planet outsourcing

The Certification in Outsourcing Management for IT which was started by the Singapore Computer Society has received the support from a number of IT chiefs and vendors. This program is meant for IT professionals who want to make a career in the field of outsourcing management. The duration of the course is three days and is aimed at professional looking forward to getting a recognized professional qualification. This course is backed by credibility. This course would certainly prove beneficial to the business of Singapore when related to the quality of the service. Certainly certification helps a company in managing the risks associated with outsourcing and achieve an improved standard level of service. Besides this the certification also enables companies to come out successful in their IT outsourcing projects.

Even the well known BBC has taken the outsourcing path. Xansa has been selected by BBC as a preferred supplier for its finance and accounting services deal. The deal is worth £8.5m per year for next ten years and BBC stands to gain £20m per year. It would be undertaken in both India and UK. This is being considered as a bold step by BBC for offering value for money for license fee payer. Under the terms of the agreement Xansa would be offering financial management and project accounting, purchasing and sales transaction processing, artist and contributor payment and payroll and expense services. As per Gordon Stuart, Finance Director, Xansa: Like many organizations the BBC is becoming enlightened to the benefits outsourcing can bring and recognizes now it’s not something you should be scared of

Now it’s the time for content writing boom. What is content writing? It refers to creation of content for websites as per the requirements of clients. In short creation of content that is web friendly. It is being said that content writing, web development and e-business is the next big thing in the world of outsourcing. Companies such as Genpact, Lionbridge, TCS and NIIT have realized the importance of it and have already started their operations in this area. Due to the potential of e-learning a lot of growth has been witnessed in the area of content development. India is gearing up for content writing and web development. After call centers this is the area which is growing at a massive rate in India. At present a large portion of content writing work is being outsourced to India and has also created a number of jobs in the country.

Childless couples are now moving to India in order to fulfill their dream of becoming parents of a child. A number of couples coming from as far as countries such as United States are opting for a surrogate mother in order to fulfill their dream of becoming a father and mother. This is being regarded as the latest trend in outsourcing. Anand in Gujarat, India is the place where couples are flocking to fulfill their dream. In India, a couple can find a surrogate for $5,000which is 1/10th the cost of what would cost in United States. Concerns are being raised on ethical grounds with regards to baby outsourcing. One needs to consider the fact that as compared to a number of states in states, Indian surrogates do not enjoy any rights over the child. It makes me wonder whether this is good or bad for the country.

Indian IT firms are hiring like anything. Companies such as HCL, Infosys, Satyam, TCS and Wipro have employed a whopping 27,583 people during the third quarter of 2006. It seems that this trend is here to stay. By the end of the third quarter, Infosys, Satyam, TCS and Wipro had employed 2, 37,016 IT professionals combined together. Infosys had stated that it would be employing 25,000 professionals during the year whereas TCS had plans for recruiting 30,500 professionals. This points out to the fact that the Indian outsourcing industry is still going strong and would continue to dominate the outsourcing scene for a long time to come.

India also excels in the insurance outsourcing industry and here are figures to prove them. Indian insurance outsourcing industry was valued at $690 million and is expected to grow at the rate of thirty percent per year till 2010. It is expected that Indian insurance outsourcing industry would grow at a faster rate as compared to other nations and businesses would be seeking new and innovative business arrangements. The future of India looks very bright in this sector and it’s expected that there would be an increasing trend towards outsourcing of high end processes such as analytics, actuaries and underwriting. Come 2010 and you would see Indian companies turning into mature service providers and competing with MNCs.

There seems to be a concern regarding the looming growth of regulatory scrutiny of outsourcing in securities industry especially in Europe and USA through introduction of additional regulation which governs outsourcing. As per UK Financial Services Regulator: Operational risks posed by outsourcing could present a significant threat to the statutory objective of securing the appropriate degree of protection for customers, maintaining confidence in the financial system and reducing financial crime. Financial institutions should monitor and supervise the performance and competence of the outsourced service providers. In a similar manner there would also be a differential approach to functions which are termed critical and non critical.

Remember a few days back I had reported about the Air New Zealand outsourcing issue. Adding to that at the shareholders meeting held on Wednesday, union leaders have urged the bosses of Air New Zealand to stop the outsourcing process. Mr. Little on behalf of the public had presented a thousand postcards to bosses opposing outsourcing. Also leaflets were handed outside the meeting venue protesting the outsourcing. The pamphlets were handed to the shareholders and they were asked to hold the management accountable for those charges. Andrew Little, Engineering, Manufacturing and Printing Union stated: Expert advice had found the company’s plan to outsource hundreds of engineering jobs “considerably wanting”. He said that hundreds of jobs got saved but now with uncertainty hanging over seventeen hundred ground staff, the need has again arisen for calling expert advice.

Chile, a small Latin American country is fastening its belts so that it can get high tech customers and due to its efforts it has been able to attract a number of U.S. companies which have established their businesses in Chile. The country is positioning itself as a potential IT outsourcing tiger and despite facing difficulties in its mission it has found support in TCS which is considered to be one of Asia’s biggest outsourcing companies. They are in a similar time zone as the U.S. and this is what has attracted TCS to Chile. This country of sixteen million people is on a mission of attracting sophisticated companies and the country has already set aside $200 million for investing high technology. Certainly the country is working hard to establish itself as an attractive outsourcing destination and it would certainly succeed in it. Best of luck, Chile!!

Kalroma Information has stated in a report that by 2011 global pharmaceutical outsourcing of manufacturing might cross the figures of $26 billion. With outsourcing of sales and marketing also becoming popular it would be adding $5 billion to the manufacturing outsourcing market and this would push the figures past $30 billion. Outsourcing marketing is gaining popularity due to the fact as companies lack fund expertise. Why companies are moving towards manufacturing outsourcing is due to the availability of production technologies and state of the art processes. Certainly outsourcing has spread across various sectors and they are reaping the benefits of outsourcing. India is expected to get a major share in it.