Outsourcing Times

India offshore base for US giants

More complex, high-value work is being outsourced to India by international giants. Intel, the world's largest chipmaker will invest more than US$1 billion, and JP Morgan Chase, the global investment banker, plans to add 4,500 employees by 2007.

There has been a steady rise in the work coming to India as an offshore centre. Now there is also an increase in high-end job areas like chip design and complex product design. In recent months there has been an aggressive outsourcing by Wall Street firms and large global banks. Some of the firms offshore setups in India are UBS and Goldman Sachs. Taipei Times reports:

JP Morgan Chase said it would add 4,500 employees in India by 2007, mainly by setting up operations in Bangalore to support its growing structured finance and derivatives businesses globally.

Semindia to manufacture chips for Broadcom

Broadcom mobiles will now carry chips manufactured in India. Semindia has been chosen to roll out 30,000 chips for AMD and will also manufacture microprocessor chips for Broadcom. EFYTimes reports:

Broadcom's president and CEO, Scott A McGregor, said, “India is an exciting destination for mobile communications in the world. As an active player in the communication convergence revolution, Broadcom will continue to invest in the R&D facilities in the country.”

Aerospace works outsourced to India by Boeing, Airbus

Boeing Company and Airbus Industries intend to outsource aerospace systems works to India after the trans-Atlantic rivals finalize the deal to supply 111 aircrafts to Air India and Indian Airlines. The project is valued at over $ 3 billion. Indian government has cleared the $2.2 billion fleet acquisition plan from Airbus.

Clearance for $7.1billion aircraft purchase deal from Boeing is awaited. Air India wants to acquire these crafts for its budget carrier Al Express. The Nav Hind Times reports:

India’s current aviation exports is estimated at Rs 300 crores. Industry analysts say aerospace exports from India will cross to over Rs 12,000 crores in the next five years.

Protest likely over outsourcing at Irish Ferries

Outsourcing at Irish Ferries has run into a controversy, with private sector unions, representing about 4,00,000 workers, planning to register a day of protest. The reaction of the Labour Relations Commission is awaited by both sides involved in teh controversy. Ireland On-Line reports:

Meanwhile, Labour wants the Government to support its private members' Bill to stop, what it calls, 'rogue employers' from using flags of convenience.

Gartner identifies MajescoMastek as a major provider of ITO services for the life insurance industry

The analyst firm Gartner reports that MajescoMastek, a worldwide provider of software for insurance solutions, has emerged as an experienced player in information technology outsourcing (ITO) for the life insurance industry. Business Wire reports:

"In addition to being ranked a mature player by Gartner with considerable expertise in our focused markets, we also provide solutions that deliver tangible business benefits to our customers, which is another important consideration when selecting an ITO firm," said Vijay Chavan, Vice President and Head Global Insurance and Finance Services Practice for MajescoMastek.

Outsourcing business processes from Belgium to India helps create jobs in Belgium, says Belgian Entrepreneur

According Belgian entrepreneur Francois Pecher, a senior executive of the document processing company 'Input For You', maintains that outsourcing to India actually builds new jobs in Belgium. This opinion comes close on the heels of a similar opinion from the US regarding the positive impact of outsourcing.

Speaking at a seminar organized by the Belgian embassy together with the Belgo-Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Pecher explained that outsourcing from Belgium was for those business processes that could not be effectively done in Belgium, and some outsourced processes lead to a growth in the Belgian economy and add new jobs in the country. Economic Times reports:

"The widespread belief in some European countries that Indian workers are stealing the jobs of Europeans is a myth which has no ground reality," he noted. Dipak Chatterjee, the new Indian ambassador to Belgium and the European Union, said: "If European countries can outsource to the US without generating such hues and cries why shouldn't it also be the case for European companies outsourcing to India."

India outsource centre of Innovative designs

Innovative Semiconductors Inc. has short listed two Indian companies to outsource parts of its design work. Innovative is a supplier of serial interface technology for ICs and chipsets. The agreement will be signed in a month or so according to Nabil Takla, chief executive officer of Innovative Semiconductors. EE Times reports:

There are many small Indian companies, with potential, that are eager to form partnerships with U.S. firms to jointly develop advanced technologies and have a bridge to the U.S. market, said Nabil Takla, chief executive officer of Innovative Semiconductors (Sunnyvale, Calif.).

Egypt builds infrastructure to attract customer contact outsourcing

In a bid to open Egypt as a leading destination for customer contact outsourcing, the country is gearing up to provide the necessary infrastructure to attract outsourcing contracts. The government is building a subsidized call center training facility, offering free trade zones, and promoting awareness all around of Egypt's preparedness to meet outsourcing requirements from around the world.

The country hopes to project its advantages of multilingual capabilities, neutral accents, and central geographical location vis-à-vis the US, Europe, and Asia. If Egypt succeeds in its bid to attract volumes of outsourcing deals from the West, India will feel the challenge to its dominance in this outsourcing industry. CIO Today reports:

Speaking at the Offshore Customer Management International Conference in Prague last week, Adel Danish, chairman and chief executive of Xceed Contact Center, based in Egypt, stated: "The government is behind the industry as it creates jobs, takes people off the streets, and encourages them to think positively."

SGX might sign contract for outsourcing Data Center, IT infrastructure services

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) intends to award a contract of about 95 million Singapore dollars for five years to Hewlet-Packard (HP) to outsource its Data Center and information technology infrastructure services.

SGX expects to save 20 percent of the projected cost of enhancing the to-be-outsources business. The contract is expected to be signed by the end of 2005. blackenterprise.com reports:

"This initiative is part of SGX's continuing efforts to focus on its core business and obtain the best return on its information technology (IT) infrastructure investment," a SGX statement said.

EquaTerra reports on the pulse of outsourcing trends for the 3rd quarter of 2005

Every quarter, the outsourcing and insourcing advisory firm EquaTerra reports on the major trends of outsourcing services by surveying 24 market leaders in the outsourcing of HR, IT, call center/customer care/CRM, finance/accounting/administration, and procurement processes.

The report for the third quarter of 2005 indicates that there is a marginal slowing down of the growth in outsourcing from 75 percent in the second quarter to 68 percent in the third quarter. The estimates forecast for growth in the fourth quarter also show a decrease to about 79 percent from the 83 percent growth forecast for the third quarter.

The report also indicates the focus areas in the outsourcing trends for each industry. In HR, the two leading function areas are payroll and benefits administration. In finance and accounting, the leading functionality was accounts payable, followed by AR/credit & collections and general accounting. In ITO, ADM and desktop services are the most in demand. SourceWire reports:

The jump in Finance and Accounting (F&A) outsourcing demand is in part a function of market demand as well as the mix of service providers responding to the 3Q05 survey that were more active in the F&A outsourcing space.