Outsourcing Times

Now It's the Turn of Mortgage Lenders to Join Outsourcing

In the past couple of years, we have been receiving news on how industries one after another are outsourcing their jobs to low-wage destinations. Now it's the turn of mortgage lenders to join outsourcing wave. According to NelsonHall, the leading independent BPO analyst firm, mortgage lenders in the United States are outsourcing their work to India and other countries. In the recent months, mortgage industry has emerged as a strong force in the US and elsewhere in the world.

The high demand in mortgage products and services has forced the lenders to choose third party companies that can manage their work efficiently and effectively. Now customers want their mortgage BPO providers to add cost of processing to volume processing so that costs can be better matched to business volumes. It forced mortgage organizations to look for an improved process compared to their in-house capability. According to NelsonHall report, the global mortgage BPO market will double in size over the next five years.

Weavers in south India: Weaving an outsourcing network

Outsourcing is usually practiced across cross-country borders. However, there is a smaller play alive and kicking within India. Weavers formerly engaged in the production of the famed Mangalagiri sari in south India are facing the crunch of rising production costs and excessive trade unionism, and are now outsourcing production.

Between Srikakulam in the north and Prakasam in the south, a network of weavers produces the Mangalagiri handloom. No longer confined to Mangalagiri, the "Mangalagiri handloom" product has developed as a brand, and this “grassroots-level” outsourcing will continue to thrive so long as the outsourced products maintain the same quality and finesse.

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Corporex Begins Outsourcing

Corporex has outsourced its leasing and property management operations to two area commercial real estate firms. The company now began to focus on development and investment opportunities. While Corporex used to deal directly with most of its tenants, now 90 percent of them employ tenant brokers.

Colliers Turley Martin Tucker and Grubb & Ellis/West Shell Commercial are the two firms that will manage Corporex's operations. According to Corporex sources, the decision was taken to focus on development and investment and to leave day-to-day leasing and management of its properties. The outsourcing arrangements will affect 22 Corporex employees. In addition, a few jobs have been abolished.

According to The Inquirer -

Banta said the deals are based on short-term contracts, but that Corporex hopes the relationships are long term. The operations of Corporex-owned hotels and its Five Seasons Country Clubs have not been affected.

Euronet to Provide Outsource Business

Euronet has decided to provide a range of day-to-day ATM outsourcing services and value-added network services. Euronet is an electronic payments provider. It has expanded its ATM outsourcing agreement with Centurion Bank of Punjab. As per the new outsourcing deal, Euronet will manage 408 ATMs of the Centurion Bank of Punjab (CBOP). Currently, Euronet operates 164 ATMs of the former Centurion Bank. Under the expanded agreement, CBOP will outsource the remaining 244 ATMs from its current network to Euronet India within the next 30 to 60 days. Euronet India will also provide value-added network services to the bank in the form of mobile phone recharge through ATM, SMS and the Internet channels.

According to EFY Times -

Commenting on the alliance, Anil Jaggia, chief operating officer, Centurion Bank of Punjab, said, "By outsourcing our ATM network services to Euronet, we are able to focus more resources on establishing a full-service commercial bank with strong retail and SME presence across the country."

BT and KDDI Partnership on Network Outsourcing

BT Group, Britain's largest phone company and KDDI have announced that they would form a venture to seek voice and data network contracts from Japanese corporate customers. Sales from the joint venture could rise to $1 billion. According to BT sources, revenue will probably reach that level in three to five years. The joint venture will start in August 2006. The alliance will help KDDI in raising its earnings from fixed-line telephone business. BT is part of outsourcing markets in Japan worth about $90 million. This is twice the combined size of the rest of the markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

According to International Herald Tribune -

In Japan, KDDI and Nippon Telegraph & Telephone are looking for ways to generate gains from wire-based services as competition brings down prices and more subscribers switch to wireless phones. In November 2004, BT and KDDI teamed up to offer global networking services to companies.

