Source: money.cnn.com

Cisco® (NASDAQ: CSCO) and Wipro Ltd (NYSE: WIT) today announced that they have entered into a strategic alliance to jointly develop and deliver information technology (IT) service solutions to help both companies meet their customers’ needs, particularly in fast-growing markets around the world. Under the agreement, Cisco and Wipro together will build new IT infrastructure service solutions that combine Cisco’s industry-leading networking solutions with Wipro’s infrastructure and managed services portfolio. The companies also announced the establishment of the Cisco Solution Centre at the Wipro Campus in Bangalore, India, which will develop and showcase new services and solutions, such as Cisco Unified Communications, that will take advantage of the network platform to help enterprise customers drive innovation and business growth.

“Over the years, Wipro, with its expert system integration services, and Cisco, with its industry-leading products, have partnered to add value to HDFC Bank’s network strategy. Working with these two world-class organizations has been a great experience,” said Aditya Puri, managing director, HDFC Bank Ltd.

Under the agreement, Cisco and Wipro will jointly develop and deliver new solutions that incorporate their intelligent-networking technology and unmatched services in business processes and IT. Wipro will offer solutions based on Cisco products and services on a global basis, with initial focus in India, Middle East and Africa regions. Cisco will also become the preferred networking partner for Wipro’s portfolio of services, including outsourcing, managed-services and other solutions. Wipro will invest in developing competencies in Cisco’s leading-edge products and services through its Cisco Solution Centre.

“Wipro is a global leader in the industry for delivering IT services to enterprises and is implementing IT innovation that helps businesses achieve new levels of productivity,” said Wim Elfrink, chief globalization officer of Cisco. “This strategic alliance illustrates Cisco’s commitment to building relationships with new partners in emerging parts of the world that will take advantage of new virtualised approaches such as ’software as a service,’ and service-oriented network architecture.”

The companies will provide joint services and solutions that take advantage of the network as a platform. The joint offerings will incorporate Cisco’s advanced technologies for such areas as application networking services, data centre, security, telepresence, and unified communications, with Wipro’s industry-leading IT global service and business process models that help customers maximize their business performance. In the future, Cisco and Wipro will collaborate to develop innovative solutions that support specific vertical industry models such as health care, financial services, retail, real estate and transportation.

“The pervasiveness and intelligence of the network is the key to driving IT innovation,” said Suresh Vaswani, president of Wipro Infotech. “This alliance brings together Cisco’s industry-leading network solutions and Wipro’s vertical expertise, quality standards and global presence to deliver innovative new solutions to our customers. We are excited by the possibility of combining the strengths of Cisco and Wipro to deliver unique value to our customers.”

Now that Cisco is the global network platform and networking solutions partner for Wipro, Cisco is able to expand on its worldwide market leadership. Additionally, Cisco will be able to take advantage of Wipro’s world class services and business process re-engineering expertise to pursue new growth opportunities in the areas of remote services delivery.

“Wipro offers a unique approach for delivering service solutions based on infrastructure. Combined with Cisco’s innovation, in making the network the platform, we know we will help meet customers’ needs around the world,” said Steve Steinhilber, vice president of strategic alliances for Cisco. “We are looking forward to working with Wipro to help us expand both our business opportunities in the high-growth emerging markets and the innovation it can bring to address unique customer requirements in those markets.”

The Cisco Solution Centre at the Wipro Campus in Bangalore, India is scheduled to be functional in November and will expedite the development of network-based IT solutions, test frameworks, and illustrate proof of concepts of IT and networking methodologies for client-specific business processes.

Source: www.nzherald.co.nz

Dairy co-operative Fonterra is set to outsource some New Zealand IT jobs to an Indian company as part of a strategy to cut costs and lift efficiency.

Fonterra’s “One Fonterra” strategy, aimed at reducing duplication of backroom support functions such as human resources, information services and finance across its various brands and commodity businesses, will see it use Indian company HCL to run some of its IT systems.

