Outsourcing Times

Tata Consultancy Services IPO

Indian giant Tata's Tata Consultancy Services is floating its initial IPO this week. From TechWeb:

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's pioneering software-exporting firm that serves several major U.S. customers, is... hoping to attract more than $1 billion in the process. The software-services firm parlayed routine data-entry work--including the building of the Detroit Police Department's criminal database--into a company that has become a leading Indian software-services consultancy. "We can rightfully claim our position as creators of the IT industry in India and the largest IT services company in the country," said TCS's chief executive officer S. Ramadorai in a statement about the IPO. Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata stated that a "crucial component" of the firm's overall strategy is to strengthen its core IT business.

Wipro Stays Strong

Wipro is hot, says Gulf Daily News.

Vigorous demand for outsourcing services and higher prices paid for software development helped India's third-largest software exporter, Wipro, to report an 83 per cent growth in net profit for the fiscal first quarter that ended June 30.

Net profit in April-June increased to $71 million, compared with $38.8m in the same period a year ago, the company announced yesterday.

More Huge Outsourcing Deals

You didn't really think it was slowing down, did you? ComputerWorld reports:

Following a nine-month decline, the number of mega-outsourcing deals -- those valued at $1 billion or more -- is on the rise as the economy improves and corporate customers grow more comfortable with transferring big chunks of their IT operations to third-party service providers. According to a report that outsourcing advisory firm Technology Partners International (TPI) released Tuesday, six deals valued at a combined $11.2 billion were signed during the first half of 2004, five of them -- worth $9.2 billion -- in the second quarter alone.

How to pick a job in an 'outsourcing' world

TheSunLink gives some "advice" on what careers to go into to avoid being outsourced.

With all the talk of white-collar jobs moving overseas, it's no wonder that Americans, particularly those just entering the work force, are wondering about the safety of their jobs and reassessing career and educational choices.

Career coach Michael T. Robinson of Careerplanner.com believes the best jobs for the future are the ones that require a worker's physical presence and can't easily be done remotely, like nursing, real estate and teaching. Another route is to go for jobs that require a lot of skill, like music, acting, or writing these aren't likely to move overseas either.

Here's my advice: Learn how to use offshoring to your advantage. Get on Elance. Figure out how labor arbitrage can build your coporation/small business/hobby. It is my business.

Oracle Considers Ramping Up R&D in China

More and more high end labor (R&D, etc.) is going to China. From Yahoo! News:

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Oracle Corp. is looking to increase its research capacity in China, its fastest-growing market, and hopes to plug the software developed here into its global network, an executive said on Friday.

California-based Oracle, the world's second most valuable software company after Microsoft Corp., runs two research facilities in China, one in the capital and another in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen.

It is now considering establishing new research bases in the less prosperous regions of western and northeastern China as well as the booming Yangtze delta region around Shanghai, said Kevin Walsh, Oracle's vice president of Internet technology and head of its China R&D centers.

Nokia Outsourcing to New Delhi

These types of reports are *almost* non-newsworthy these days. From InternetNews:

Where others see low-cost production, Nokia sees opportunity. The mobile phone giant's venture capital arm, Nokia Venture Partners (NVP), has opened an office in New Delhi, India, to scout for new early-stage investments.

"We plan on financing several Indian startups in the software, services, communications and semiconductor sectors," Gina Bauman, a Nokia Venture Partners spokeswoman told internetnews.com. "In addition, by opening the India office, we are able to help our current portfolio companies in their business development and outsourcing efforts."

Fidelity Gets Dime Outsourcing Contract

Forbes reports:

Title insurance and diversified real estate information services provider Fidelity National Financial Inc. said Friday that it received a six-year contract from Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh, a unit of Dime Community Bancshares Inc., to outsource its core and ATM processing services.

In addition, Fidelity will provide network services to maximize security and performance, as well as data warehousing and analytical and executive reporting.

Fidelity said Dime's core processing activity will be run on the Fidelity Miser system, which helps commercial banks, credit unions and savings institutions speed up processing, manage workflow and automate many banking functions.

HP gets $500m in outsourcing contracts

Looks like HP is doing pretty well at growing revenues in a market many people thought was soft. ZDNet reports:

Hewlett-Packard on Wednesday announced three services contracts totaling $500 million. The Palo Alto, Calif., computer maker signed a five-year, $112 million contract with MCI; a seven-year, $320 million agreement with global financial services firm TD Bank Financial Group; and a five-year, $53 million contract with document software firm Standard Register.

The latest outsourcing contracts have come close on the heels of a $1.5 billion deal struck with global telecommunications giant BT Group. Hewlett-Packard’s outsourcing business grew more than 50 percent last quarter compared to the same period of the previous year.

Kerry on Outsourcing

Not that this is news, but Kerry is not "against" offshore outsourcing (propoganda and political posturing are, well, just that.) The Financial Express reports:

US Presidential hopeful John Kerry accepts outsourcing, which has snowballed into a major election issue, as a reality and his Democratic Party will continue its good relations with India initiated by former President Bill Clinton, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson said.

"We recognise that outsourcing is a reality, but at the same time, we want to develop our jobs and industries more at home here too." But Senator Kerry is an internationalist and I think India should welcome him as an American President, Mr Richardson said when asked about his party’s strident posture against outsourcing.

Accenture's Outsourcing Growth Increases Revenue

InformationWeek reports:

Accenture Wednesday said strong gains in its outsourcing and consulting businesses helped it achieve 21% revenue growth in its fiscal third quarter ended May 31 compared with a year ago...

Accenture saw the most growth during the quarter in its outsourcing business. The company's outsourcing sales increased 37% to $1.4 billion on the strength of major deals with Payless ShoeSource, Danish transportation conglomerate DSV Group, and several other large customers.