India emerging as a frontrunner in online tutoring service

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Outsourcing has invaded the education sector too. India is emerging as a front runner in offering tutoring services to overseas clients and is expected to garner a large share in the online tutoring business. Already a big business in Europe, U.S and East Asia, online tutoring is expected to grow rapidly in the years to come. It is said that online tutoring is an expensive service which is generally within the reach of rich families but outsourcing is expected to change this trend. Since the service offered by Indian teachers is available at fraction of the cost charged by U.S and European teachers, outsourcing is expected to bring down the cost of online tutoring by $20 per hour. India is again expected to gain from online tutoring outsourcing since besides the cost factor it has a large pool of English speaking talent with high level of competency in related subjects. Even the internet penetration and connectivity has improved over the years and this is expected to make India a leader in this particular field. Via atimes

Try SEO outsourcing for improving your website ranking

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With the need to bring websites among top ranks in a search engine webmasters have been using search engine optimization or SEO to achieve the same but since this work requires lot of efforts therefore now they are outsourcing this work in order to improve upon their search engine ranking. By outsourcing SEO to a third party it relieves you of the pressure for bringing your site among the top ranks and since these are specialized companies therefore you can be sure of some good rankings for your websites. These companies have specialization in the area of SEO and can help you in getting a better Google page rank which everybody dies for. Though its is emerging a good option but fingers are being pointed at the techniques being used by these companies for improving the rankings of the websites and it is being said that this could be harmful in the long run for the existence of the site. Also you might lose control over your website therefore discuss all the terms clearly with your SEO company before handing over the job to them since its you who might have to suffer in the long run if things go haywire. Via market-day

Parking meter outsourcing hurts America

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Private management of parking meters is causing a lot of financial waste to the Washington state. Outsourcing has not been able to achieve its objective and has brought up the costs to $9 million from 1999 to 2005. The problem was caused due to the poor service offered by the contractor hired for the purpose. In 1993 when the parking meter service had not been privatized the city raked in $13.2 million in revenue as against $1.1 million in expenses with returns of $11 for every dollar spent. The only profitable year under privatization was 2003 when around $2.63 were earned for each dollar spent. The figures demonstrate that the government was far better off when it had not outsourced the service and this demonstrates that outsourcing cannot be a good option every time and cannot be implemented everywhere. Via washingtonpost

US Students skipping IT stream due to outsourcing fears

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Its not just employees but even students who now fear outsourcing. The number of students enrolling for IT courses has been declining since they fear that may end up either losing their job or may never find a job in the IT industry which has increased dependence on outsourcing. This has caused various IT departments across colleges in US to come up with an image building exercise and they are trying to convince students that there is a shortage of IT professionals in the country and in no way they would have to suffer if they opt for IT. A number of colleges are trying to promote the field of IT and clear the various misconceptions which have cropped up in the minds of youngsters due to outsourcing. University of South Florida IT department is trying to attract students by offering technology based movie nights coupled with free popcorns. It hopes that it will be able clear the misconceptions in the minds of the students. It looks that the government would need to step in with a brand building exercise or its pool of IT talent may keep on shrinking hence leading to increased dependence on other countries. Via zdnet

Outsourcing Industry Predictions for 2007 by Luxoft

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You must be knowing about Luxoft, a Russian company which offers IT outsourcing services to a host of companies such as Dell, IBM, T-Mobile to name a few and now it has come up with a prediction for the IT outsourcing industry for the year 2007. This is a well covered prediction which includes a range of business, technical and relationship pulse points and states that the global IT outsourcing market has matured to quite an extent. Some of the predictions for the year 2007 for the outsourcing industry are: Value Becomes King Over Pure Cost Outsourcing Gets More Agile Hybrid Models Become the Norm Security Bar Is Raised – In 2007 Player Consolidation Continues Nearshoring Comes Closer Financial Industry Increasingly Banks on Outsourcing This is a very good prediction and some of the predictions are expected to turn out to be true. Click her to read the whole prediction.