Although the company refused to confirm how many staff would be affected by the move, it is understood redundancies will begin at the end of the month. News reports earlier this year suggest the move could potentially affect 130 jobs.

Fonterra executive Greg James said Fonterra staff had been aware of the outsourcing process since mid-2006 and some could potentially move across to HCL’s New Zealand-based operations.

“We have always made it clear from the outset that there will be some redundancies and those staff who will be potentially affected have been advised,” said James. “We are still working through the recruitment and redeployment processes with many of our staff and are not in a position to comment on what the final number of redundancies may be.”

James said HCL would take over maintenance and servicing functions, including SAP and Oracle systems.

Fonterra’s contract with IT service provider EDS would not be affected by the new deal.

Fonterra has already cut its New Zealand workforce by nearly 10 per cent, according to the latest annual results for the year to May 31, which show employee numbers have dropped from 11,000 to 10,000.

Speaking at the co-operative’s annual meeting last year, chief executive Andrew Ferrier said “One Fonterra” had cut $30 million from overhead costs and expected to deliver a further $100 million in savings over the next three years.

HCL, which describes itself on its website as “one of India’s original IT garage start-ups”, has been in business since 1976 and turns over US$4.4 billion annually.

Source: www.zdnetasia.com

India and China continue to lead in Asia’s offshoring activities, while Philippines’ growth has exceeded analyst expectations, reveals a new market report.

According to XMG’s latest study on the onshore and offshore delivery of outsourcing services, India will account for 11.5 percent of the global market in 2007, compared to China’s 4.4 percent share.

India, the world’s top offshore outsourcing destination, will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 29.5 percent to reach US$34.1 billion in revenues by the end of 2007.

The research firm also said India will continue to lead the offshore segment through 2010 with at least 15 percent share.

China’s 2007 revenues are forecasted to hit US$13.1 billion, registering a compound annual growth rate of 47.9 percent.

However, India and China are not the only markets to watch.

Lauro Vives, chief analyst at XMG, said: “While it is no surprise that India and China continue to lead amongst the offshore countries, our study also showed a noteworthy insight to those following the growth of other offshore countries in Asia.

“The Philippines is experiencing an unprecedented growth rate of 62 percent [which] will surpass Malaysia in 2007,” he added.

According to the XMG study, Philippines’ revenues are expected to grow to almost US$4.1 billion, garnering 1.4 percent of the global market.

“The Philippine industry has far exceeded all analyst expectations,” Vives said.

In comparison, Malaysia’s revenue forecast by year-end is estimated at US$3.6 billion, or 1.2 percent market share.

In 2006, Malaysia and the Philippines were neck and neck with 1.04 percent and 1.02 percent share of global revenues, respectively, XMG said.

Despite a projected 38 percent growth this year, Malaysia’s growth is being outstripped by other markets, primarily due to the country’s lack of manpower to sustain the growth of its offshore and outsourcing industry, the report noted.

“Locators are turning to other countries where there is headroom for further growth and expansion,” Vives said.

Looking forward to 2008, the study predicted “turbulence but continued strong growth in the offshore markets”, citing the rising costs and the continuing depreciation of the U.S. dollar.

The report also noted the rise in real estate prices and the rising cost of operations in India and the Philippines due to wage rate hikes. Both India and the Philippines are expected to experience continuing general wage increases of 11 percent and 8 percent, respectively, due to the talent supply challenge.

According to XMG, the global outsourcing market for IT, business process outsourcing, and call center services is expected to grow by 19.3 percent to top US$297 billion this year. By 2010, the market is projected to be worth US$450 billion.

Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

BPO major HCL, which has reposed faith in trouble-torn Northern Ireland since 2001 when Western companies were chary of investing there, has spread more cheer by employing its 2,000th employee in the region. Many view HCL investing in Northern Ireland as one of the foremost landmarks of India-Britain relations during Tony Blair’s tenure as prime minister. Since 2001, other Indian companies such as Firstsource, Pix Transmission and Tech Mahindra have followed HCL into the region.

