Planet Outsourcing

There has been an increase the number of Australian companies outsourcing the management of signage and in the next five years it is expected to grow even more. The reason for the growth can be attributed to increase in the frequency of re-branding and also as more and more companies look to make sure that there is consistency across the branded assets.

As per brand asset management group, Signmanager the outsourcing of signage management has now reached a level of 4% of the $500 million that are spent every year on signage in Australia. It is quite visible that in the past six years there has been a significant drop in the life cycle of a brand. Earlier the life cycle of a brand was 15 years after which there was a need of re-branding. Now the life cycle has fallen to as low as 5-7 years. This has made it almost necessary to go for re-branding.

Via openpr

Aerospace market is booming like never before and so is outsourcing. A number of prime aerospace contractors are looking to outsource their regular machining and for that purpose are looking for qualified people to undertake the work. Take for example Boeing which has outsourced around seventy percent of the parts for their new aircraft. Not only aircrafts but even helicopter parts are being outsourced. Companies are outsourcing some of the functions and are leaving behind their core competencies and that surely makes sense.

Companies are looking to gel with those suppliers which are financially healthy and can bond for a longer duration of time. It was probably thirty years ago when the wave of outsourcing hit the automotive industry and now the aerospace industry is looking to gain from it. With the US aerospace industry registering sales worth $184 billion in 2006 the trend of outsourcing in this industry is expected to just go northward.

image

Via americanmachinist

India has now got an outsourcing competitor in the form of Chengdu. You must be wondering what is Chengdu? It is not any specific person but is the capital of Sichuan Province in China which is all geared up to excel in the field of outsourcing so that it can emerge as a leader in the areas of central and western China. It is looking to capture work from American, European and Japanese markets so that it can achieve revenues of $100-200 million per year and by 2010 cross the mark of $500 million. Up till now Chengdu was a manufacturing hub but now it is looking to diversify in the areas of outsourcing too.

What makes Chengdu an attractive destination for outsourcing is its vast pool of talented people and government support it enjoys. It is also an important educational and scientific research center and more than sixty thousand people are engaged in the software sector. MNCs are getting attracted to Chengdu and they are including it in their list of outsourcing investments.

With China looking to develop ten outsourcing base by 2010 India needs to look at it pretty seriously.

Via chinadaily

There seems to be a heated debate over whether cytology screening should be outsourced or not. Medical researchers feel that screening should not be outsourced otherwise the quality of the tests could not be maintained and it’s in the best interests of the health of the women. It seems the Irish medical scientists are all against this idea and they also have reservations with regards to privatization of pathology work in public health sector.

I think the scientist do not understand the benefits that outsourcing can offer to the Irish medical field. It’s not just about low costs in outsourcing which can be gained but even the quality of the service can be maintained since the government would surely outsource the work to hospitals that are adept at performing screening so chances of low quality service is minimal. All I can figure out is that the medical scientists might be worried about losing jobs as a result of outsourcing.

Image

Via: irishexaminer

Andhra Pradesh in India has been facing shortage of firefighters for years and in order to overcome this problem the fire department is planning to opt for outsourcing. Now private companies would be offering their fire fighting services and at around twenty five places in the state the department would be outsourcing their fire fighting operations. Already tenders have been floated in this regard and areas to be outsourced have been short listed on the basis of areas prone to accidents.

The agencies would be selected by a committee headed by district collector and members which includes district fire officer. The private companies will be required to get their own fire equipments and would be offered training by the fire department for tackling accidents.

It looks that people within India have too started using outsourcing services which they used to offer around the globe. Let’s hope that this outsourcing arrangement would help in bringing down the number of fire accidents in the state and save a number of innocent lives.

Via indiatimes

These days CFOs of companies are in a dilemma regarding the outsourcing option. Though at board level outsourcing is accepted fairly and is regarded as a valuable business deal but they are having a difficult time implementing it. CFOs are engrossed in work which could have been outsourced and as of now they are involved in day to day tasks when they could have used this same time for medium and ling term issues. As a result companies don’t get enough time for managing core business opportunities.

