Industry news

Indian software company HCL Technologies (HCL) and BPO training institute Orion Edutech jointly announced the launch of a diploma course to train the youth for entry in the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

Under the agreement Orion will customize its Diploma in BPO Management (DIBM) to suit HCL's industry specific talent requirement. This program will be called the `Orion Diploma in BPO Management 'Powered by HCL'.

Subrat Chakravarty, HR Head – Business Services, HCL Technologies, said: "Keeping in mind the growing demand for outsourcing across industries there is the need to nurture skilled professionals who are keen to pursue stable careers in the ITeS industry."

According to the terms of the partnership, selected candidates from the `Orion Diploma in BPO Management ' Powered by HCL' will be absorbed into HCL as project trainees.

The UK Marketing Company of AstraZeneca, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, has appointed arvato to design and manage a new support and information service for healthcare professionals. From the beginning of March, the TeleReach programme will enable AstraZeneca to offer healthcare professionals the opportunity to engage in telephone dialogue about AZ’s medicines and value-added services.

The programme will focus on building strong relationships by enabling healthcare professionals across the NHS to access information about AstraZeneca’s medicines and services at a time and in a format that best suits them, in order to enhance patient care.

arvato will employ and manage a team of ABPI (Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry) accredited Customer Service Agents, based on-site at AstraZeneca’s UK Marketing Company headquarters in Luton.

“We appreciate the changing environment in which healthcare professionals are working. Our research into what, how and when they want to engage with us, helped inform the development of TeleReach,” explained Tarja Stenvall, Vice President, Specialist Care, AstraZeneca UK. “arvato’s experience, combined with the company’s flexibility and innovation in project delivery have enabled us to go from contract agreement to the go-live of this new approach in just six weeks.”

“AstraZeneca has taken an innovative approach to responding to the NHS’ changing needs and we’re delighted to be a part of that,” said Mark Brown, Managing Director, Contact Centres & Loyalty, arvato UK. “We are looking forward to helping AstraZeneca retain, support and grow its existing relationships, as well as develop new relationships, with healthcare professionals.”

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. and Cisco today announced the signing of a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under which the parties intend to collaborate on go-to-market strategies in areas that include smart cities, virtual dealership, sports and entertainment, and cloud services. The multifaceted strategic interlock brings together Cisco’s technology prowess and Mahindra & Mahindra’s leadership and expertise across diverse industries and market segments in India.

Mr. Anand Mahindra, Vice-chairman & Managing Director, Mahindra Group, said, “By collaborating with Cisco to build smarter, connected communities, virtual dealerships and other projects, we are empowering our stakeholders – dealers, customers, partners and others to use technology for the greater good, thereby enabling them to Rise. I am absolutely delighted that the first project under this initiative is intended to be the Mahindra Innovation Park, which will create new benchmarks through its smart solutions.”

“The Internet of Things and the power of network are transforming the way we live, work, learn and play. Cisco envisages that all future successful communities will run on networked information. Using Cisco’s Smart+Connected Communities framework, we have led several projects that drive social, economic and environmental sustainability, using technology as the key enabler, said Mr. Wim Elfrink, Executive Vice President, Emerging Solutions & Chief Globalisation Officer for Cisco.

“The collaboration with the Mahindra Group will be a game-changing one and I really look forward to working closely with M&M to transform cities and communities and to innovate new ways of offering services, using network as the platform.”

"This announcement with Cisco demonstrates the solution-centric approach of our IT sector companies - Mahindra Satyam and Tech Mahindra. The four key areas of Smart Cities, Virtual Dealership, Sports & Entertainment and Cloud services, are critical in our ICT vision and we look forward to working with Cisco to achieve it faster and better,” said Mr. Ulhas Yargop, President, IT Sector, Group CTO and Member, Group Executive Board, Mahindra Group.

“We have a long standing relationship with Mahindra and we have complete confidence in Mahindra’s differentiating capabilities to create new markets and we look forward to working together on these initiatives globally,” said Mr. Naresh Wadhwa, President and Country Manager, Cisco Systems – India & SAARC.

Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) and Mahindra have initiated collaboration on a pioneering virtual sales experience as a complementary channel to Mahindra dealerships. The innovative sales experience will aim to expand M&M’s customer touch points, enhance brand visibility and provide customers with a superior experience.

