast Asia and Europe. India's National Association of Software and Service Companies reported recently that India's outsourcing industry is creating jobs at the rate of nearly 100,000 a year, and its revenue is growing at more than 40% annually. Analyst firm Gartner Inc. estimates that global spending on offshore outsourcing services will top $50 billion by 2007. Many of these outsourced operations involve handling and processing customer transactions and sensitive personal information, exposing outsourcing facilities to the same risk of data theft occurring domestically. As U.S. companies increase operations abroad, many aren't ramping up IT or physical security measures at these locations to manage that growth. more...

India to lead outsourcing bandwagon: TPI

Siliconindia.com
Offshore outsourcing is set for increased growth and India will continue to be the leading destination on the back of good quality and first mover advantage, according to the latest research by sourcing advisory firm TPI. The research, based on a survey of 100 senior UK executives responsible for outsourcing within large companies, reveals that 81 percent plan to increase their offshore outsourcing over the next 2 to 3 years, while only 4 percent expect to decrease it. While India continues to enjoy its first mover advantage, being used by 75 percent of survey respondents, there is close competition for second place, between Central and Eastern Europe (28 percent) and China (25 percent), according to the study. more...

European Companies Show Keen Interest in the Philippines' IT Services

PRWeb
The Philippine business mission to Europe was met by a dozen of companies eager to do business with the Philippines' IT and IT-enabled firms, according to the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM).According to CITEM, "The response from the business community in Europe was encouraging. We have to keep them in our radar screen if we are to remain competitive in the business process outsourcing (BPO) space." Local enterprises which visited Europe operate in various IT outsourcing areas such as contact centers (Advanced Contact Solutions (ACS), Vision X, and Teletech Holdings, Inc.); contact center solutions and technology (Alliance Technologies and Diversified Technology Systems Inc.); financial services and accounting, publishing and transcription (SPI Technologies, SENCOR); architectural and engineering requirements outsourcing (Environments Collaborative) and project management of outsourcing needs (Invent Asia). more...