Accenture Achieves Meets Gold Standard Using IEX Workforce Management System

TMCNet
Accenture Ltd. is committed to providing innovative consulting, technology and outsourcing services designed to help customers transform their operations into high performance business units. On behalf of its outsourcing clients, Accenture operates contact centers all over the world, including India. As a result of the widespread adoption of offshore outsourcing, Accenture’s India sites have grown rapidly. Faced with mounting pressure to maintain high standards of service quality throughout the rapid growth period, Accenture had to quickly ramp up its operations to support the centers’ in reaching and sustaining a high performance environment. Critical contact center tools were not operating as required and cost controls were strained due to a high rise in growth and client expectations. more...

Israeli women power to combat Indian BPO

Hindustan Times
India’s hegemony in BPO is facing a new challenge with Israeli high-tech companies developing own progamming centres and hiring hundreds of women for cheap and quality labour to combat offshore outsourcing to the country. With the Israeli government providing a programme that supports each employee with a monthly subsidy of N.I.S.1,000 for five years, high-tech companies like Matrix Talpiot, Imagestore Systems have opened programming centres in Kiryat Sefer and have hired Haredi women for the job.Kiryat Sefer, also known as Modi'in Illit, a Haredi town located between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, has seen more than 250 haredi women hired over the past year. Haredis are a religious sect. "Global high-tech companies such as Comverse and Amdocs outsource today to India and Eastern Europe. This creates a big problem for unemployment in Israel. This project is a way of keeping work in Israel and one which provides an alternative to offshore outsourcing," said Ronen Engler, vice president of sales and marketing of Matrix Talpiot, was quoted by the Jerusalem Post. more...

PWC survey: Financial services firms looking offshore

Computerworld
Financial services firms expect to double offshore use by 2008 despite widespread dissatisfaction because of cost overruns, difficulties in recruiting and training staff in India and cultural differences, according to a study released this week by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Nigel Vooght, a London-based capital markets advisory leader at PWC, said that many of the problems reported by executives in the survey generally occur in the first year or two and should iron out as companies improve their business and IT processes. PWC surveyed executives in IT and business roles at 156 firms worldwide and found that about a quarter of the companies send 10% to 20% of their head count offshore in the business process and IT areas. In three years, PWC estimated, half of those firms will be offshoring. "There is a lot of demand from a lot of players for the trained and educated resources," said Vooght, adding that companies working offshore are developing more Western-like approaches to retaining employees, such as improving benefits. more...

ABN AMRO signs contracts with IT vendors

ABN AMRO
ABN AMRO announced on 16 December 2004 that it would accelerate its Group Shared Services (GSS) programme, with the objective to create value across the Group through increased client satisfaction, higher operational efficiency, optimising operational risk and increased flexibility. After a careful analysis of the options, ABN AMRO has chosen an IT service solution that encompasses in-house consolidation, partial outsourcing, multi-vendor strategies and offshoring. Further streamlining of the bank's global IT organisation will lead to an improved performance of all IT services and to significant efficiencies. Following the announcement on 16 December last year, ABN AMRO announces today that it has signed global services agreements with five IT-vendors for five years, for a total value of approximately EUR 1.8 billion. The selected vendors are:
IT Infrastructure: IBM
Application Support and Enhancements: Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
Application Development: five preferred suppliers Accenture, IBM, Infosys, Patni, TCS The initiative leads to a new technology organisation of approximately 1,800 full-time equivalents (FTEs), compared to a total of approximately 5,000 FTEs currently working in IT within the bank worldwide. Approximately 2,000 FTEs will be transferred to the selected IT vendors, of which a majority will go to IBM. In line with the former communications, the total estimated IT staff reduction for ABN AMRO will be 1,500 FTEs over the next 18 months. more...

10 Ways to Get Offshoring Right

CRM News
Like it or not, offshore outsourcing is becoming increasingly central to IT. As the drumbeat grows ever louder, chances are you'll eventually be asked to get in step. So how do you design and implement an effective offshore initiative? What are the key issues to keep in mind? The offshoring landscape is littered with the spectacular failures of companies that missed or lost sight of the big picture. "People who jump on the bandwagon to make some quick savings get quickly frustrated," says Ramakrishnan Ramamurthy, general manager and practice head at Bangalore, India-based Wipro Technologies. To avoid becoming an offshoring cautionary tale, heed the following tips from expert offshore outsourcing consultants, vendors, and analysts. more...

Playing on a new court

Hindu Business Line
The Indian IT industry has a new court to play on — Legal BPO. But as global firms outsource work to India, domestic players will have to address concerns of data security and service quality to score in the game. The Indian IT industry has a new court to play on - Legal BPO. With international law firms, the in-house legal departments of MNCs, and legal publishing and research firms, particularly in the US, increasingly looking at sourcing services from India, Legal BPO may well be the next big opportunity for Indian firms. more...

Offshore outsourcing has not hit UK jobs, says ONS

Silicon.com
Offshore outsourcing of IT and call centre roles to low-cost countries such as India has not hit UK jobs, according to the latest official employment statistics. The ONS' latest Labour Market Trends figures show that employment growth in call centre related occupations in the UK has been nearly three times the overall growth in employment, while redundancy levels have also consistently fallen since 2001. The employment data calculated by region is also in line with that growth trend and the ONS said this suggests offshoring has had minimal effect on the employment prospects of IT-enabled occupations across the UK. more...