Embracing Cloud Computing can affect the existing Network and IT Support infrastructure in many ways. Adrian Polley, Technical Services Director at Plan-Net explains the possible impact on the existing system, support roles and end users.

As organisations look to embrace the cost-efficiency opportunities deriving from new technologies and services, there is a lot of talk about the benefits, risks and possible ROI of the blanket concept of ‘Cloud computing’. However, it is still unclear how using Cloud services will affect the existing network infrastructure and what impact it can have on IT support roles and the way end users deal with incidents.

The effect on an organisation’s infrastructure depends on the Cloud model adopted, which may vary based on company size. For example, small organisations which are less worried about owning IT and have simpler, more generic IT needs might want to buy a large part of their infrastructure as a shared service, purchasing on-demand software from different vendors.

Buying into the Software as a Service model has the benefit of simplicity and cheapness, as it cuts out much of the responsibility and costs involved, which is a great advantage for SMEs. This solution also allows 24/7 service availability, something that small firms might not be able to afford otherwise. The lack of flexibility of this service, due to the impossibility to customise software, is less of a problem for these types of organisations. But there are still risks related to performance, and vendor lock-in.

Using this model, a small company’s retained IT infrastructure can be relatively simple, and therefore there might be little need for specialist technical skills within the IT department. A new skill set is required, however: IT personnel will need to be able to manage all the different relationships with the various vendors, checking that the service purchased is performing as agreed and that they are getting the quality they are paying for. The IT Service Desk will therefore require a smaller number of engineers, less technical but more commercially savvy. More specialist skills will shift towards the provider and 1st line analysts will have to escalate more calls to the various vendors.

Larger organisations, on the other hand, may well be keen on retaining more control over their infrastructure and purchasing IT resources on-demand. With this model, the organisation still manages much of its infrastructure but at a virtual level – the vendor might provide them with hardware resources on-demand, for instance.

The main advantage of this model is that it allows the existing infrastructure to be incredibly flexible and scalable, able to adapt to changing business needs. For example, building a data centre is lengthy and expensive, therefore not convenient for expansion. But by using a “virtual datacentre” provider, capacity can be increased in the space of an online card transaction, with great financial benefits – in the Cloud model only the necessary resources are paid for without investment in hardware or its maintenance.

With this second model, the change in the roles within the IT department will mainly regard an increased need, as in the other model, for vendor management skills. Monitoring KPIs, SLAs and billing will be a day-to-day task although there will still be the need for engineers to deal with the real and virtual infrastructure.

Both models generally have very little impact on the end user if the IT Service Desk has been running efficiently, as this does not disappear as a first point of contact. However, in certain cases the change might be more visible, for instance if desk-side support is eliminated - a cultural change that may need some adapting to.

All in all, change is not to be feared - with the necessary awareness, embracing Cloud services can improve IT efficiency significantly, and align it to the business. By leaving some IT support and management issues to expert providers an organisation can gain major strategic advantage, saving money and time that they can ultimately use in their search for business success.

The Philippines has emerged as the world leader in business process outsourcing (BPO), supplanting India in terms of total number of workers employed. Two studies, one by IBM's Global Locations Trend report, another by consulting firm Everest Group, show a shift at the top of the still strong global cost-cutting trend.

With average annual growth of 46% since 2006, BPO has been one of the few bright spots in the otherwise moribund Philippine economy. The sector, almost non-existent a decade ago, has zipped from US$350 million in revenues in 2001 to over $9 billion last year. Analysts predict industry revenues will exceed $10 billion this year.

BPO has evolved into a $150 billion global industry, driven largely by Western banking, insurance and technology companies thathave outsourced parts of their IT operations to lower cost, English-speaking developing countries. The boom in the Philippines has been led by call centers, where Filipinos handle sales, customer service and technical support calls.

The Philippine boom has been led by call centers, which make up for nearly 70% of the local BPO industry, according to the Contact Center Association of the Philippines. Contracts from multinational companies Convergys, Accenture and IBM lead the way.

Even Indian BPO companies are shifting work to the Philippines. India's Tata Consultancy Services, which opened its first BPO center in Southeast Asia last December at Taguig City, projected that Philippine outsourcing will grow into a $25 billion industry by 2016, providing work for some 1.3 million people. The number of call centers in India has fallen by half over the past three years.