Consero brings Outsourcing Benefits to Small Firms

Consero Global has launched Consero that provides offshore, outsourced accounting and finance services that include financial reporting, budgets and forecasts. Consero Global is headquartered in Austin. Recently, the company has opened its office in Bangalore, India to manage outsourcing business. Traditionally, large companies target big-sized businesses. However, Consero targets small and medium businesses that have revenue of $10 million to $200 million.

According to company sources, Consero's services will help smaller companies that compete against the large organizations for survival. They find Consero's services useful, as they are often unable to afford costly services. Consero also helps companies save money by outsourcing accounting and financial services. MSNBC has an article that provides detailed information on the Same Topic.

Outsourcing to SMBs

Outsourcing has been the exclusive domain of large comanies for a long time. However, the situation has changed now. Small and mid-sized businesses are getting outsourcing businesses in order to get the benefits of cost saving. Outsourcing helps companies to focus on their unique business strategy. It also reduces costs and brings in excellent support staff and expertise on demand. It has been estimated that business-processing outsourcing to small and middle market companies will grow to more than $25 billion by 2009.

More Information: Read Here

Wealthy investors, venture capitalists and private equity firms who are aware are demanding that executives in small and medium sized companies use outsourcing as a strategic tool to put invested dollars to their highest and best use.

Outsourcing of domestic chores

No time for home—that's the situation in which many modern-day families are caught up with. A busy outdoor life takes its toll, and there is the urge to spend the little time left for home in the best possible way. Obviously, this urge cannot include boring daily household chores, such as fetching dry cleaning and prescriptions, waiting at home for the phone technician or delivery person, organizing garages and closets, playing with the dog, shopping for groceries, or cooking the week's meals. Nonetheless, these tasks must be done to keep a household going. So what does the family do? Outsource, of course!

There is an outsourcing answer to almost all domestic tasks. Several small businesses have sprung up to take over all these tasks—you can even outsource the task of cleaning dog droppings from the backyard. All you need to do is pick up the phone, and the task will be attended to in a professional manner. The industry is burgeoning, with  membership in the National Association of Professional Organizers reaching nearly 4,000, and still growing.

It all boils down to the fact that people have limited time left to them, and they want to make the most of it by spending quality time with the family. If this involves outsourcing domestic work and paying for a task well done, so be it.

Mortgage Firm Outsources operations

Mortgage brokerage firm LoanSnap.com has chosen the Worcester-based Lendia Inc. to outsource its back office operations. LoanSnap.com will utilize Lendia’s comprehensive outsource suite (COS) and its human resources to process, underwrite, and close loans, while it focuses on originating loans for first-time home buyers, for investment in properties, and several other varieties of clientele. TMC Net reports:

"We were looking for ways to reduce fixed cost during this rocky origination time and maintain a specific staff level," said Steven Tomaselli, president of LoanSnap.com. "We got references from several lenders regarding Lendia, and more importantly, the company's solutions are flexible, whether volume is up or down."

Granules India first Indian SME to outsource IT services

Now even Indian SMEs have woken up to the benefits of outsourcing. SQL Star International Limited, an IT knowledge and enterprise services unit, has bagged the first strategic outsourcing contract in the Indian SME market segment.

Granules India Ltd, a fully integrated pharmaceutical formulations manufacturer with the world's largest 'granulation' capacity, has entered into an agreement to outsource its entire Information Technology (IT) management to SQL Star. Incidentally, Granules India is itself a provider of outsourced pharmaceutical formulation solution services to large global pharmaceutical firms. Now it is outsourcing its own requirements to another Indian firm. SQL Star's CEO Narendra Shukla told The Economic Times:

We believe that the best of global expertise can be cost effective and made available to the domestic enterprise in India. Mostly organisations do not deploy their better talent for the Indian domestic customers; but SQL Star seeks to change that situation 

Is this a new trend? We have to wait and see!