 |
Skyline Business School |
 |
|
Skyline Business School |
|
Issue:4
Government plans pump-up for ITES
The government is getting into promotion of the information technology-enabled services
(ITeS) industry. One of the benign moves under official consideration is a cess on the
ITeS sector, as recommended by the FC Kohli task force appointed by the IT ministry last
August. The department of information technology (DIT) is launching a massive human
resource development initiative to feed the IT/ITES industry. Based on the recommendations
of the FC Kohli committee, the DIT plans an IT/ITES opportunity awareness fund, which may
be mobilised through a cess on the industry and be managed by an industry body. After
consultations with 150 industry experts, several sessions of the panel and armed with an
exhaustive report, the government has now zeroed in on special fiscal incentives to
attract expatriate talent in high-end research into the country, changes in telecom,
excise and customs regulations to encourage teleworking from home, inclusion of
alternative foreign languages in curricula, change in labour laws to allow flexible and
temporary employment. The ITES awareness fund will help to create awareness in Tier II and
Tier III cities through seminars, ads and workshops and the workforce that it spawns can
be used as "resource feeders" by large BPOs.
Source: Times News Network February 12th
2004
Indian BPO: Shining…
HP setting up call center in India
Undeterred by any so-called backlash against outsourcing, one division of the $70-billion
Hewlett-Packard (HP) is establishing a 600-seat customer contact center in Bangalore. The
center will exclusively service US-based customers. Taking into account that a seat costs
about $8,000 to $10,000 to set up, the investment is likely to be in the region of $5
million to $6 million. A six-storey building has already come up in the city's IT hub -
Electronic City. The centre will provide support for any consumer product by HP, whether
it's printers, PCs, laptops, cameras or PDAs - anything that belongs to the Imaging &
Printing Group (IPG) which deals with consumer products.
Source: The Hindu Business Line February
12th 2004
Xansa to move UK staff to India
Innovative solutions for tough situations:
To keep their domestic constituencies happy, overseas IT companies are devising innovative
solutions. One such latest example being Xansa, the UK-based BPO and IT services company.
It is planning to move select groups of its UK staff to India for year-stints. These
people will have special technological skills or expertise in specific areas or an
industry vertical. While Xansa would move jobs to India, resources and employees would be
re-deployed in the UK. Xansa will invested UK Pound 24 million in its three sites in
India: at Chennai, Pune and Noida. Xansa expects to have a total strength of 10,000 people
in a single shift when all three locations are fully ready.
Source: The Economic Times February 12th
2004
Hewitt to expand India operations
After IT, medical transcription, equity and legal research, it is the human resource
function, which is adding colors to the Indian BPO flag. Global HR consultancy and
outsourcing firm Hewitt Associates is doubling the headcount of its Indian operations
engaged in international outsourcing services for its global clients. Hewitt India's total
headcount is set to top the 1,200-mark this year making India its third biggest employee
base in the world only behind the US and UK. The firm had transferred back office
operations of its annual salary survey in the Asia-Pacific region last year to India. It
is now planning to gradually do the same for other regions of the world.
Source: www.economictimes.com February 11th 2004
BankAm BPO arm in Hyderabad
Bank of America has set up Continuum Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary for captive BPO
operations, in India The company will kick off operations by the second quarter of 2004
with a 1,000-seat facility in Hyderabad. Continuum hopes to recruit about 500 people by
December this year. The number will be ramped up to 1,000 by the middle of next year. The
BPO subsidiary would carry out transaction processing operations only initially ranging
from treasury management to reconciliation of nostro accounts for the financial services
conglomerate. There would be no voice-based call centre operations at all.
Source: Times News Network February 13th
2004
Reuters to recruit 600 for Bangalore center
Reuters is to recruit 600 personnel for an outsourcing center it is establishing here,
with 350 people to be hired in the first phase, the company announced Thursday. The
Bangalore center, the fourth in the Asia-Pacific region, will hire 350 people by April
2004, when it is scheduled to commence operations. The staff strength will rise to about
600 by the end of 2005. The Bangalore centre will handle information and data in verticals
such as equities, fixed income, foreign exchange and money, commodities and energy,
company and funds. The profile of its initial 350 employees will be a mix of fresh
graduates and youngsters with one-three years' experience or domain expertise in
processing financial data and information, besides having a degree of technical competence
to work on real-time basis online.
Source: Times News Network February 13th
2004
vCustomer to double headcount to 6000
vCustomer, the US-based BPO Company with processing centers in India, is to set to double
its headcount to 6000 in the course of a single year (by end 2004). Sixty-five percent of
vCustomer work comprises providing technical help desk support and the rest is made up of
customer support for retail chains and running loyalty programs for airlines. The company
attributes the rapid expansion plans to the ramping up plans of existing customers,
acquisition of two new customers and negotiations at an advanced stage for several new
contracts.
Source: Business Standard February 11th
2004
Convergys to ramp up staff by 13000 in two years
$2.3 b US giant set to emerge largest call center in India
Cincinnati-based Convergys Corporation, a $2.3 billion billing and customer
services giant, plans to have 20000 employees working in its Indian subsidiary by end of
next year. Currently Convergys India has 7200 employees, which is set to grow to 10000 and
then to 20000 by end of 2005. Convergys was the first Indian call center starting off from
a headcount of 200 at a facility in 2001 at Gurgaon, then moving to Bangalore.
Multiple recruitment mechanisms include print media campaigns, hiring through websites,
college recruitment and employee-referral programs.
Source: The Economic Times February
10th 2004
Comment, Analyses, Studies Etc:
Human Resource Outsourcing: Emerging Trends
The worldwide HR outsourcing market will grow from $21.7 billion in 2000 to $58.5 billion
by 2005 ( source: www.outsource2india.com, Management Trends in Outsourcing). Eighty
percent of companies now outsource at least one HR activity. HRO activities include
staffing, payroll benefits, administration, training, employee relations, and
compensation. The largest global players in the HRO segment include Exult (annual revenue
$400 million), Accenture HR services, ADP, Fidelity, Hewitt, and Convergys. Human Resource
Outsourcing gains significance as more and more companies require unbiased opinion on
human resources, companies lacking internal expertise, external vendors providing
efficient and cost-effective services. Major benefits of HRO can be
identified as:
Fosters Innovation
Increased speed to market
Improved quality
Focus on core competence
Cost reduction
Reduced administrative costs
Improved customer service
Major HR functions that companies outsource as:
Benefits
Payroll
Rewards
Recruiting
Learning/Development
Performance Effectiveness
Workforce Planning
Workforce Administration
Workforce Relations
(source: Hewitt Associates)
Service Line in India
Market Potential
(In billion)
Human Resources
3.5-4.0
Customer Relationship
7.0
Payment Services
3.0-3.5
Content Development
2.5-3.0
Administration
1.5
Healthcare
1.5-2.0
Source: www.businessworldindia.com, August 4th 2003
Major Indian Companies that are into HR outsourcing are: EXL Services, Daksh services,
GTL, Spectra mind, Datamatics Technologies, Tracmail India, Brigade, Epicenter
Technologies, 24/7 Customer etc.
Despite figures and numbers given above, HRO is still considered to be grossly
unexploited. Reasons hampering growth in India are confidentiality and costs. The fear of
losing jobs, loss of control over confidential data, ethics and quality of outsourcing
vendors, security breaches and overall confidence in the vendor deter most organizations.
Source: Effective Executive February 2004
Prepared by -
Abhimanyu Puri, BBA-MAHE-LEVEL1
Comments and questions: info@skylinecollege.com
URL: http://www.skylinecollege.com