An estimated 120 BPO firms employed over 600,000 Filipinos last year, according to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines, a trade group. BPO company employees now earn on average 53% more than workers of the same age in other industries, according to International Labor Organization statistics.

Key to the Philippines' success has been its huge pool of English language-proficient workers. Now, US outsourcing clients are drawing a distinction between the Philippines and India, with a preference for Filipino workers' American accents and grasp of US culture.

Filipino BPO workers are often cited for their comparative ability to solve complex problems.

One industry executive estimated that it takes on average only one to two calls to solve a problem in the Philippines that in comparison would take six or seven in India. Indian BPO entrepreneur Deepak Patel recently noted that "Indians have not been able to handle irate customers" as well as Filipinos can.

The Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis Inc, a local think-tank, estimates that the fewer number of calls required to solve a BPO-related problem has contributed to the Philippines cost competitiveness vis-a-vis competitors in India.

While Philippine average salaries are higher than in India, US companies are increasingly willing to pay for the difference. Filipino call center agents earn around $3,600 annually, still considerably less than the $30,000 excluding fringe benefits required to hire an average US worker. Attrition rates are also much lower in the Philippines than in India, a crucial measure of quality control.

Generous tax incentives for BPO-related investments, including income tax holidays of six to eight years, have also given the Philippines an edge. The World Bank's latest Philippine Quarterly Report points out that during the tax holiday period, industry net margins rate were between 11-21% in the Philippines compared with 13-16% in India. After the income tax holiday period, the two countries were roughly on par, the research found.

Shortages ahead

Still, there are several questions hanging over the industry's long-term sustainability. Other lower cost countries, including China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and several Eastern European states, are aggressively trying to lure more BPO investments. Electricity rates in the Philippines are among the highest in Asia and are driving up the cost of BPO operations. A recent rise in office rental rates is also undermining the Philippines' comparative cost advantages.

A bigger concern over the medium term is a projected shortage of qualified English-speaking workers. Industry leaders have noted a sharp deterioration of English language capabilities among new graduates, a result of a new government emphasis on teaching the local language in schools and a general decline in the quality of the country's education system.

The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) recently concluded that only seven out of every 100 graduates have the skills required by BPOs.

Meanwhile, the industry will need an estimated 160,000 new workers annually by 2016. The lack of talent is driving up salaries, especially at the higher-end service segment of the industry. As a result, companies are increasingly relying on more English-language proficient retirees to fill job vacancies, industry leaders say.

There is an even bigger danger that if the Philippines fails to move into higher value-added production services, such as software development, engineering, medical record services, accountancy and game development, growth will start to stagnate. That risk will rise with rising global competition for the basic voice-oriented services Philippine BPO companies now dominate but over the medium term won't be able to sustain high growth.

Demand for higher-end BPO services that require more technical knowledge is expected to grow faster than voice-based customer services in the years ahead. It's a segment where India, where entry level IT professionals earn around $5,400 compared to $7,000 in the Philippines, has a clear market lead.

Konstantinos Boukis, owner of Philippine BPO firm Helicon Technology Corp, believes the industry will be able to sustain fast growth over the next five to six years. After that there is a broad concern that growth will be restrained by the lack of linkages formed between BPO companies and local industries that have moved up the value-added ladder.

A recent Philippine congressional report noted that the BPO industry has very little interaction with the rest of the economy, mainly because 92% of its output is exported as services to other countries. Call centers, in particular, were characterized as the lowest rung on the global outsourcing ladder. Unless the BPO sector can upgrade itself and contribute to greater efficiencies and competitiveness across other industries, the Philippines leadership position will likely be short-lived.

Source: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/MC09Ae01.html

Intelenet will provide a spectrum of services, covering back-office processes and customer support functions, within the F&A BPO domain.

Intelenet Global Services Private Limited has signed a five-year outsourcing partnership with Tata Teleservices Limited, one of India‘s leading private telecom service providers. This partnership elevates Intelenet’s position and makes the Company the first player to offer Finance & Accounting processes in the telecom vertical.

Intelenet will provide a spectrum of services, covering back-office processes and customer support functions, within the F&A BPO domain. Intelenet will provide account payable services pan-India for all the 22 circles of Tata Teleservices from its existing delivery centers. With a successful track record of partnering with leading global and local telecom players, Intelenet has a strong foothold and an established play in the telecom vertical. It has also built a strong presence and repute in the F&A services sector, having witnessed 25 per cent growth last year.

