Source: www.business-standard.com

As part of its expansion plans to diversify its revenue base, Satyam Computer Services is investing over $95 million (around Rs 380 crore) in a couple of acquisitions abroad.

The company has entered into an agreement with Caterpillar Inc, the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines.

The deal for Satyam to acquire Caterpillar’s market research and customer analytics (MR&CA) intellectual property and assets is $60 million (Rs 240 crore).

Satyam will also launch a business unit to provide MR&CA solutions and services globally to Caterpillar and its customers in various industries.

“Caterpillar’s MR&CA IP and assets will complement our business consulting capabilities, deep industry knowledge and market research processes, enhancing Satyam’s offerings in these areas and enabling it to establish itself at the forefront of the substantial knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) market, which will touch $17 billion by 2010,” Ram Mynampati, president, Satyam, said.

It also entered into an agreement to acquire S&V Management Consultants, a Belgium-based supply-chain management firm services clients in the manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries.

The all-cash deal, $35 million (Rs 140 crore), includes initial and performance-based payments.

On the home turf, the company agreed to purchase Computer Associates’ stake in C&S, a smartcard and e-learning solutions provider, which was founded as a 50:50 joint venture in 2001.

“C&S, with revenues of $3 million (Rs 12 crore) and 36 employees, will help us address the Indian domestic smartcard business,” Mynampati said.

Satyam will pay $1.5 million (Rs 6 crore) for acquiring the 50 per cent share and rename the company C&S Private Ltd.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

NEW DELHI: They are the professionals who design our insurance policies. Their job is to assess the financial implications of unforeseen events and the money needed to cover the risks.

As the global insurance market hots up, actuaries have become hot property. And ever since actuarial process outsourcing (APO) has caught up, KPOs especially in India are wooing actuaries with lucrative packages.

Experts say, the estimated revenue from Indian offshore insurance BPO services are expected to rise from $790 million in 2007 to about $2 billion by 2010. However, as the market matures, Indian IT companies, who till now provided only back office insurance services like claims processing and others, are now moving to doing the more complex actuarial valuations jobs as well.

While APO is fast emerging as a niche KPO segment, there are no official studies to forecast the market yet. “The global insurance KPO market is estimated to be around $430 million in 2007 and India’s share is expected to be about 70% at about $300 million by 2010,” says Mohit Thukral, senior VP, Genpact.

According to Sanjiv Kapur, Senior VP Head, Patni BPO, “Various sources of market research predict the KPO industry to be anywhere between $10 billion to $17 billion by the year 2010. Going by the indication and the response we are seeing from the global market, India has the potential to become actuarial back office of the world.”

Patni BPO has almost 120 actuarial workers in India. Kapur feels, considering, APO is not driven by volumes, growing to 125 FTEs in itself is considered significant. So what is driving this market? Apart from significant cost savings and improved productivity, India provides global companies access to skilled resources.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

MUMBAI: Satyam Computer Services Ltd, India’s No. 4 software-services exporter, said on Monday it had acquired Belgium-based S&V Management Consultants for $35.5 million in an all-cash deal.

The supply-chain management firm services clients in the manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries, it said. Satyam also acquired construction equipment maker Caterpillar Inc’s market research and customer analytics operations for $60 million in an all-cash deal, it said.

Satyam will service Caterpillar’s new product development, customer survey execution and other areas, it said. “It accelerates development of our business transformation capabilities and enhances our end-to-end business solutions — from strategy on through to BPO” Satyam chairman B Ramalinga Raju said Satyam earlier reported on Monday that an 18.5% rise in quarterly profit to Rs 467 crore ($117 million), lagging forecasts, as a slowdown in the US crimped outsourcing deals.

Source: www.bizjournals.com

SunTrust Banks signed a 10-year agreement with Toronto-based Symcor to outsource “a significant portion” of the bank’s back-office banking operations.

As part of the deal, about 1,500 SunTrust employees will be moved out of the bank and 54 positions could be eliminated, a company spokesman said.

In addition, Symcor will handle SunTrust’s check clearing, lockbox processing and statement production functions.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in the statement, nor did the bank disclose possible cost savings as a result of the deal.

The back-office duties will be transferred Aug. 1, affecting SunTrust employees in Orlando; Miami; Baltimore; Atlanta; Nashville and Memphis, Tenn.; Richmond, Va.; and Durham, N.C..

Symcor will buy or lease the SunTrust facilities in those locations, which adds to the Canadian company’s existing operations in Orlando, Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte and Los Angeles.

Symcor now provides similar back-office services to five of the 15 largest North American banks.

For SunTrust, the latest move is part of the bank’s companywide cost-cutting initiative announced last spring, dubbed Efficiency in Execution (E Squared), company spokesman Mike McCoy said.

Last year, the bank sold branches and office space across its Southeast footprint in a sale/leaseback agreement and cut staffing.”This is consistent with the rest of our E Squared program,” McCoy said.

SunTrust is the fourth-largest financial institution in South Florida, with a 5.63 percent market share, $6.2 billion in local deposits and $8.43 billion in deposits.

Source: www.sda-india.com

Conseco, an insurance provider focused on offering financial security for the life, health and retirement needs of middle-market and senior Americans, announced that it has selected Infosys for a five-year contract to provide development and maintenance services to its key business applications.

“We view Infosys as a strong partner for complex work, and we entered into the outsourcing relationship knowing we would like their advice and implementation assistance with other applications initiatives,” said Russ Bostick, Conseco’s executive vice president and Chief Information Officer.

He further added saying that, the company has already benefited by emulating Infosys practices in improving their Conseco India Data Services subsidiary, which provides similar services for other mission-critical Conseco systems.

Under the terms of the deal, Infosys will support several IT systems that power Conseco’s business – including new business, policy administration, claims, audit management, marketing, and agent compensation. By centralizing the support, maintenance and development of these applications with Infosys, Conseco will be able to better navigate business cycles and scale its applications and IT capabilities to meet business demands, claimed Conseco.

Eric Paternoster, senior vice president, Insurance, Healthcare and Life Sciences, Infosys Technologies, said the partnership will support Conseco’s business growth and operational excellence goals.