Offshore outsourcing by banks expected to see a surge

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It is expected that the offshore tech spending by banks is expected to increase from the level of six percent to thirty percent by 2010. It is also expected that the banks in U.S and other countries would be increasing their budget for getting hold of technology services from offshore providers which operate from countries such as China and India in the coming years. As per a study by Deloitte: Among larger institutions in particular, offshoring is not one available cost-cutting strategy, it’s become a basic necessity. Banks are moving well beyond outsourcing low-level application maintenance work and are increasingly relying on offshore service providers for help with more sophisticated technology projects. Though the advantages offered are quite a lot but a number of banks are not banking on it and it would be better if they develop the internal management skills required for making offshoring as much cost efficient as possible. Via itnews

Finance budget brings higher taxation for Indian outsourcing industry

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This budget has not brought any good news for the Indian outsourcing industry. In the finance budget presented the export revenue of a number of Indian outsourcing companies was brought under the tax scanner and this seems to be the first measure by the government for bringing down the tax benefits to these companies. Reacting to this, N. Ramachandran, CFO, iGATE Global Solutions stated: Prices that outsourcers charge their customers are unlikely to go up as a result, but profit margins will be affected. Before the budget the Finance Minister of India had stated that incomes under tax exemption would now be covered under the minimum alternate tax or MAT. A number of other tax issues are expected to trouble the Indian outsourcing industry which is already facing competition in the wake of other countries offering their services at low prices. It seems Indian outsourcing industry has a tough time ahead. Via techworld

2007 is the year of revival for the outsourcing industry

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Year 2006 was not a good year for the outsourcing industry but 2007 surely looks a promising year for it. With US economy slowing down the India BPO industry is all set to benefit from it even though it may be for a short period of time. Companies looking to tied over the recession are expected to increase the outsourcing of IT services. It might see a revival of the long term deals in the industry but with US presidential elections lined up for 2008 it outsourcing to India could emerge as a serious political issue. K Sridharan, Chief mentor, Hexaware stated: What really drives US firms is their bottom line and they will only increase outsourcing to cut on cost as employee cost accounts for around 40 per cent of their operating costs. The Indian BPO sector is expected to grow at the rate of 28% this year and generate revenues worth $47.8 billion in 2007. Indian companies are looking forward to further incentives from the government since they have been facing increasing competition from other countries in the Asia Pacific region and since it is an industry which revolves around costs it may emerge as the deciding factor between the leader and the follower. Via rediff

Indian companies set to gain with design outsourcing

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It is said that India rules the outsourcing industry and though India is mainly involved in back end IT related work but now pre media aspect has been added to its kitty. In this area up till now India used to tackle basic jobs such as DTP, word processing etc but now it has moved further in this area and now a number of companies are offering design and creative work to Indian companies. Indian companies have been able to prove their superiority in strategic design and branding work. Companies are either working for clients directly or through international consultancies and are even performing work such as typesetting or identity implementation. It seems that India is expected to garner a bigger share in this arena too and lead from the front. Via agencyfaqs

ASI criticized for outsourcing to foreigners

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India is known to undertake a lot of U.S outsourcing work and now Archaeological Survey of India or ASI is facing the stick for outsourcing the digitization of its archive of photographs to American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurgaon which is an American funded organization receiving grants from the Smithsonian Institution, Washington. This was done even though procedural cautions were stated in a report which was presented by a standing parliamentary committee. This report had questioned the locus standi of American Institute of Indian Studies. The report observed: Adequate care should be taken while finalising such kind of deal (sic) so the expenditure to be occurred… is spent in the best interest of the nation and valuable information about Indian antiquities and monuments are not handed over to foreign hands. It further stated that ASI would prepare estimates and compare the estimates with other eligible parties after the sanctions are obtained. The report also highlighted the demoralisation of ASI’s own professional cadre and the urgency of having a professional archaeologist head the organization. Despite all this the contract was awarded to American Institute of Indian Studies. It seems all the report findings were overlooked while handling the contract. When C Babu Rajeev, Director-general, ASI was asked for an explanation he said that he did not owe an explanation. Is the ministry sleeping over this issue? Via organizer