“We are delighted to partner with a dynamic brand leader like Tata Teleservices and be the first player to innovate with F&A offerings in the telecom space,” Mr Susir Kumar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Intelenet Global Services, said. “Having successfully built our expertise herein, we offer seamless delivery of end-to-end F&A services, coupled with a strong delivery footprint. In keeping with our strengths, we are confident of providing tangible value, reduced risks and complete customer satisfaction,” he added.

Speaking on the partnership with Intelenet, N Srinath , Managing Director,Tata Teleservices Limited, said, “As we expand our telecom offerings, we need the expertise to manage some of our back end operations. The domain expertise and depth of Intelenet’s offerings will help Tata Teleservices focus on its core business offerings and imperatives.”

Source: http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/News/Intelenet-Global-signs-5-year-outsourcing-partnership-with-Tata-Teleservices/5100187708

Government cuts will claim 28,000 police jobs, the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) has said.

The Acpo estimate for England and Wales has been made in a confidential memo to ministers published in the Guardian.

Acpo predicts the jobs of 12,000 police officers and 16,000 civilian staff will be lost as a result of spending cuts.

Meanwhile, the Winsor review of police pay and conditions to be unveiled on Tuesday is expected to recommend cutting £180m in annual bonuses.

Greater Manchester Chief Constable Peter Fahy confirmed the job loss forecast - representing a reduction of about 12% of posts - to the Guardian.

He said: "We will have fewer staff, the same or more demands, and will need to incentivise staff to produce higher quality."

Pay structure

The government is planning to cut its funding for the police by 20% by 2014-15.

The 43 forces in England and Wales currently employ about 244,000 people, comprising 143,000 police officers and 101,000 civilians.

The review of police pay by former rail regulator Tom Winsor is set to suggest scrapping a series of allowances and bonus payments, and reducing the amount of overtime.

It is also expected to consider areas such as police housing, travel allowances and shift patterns, in an attempt to modernise working practices and make the service more cost-effective.

Acpo said overtime was needed to allow forces "to respond flexibly to any event or crime at any time whether it be a flood, a major murder investigation or public order incident".

BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw says the Acpo figures are the latest and most reliable figures on police job cuts since Chancellor George Osborne's Spending Review last October.

Paul McKeever, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said the proposed cuts come after a two-year pay freeze for officers.

He told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "For many officers it is going to mean them losing their homes or not being able to put the heating on.

"That is the reality for people out there and they are very angry and upset about a government that is out of touch and doesn't understand policing."

Mr McKeever said there was "spin and negative stories coming from Home Office advisers" who used "isolated examples" to suggest officers were regularly claiming excessive and unjustified overtime.

Home Secretary Theresa May has warned that reductions in police pay are "unavoidable" in order to minimise front-line job losses.

Speaking at the weekend, she said: "We are working with police forces to identify savings that actually go beyond the reduction on the central policing grant in the next four years.

"I know that some will reject in principle the very idea of reviewing pay and conditions, but I remind them that those savings will save the jobs of thousands of police men and women.

"Nobody is pretending decisions like these will be easy."

'Blind arrogance'

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the figures were the "latest nail in the coffin for the prime minister's claim that he would protect the front line at all costs".

"Chief constables are being put in an impossible position by a government that seems happy to ride roughshod over public safety and the morale of the police force," she said.

"The government is cutting too far and too fast with 20% frontloaded cuts.

"The home secretary and her ministers have a blind arrogance in their dealings with the police.

"Rather than working with them, they are bludgeoning police numbers, their budgets and their operational capacity."

Blair Gibbs, from the right-leaning think tank Policy Exchange, said the review was "long overdue" as current working arrangements were "outdated".

"We need pay and conditions that reflect the white collar workforce... that we want policing in the 21st Century to be with many more graduates, many more women, more civilian trained staff supporting the police, and that means, ultimately, modern working conditions."

The former deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Brian Paddick, suggested forces should save money by changing rules on overtime to bring them in line with the private sector.

He told the BBC: "Policing is a very unpredictable business, you never know when you're going to have a major incident for example. But the regulations about overtime are antiquated."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12672329

The UK economy will grow by less than expected in 2011 but growth in 2012 will be better than predicted, the British Chambers of Commerce forecasts.

