Source:www.dailystar.com.lb

Egypt has set its sights on grabbing a share of the multi-billion dollar Indian-dominated call center market and is looking to an unexpected corner for a helping hand - India. As it makes its pitch to the world, touting a multilingual workforce over India’s English-speakers, a time zone shared with Europe and proximity to the US, Egypt is marketing its edge over India to India itself.

Its government has sent a high-level delegation to India to convince the IT giant to sub-outsource its outsourcing to Egypt.

Several cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding were signed between the two countries, and Indian industry giants such as Wipro and Satyam have signed agreements to set up support centers in Egypt.

According to the Yankee Group, a US-based technology research and consulting firm in IT outsourcing, Egypt is 15 to 20 years behind India, which has boomed to dominate 60 percent of the overall offshore market.

But the South Asian giant struggles to maintain an adequate supply of skilled workers, and handing some of the pie to Egypt could be mutually beneficial, Egypt says.

The Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) was set up by the government of Premier Ahmad Nazif in 2004 to guide Egypt’s burgeoning IT industry and propel it onto the world stage.

The government hopes to entice major IT players to set up their call centers, accounting and payroll management in Egypt, pumping resources into an industry it hopes will elevate the national economy.

“This sector will lead to a renaissance in Egypt,” ITIDA CEO Mohammad Omran told AFP.

So will Egypt become the new India?

“Absolutely not,” said Omran. “We cannot compete with India, we don’t want to compete with India, we want to cooperate with India.”

“It’s what makes the most sense,” said Mai Farouk, an independent IT analyst, currently researching Egypt’s outsourcing industry.

“It would help the industry grow and elevate its standard,” said Farouk, but she fears that the lack of a formal analysis of Egypt’s IT experience so far could send the country down the wrong path.

“There has been no thorough analysis of the Egyptian experience,” she told AFP. “In Egypt, if a type of business is successful, everyone jumps into it. It is an individual and business trend here. We need to study and learn from other’s mistakes,” Farouk added.

One problem facing India is poorly planned roads make it difficult for staff to reach some of the call centers, something Egypt has picked up on.

Source:newsinfo.inquirer.net

Global management consulting and technology services firm Accenture has expanded its operations in the country with the opening of a facility here in Cebu.

The Cebu facility, which will initially have 500 seats, will provide “high-value” information technology outsourcing services like application management service, systems development and other related services to global clients, said Keith Haviland, lead of delivery center network for technology of Accenture.

Executives declined to disclose the amount invested in the new facility.

This is part of the company’s global delivery center network, which employs about 28,000 people in North America, Europe, Latin America, India, China and the Philippines. Accenture now employs 12,000 people in the country, the company said.

Beth Lui, country managing director of Accenture delivery center in Manila, said the company’s Cebu facility is part of a strategy of finding more professionals outside of Metro Manila.

Haviland said there remains a strong demand for its services, but declined to give details of the company’s ramp-up in Cebu.

“We will still grow our Manila operations,” added Haviland.

The company aims to have 65,000 professionals in its global delivery network by the end of 2007.

Lui said Accenture has been in the IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing services for the past two decades. She said it has moved some of the work from Manila to Cebu.

“Cebu is capable of providing us the talent pool we need,” Lui said, adding that it will soon replicate its industry and academe partnership it started in Manila in Cebu.

The Cebu facility will initially focus on IT outsourcing, including system integration and application management services. It will later bring its business process outsourcing and call center business to Cebu as it accepts more outsourcing jobs.

Haviland said that the Philippines and India are among the largest outsourcing hubs of Accenture worldwide.

India employs 35,000 professionals to date, said Haviland.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and government executives were in Cebu to join the inauguration of the Cebu facility.