Even the CFOs are wary of outsourcing their accounting and finance functions as compared to other areas due to the problems posed by regulation and compliance. Though there seems to be a willingness to undertake outsourcing but fear over losing direct control and the extra workload is acting as a roadblock in changing their minds. This scenario can only change when the top management takes proper interest in implementing outsourcing.

Via accountancyage

For more than two thousand years China has been dependant on soyabeans for producing tofu which has become the staple diet of country. Now the country has started facing water problems and in order to meet its daily dose of tofu it is looking forward to Brazil to come to its rescue. Industrialization has diminished water supplies and cultivable land in the country therefore China is looking towards South America for its food needs where land is still available in plenty and is cheap.

The figures talk for themselves as a fifty percent jump has been witnessed in soyabean trade between China and Brazil which stands at eleven million tons. China has been witnessing a drop in the water table at the rate of three to ten feet every year and let me tell you that a thousand tones of water is required for production of one ton of grain therefore the best thing for China is to import it.

Now the situation is such that China is looking forward to get in direct contact with Brazilian farmers and they are even ready to improve facilities and upgrade the rail system in Brazil all for a regular supply of soyabean.

Via medindia

Every time work has been outsourced from Britain to India it has called for a lot of hue and cry but a recent report comes as a shocker which states that work being outsourced to India is having no effect on the call centers in Britain and a million jobs would be generated by the year end. As per ContactBabel around three percent of the working population in Britain was working in call centers. With around 960,000 jobs in the sector the numbers will continue to increase in the months to come.

Steve Morrell, of ContactBabel stated on this issue:

The UK contact centre industry continues to grow at a healthy and sustainable rate, driven by the expansion of existing operations, rather than the opening of new contact centres.

Outsourcing boom in countries such as Eastern Europe, South Africa and India have not affected work in U.K. Even some companies in U.K have withdrawn the outsourcing work and it is expected that around 1.1 million people would be employed in call centers in U.K by 2010. I was just wondering why such a hue and cry was raised every time work was outsourced to India. Was it all some political agenda? Seems so!!

Via andhracafe

The growing attractiveness of the Indian market has also diversified to the medical sector as many of the US companies are planning to outsource their offshore their employee healthcare to India.

Due to the fact that the healthcare is pretty expensive in the US; and that the companies can save to about 90 percent on the expenditure cost by outsourcing; India is proving to be an irresistible option for the companies including those in the fortune 500 List. The cost advantage for the companies can range from 85 percent to 90 percent. The main reason which had led to the controversies to the idea of outsourcing healthcare is the fact that the healthcare requires a degree of intimacy with the patient is not possible by outsourcing it.

Dr Naresh Trehan , Escorts Heart Institute and Research Centre stated:

We have patients coming from there on a regular basis so far mainly those who are uninsured if you say the trend, I think it’s three times today than what it was two years ago.

It is expected that Indian health care industry can reach $47 billion in the next five years and if it undertakes outsourcing then the figures can double. The Indian healthcare industry surely has a bright future ahead.

Image

Via: ibnlive

American telephone companies will have a tough time enjoying outsourcing since Federal Communications Commission or FCC has strengthened the outsourcing regulations therefore it would become difficult for the companies to outsource their marketing or customer service functions. Now in case companies would like to release their customer records to a third party they would have to get the permission of the customer before they intend to do so.

Both the parties are bound to suffer since outsourcing was being deployed as a means of bringing down the costs of the companies by giving their customer service functions to third parties. Companies are worried that as a result their overall costs will shot up. They even feel that even this rule will not be able to prevent the leakage of customer data.

It seems FCC is acting tough on the issue of privacy and is taking all measures to achieve it but telecom companies have been left high and dry since they no longer would be able to enjoy the benefits of outsourcing.

Via cellular-news