The group downgraded its forecast for UK GDP growth in 2011 to 1.4% from a December forecast of 1.9%.

The BCC said the downward revision was due to an unexpected fall in 2010's fourth quarter GDP.

Interest rates

In its forecast, the BCC increased its estimate for unemployment for early 2012 to 2.65 million, up from 2.6 million.

However, the business group raised its prediction for growth in 2012 to 2.3% from 2.1% in December.

At the weekend, David Cameron gave a speech at the Conservative Party spring conference in Cardiff highlighting the importance of the private sector to the UK's economy.

He pledged to stand behind entrepreneurs and stand against what he called the "enemies of enterprise".

"While we support efforts to reduce the UK's deficit, these measures alone will not deliver a sustainable recovery," he added.

The BCC said it believed that the Bank of England would raise interest rates in May from the current historical low of 0.5%.

But the group warned that such a move could be premature at this stage of the economic cycle.

'Difficult task'

Separately, financial services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) issued a report suggesting that the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Bank of England should not raise interest rates before the economic recovery is secure, despite concerns over inflation.

"The MPC faces a difficult task in balancing upside risks to inflation against downside risks to growth," said John Hawksworth, PwC's chief economist.

"Our own judgement, however, is that the MPC should not be increasing rates until it is clear that the recovery is secure," he added.

"We do not believe that it needs to increase interest rates immediately to meet its target of a 2% CPI inflation rate in two years time."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12672276

Some 40 per cent of public sector organisations will use shared services in 2011, according to a study by CIO research forum K2advisory.

The study surveyed 106 senior managers and directors in the public sector in January 2011.

Of this 40 per cent, nine per cent said the coalition's programme of public sector cuts detailed in its Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) had spurred them to opt for shared services.

"The CSR is absolutely driving this growth," said Sarah Burnett, lead analyst at Ovum for the public sector.

"This fact that you can generate economies of scale through joint procurement and joint running of services, means that growth is just going to continue throughout 2011," she added.

K2advisory's research indicates that there are enough strategically focused public sector CIOs for shared services projects to work without requiring external leadership.

However, it also suggests that once completed, it is unlikely that a CIO will become "head of shared services", unless he or she has management experience outside of the IT department.

K2advisory believes this holds true even when IT is the sole shared service.

Burnett suggested that shared services programmes require a leader who primarily is not focused on keeping the different bodies involved happy.

"These projects require long-term commitment, and they need strong leadership," said Burnett.

"These leaders need decisions to be made for the better of the shared services, not to keep individual managers happy," she added.

"There is no point in having a head of shared services who has to consult with separate bodies – they need to have decision-making power."

Source: http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2031800/public-sector-bodies-shared-services-2011#ixzz1G0FckRFl

Fujitsu announced it will support Virgin Media in its residential and business installations and help provide engineering services. The multi-year contract begins this month, with Fujitsu's Transition Team ensuring a seamless integration of Fujitsu services over the coming weeks.

Fujitsu is playing an integral part in Virgin Media’s commitment to a great customer experience throughout the join journey and beyond. Fujitsu technicians will work in partnership with Virgin Media to deliver an outstanding installation experience to customers in Scotland, North East England and Northern Ireland. Fujitsu will also help Virgin Media to streamline its post-install operational processes by providing residential and network engineering support

The new contract further deepens Fujitsu’s current successful relationship with Virgin Media, having already supplied residential and network engineering and business installation services as well as providing cabinet and business Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) solutions.

Andy Stevenson, chief executive officer, Fujitsu Telecommunications Europe Limited, said “Fujitsu is delighted to have been able to respond to Virgin Media's requirements with a compelling and competitive proposal. We have a proven track record with Virgin Media, providing innovative and efficient solutions, and this further strengthens our relationship. With the signing of this contract we are looking forward to developing our partnership by delivering this service platform more effectively and efficiently for the benefit of Virgin Media’s customers.”

Paul Buttery, chief customer and networks officer at Virgin Media, said “This is one of the largest operational transformations we’ve undertaken with our field partners and we’re looking forward to Fujitsu’s support in delivering an outstanding customer experience. We’re continually improving our services and our field partners help us deliver a great experience by contributing core expertise and a real understanding of the Virgin Media brand.”