HCL has so far invested £16 million in three expansions in Northern Ireland in the last seven years — the most recent led to the development of a second BPO/contact centre in Armagh. It has now hired the 2000th employee in the region.

From its centres in Northern Ireland, HCL provides a range of high value BPO, contact centre (including multi-lingual) and online services to a range of clients from sectors as diverse as telecoms, retail, banking, media, publishing, utilities and technology.

According to Jeremy Fitch, managing director of business (international) at Invest Northern Ireland, a regional development agency, “HCL BPO Services is a valuable asset to the local economy. Since 2001 this global service leader has not only offered varied career opportunities for talented local people, it has repeatedly invested in its employees as part of a corporate commitment to training and development.

“Recruiting its 2,000th employee is a tremendous achievement and clearly communicates to other global organisations that Northern Ireland is the most competitive European location available.

“This announcement is evidence of the growing partnerships that are developing with the Indian business world in terms of both inward investment and export opportunities, and it is particularly fitting that this announcement is made as our local business community fostered even stronger links with India during the recent Invest NI trade mission.”

HCL BPO Services UK senior vice president and general manager Kevin Houston, for added: “I am very excited by the progress achieved to date and by the operation’s long- term potential.

“Since HCL BPO Services was originally established in Northern Ireland in September 2001, the company has grown locally and globally. We now employ 2,000 in Northern Ireland and over 13,000 people around the world.

“Our two centres in Northern Ireland are complemented by a network of nine service delivery centres in India and our NI expansion is based on HCL’s realisation that while outsourcing to India can produce cost savings of up to 60 percent, this differential by itself is not sufficient to build a global BPO services company.

“For us in Northern Ireland, this means that while our India centres are an integral part of the solution we offer our clients, the Belfast and Armagh centres offer us an opportunity to tap into another skilled workforce which will enable us to service European markets even more effectively.”

HCL BPO Services president and CEO Ranjit Narasimhan, echoed Houston’s enthusiasm: “Independently conducted research has established that Northern Ireland’s people, infrastructure and cost base make it the best place in the UK - if not in Europe - to set up a customer BPO/ contact centre.

“Having been operating here for nearly six years, we’re delighted at the speed with which we’ve been able to establish a highly efficient, highly regarded operation in tune with our global ambitions.

“Now benefiting from HCL Technologies’ financial strength, global reach and our high technology and CRM capabilities, Belfast has become an essential part of the highly innovative business model that we’re building”.

“It’s a model that is still relatively unique in our industry. But it is one, I believe, that others will have to try to replicate sooner than later if they are to make the most of the global opportunities that now exist in offshore business process outsourcing.”

Source: www.kcpw.org

Governor’s Trade Mission to India is Underway

Governor Jon Huntsman is in India this week helping Utah businesses and universities make lucrative connections. The trip comes just a week after Novell announced it’s cutting 200 jobs in Provo and outsourcing them to India. But Governor Huntsman downplays India’s threat to the Utah economy:

“Listen, we’re insourcing a lot more jobs than we’re outsourcing. That’s just the nature of our economy - we’re doing extremely well,” says Huntsman. “I think other people ought to be concerned about outsourcing their jobs to Utah, not India.”

Huntsman says the companies on his current trade mission are not interested in outsourcing, but rather exporting products to India. More than half of the participants on the trip are from Utah universities and colleges hoping to establish student and faculty exchanges. About fifteen of the companies are high-tech, adds Huntsman:

“Including some run by very prominent Indian Americans who reside here and have made our state better because they live here and have created jobs,” says Huntsman. “There’s also a humanitarian component of our trip. We’ll be opening a school to provide education to some underserved kids.”

While in India, Huntsman will also speak to a large group of faculty and students at Pune University. The group is expected to return to Utah on November 4th. Governor Huntsman has led similar trade missions to China, Mexico and Canada.