IT industry is disappointed that its demand for extension of the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) scheme beyond 2009 was ignored in the Union Budget on Friday.

Industry officials, however, kept a brave face, saying that they expect the issue to be dealt by the Government post-budget or in the next budget.

The STPI scheme that provides a 10-year Income Tax exemption in software technology parks expires, in March 2009.

We have one more budget to go. It could very well happen in post-budget announcements or in the next budget. 

Survey lauds 32% growth in IT, BPO India exports : IT and BPO export revenues surged 32.6 per cent to touch $31.3 billion in 2006-07 helped by steady expansion into newer service lines, increased geographical presence and unprecedented rise in investments by MNCs, the pre-Budget Economic Survey said today.

The survey noted that computer software contributed Rs 1,41,800 crore, while electronics hardware accounted for Rs 11,500 crore to the total electronics exports basket of Rs 1,53,300 crore.

“In 2006-07, the performance of the Information Technology-Enabled Services-Business Process Outsourcing (ITES-BPO) was marked by double-digit revenue growth, steady expansion into newer service lines, increased geographic penetration and an unprecedented rise in investment by multinational corporations,” the Survey tabled in Parliament said.

Business Process Industry Association of India (BPIAI) has also asked for recognition of BPO industry as a separate industry. BPIAI president Samir Chopra said the BPO industry must be decoupled from the IT/ITeS industry. BPIAI said business process outsourcing must be recognised as a separate industry from the IT industry and a special business process outsourcing department or ministry should be set up.

With STPI scheme coming to an end in March 2009, investors could avoid India as an offshore destination, opting instead for places like China, Sri Lanka and Philippines, BPIAI president Samir Chopra said.

MANILA, Feb 28, 2008 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX) — - SPi, a leading global provider of business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions and a subsidiary of Philippine Long Distance Telephone, gained recognition in the Global Services 100 Survey. SPi placed No. 3 in the Leader, Emerging Asian Markets category, No. 6 in Best Performing BPO Provider category and No. 9 in Leader, Human Capital Development category in the 2008 Global Services 100 Survey conducted by Global Services magazine and neoIT, an outsourcing advisory firm.

The Global Services 100 is a ranking of the worldstop 100 service providers across various BPO and IT sectors.

> more / details

The Indian publishing BPO industry is expected to grow at an estimated rate of 35 per cent per annum and become a $ 1.46 billion industry by 2010, Puducherry CII Vice Chairman Sriram Subramanya said on Thursday.

Addressing a conference on Publishing BPO Services, organised by CII in Chennai, Subramanya said Chennai had emerged as a global hub for publishing BPO services and the Indian publishing BPO services industry had grown phenomenally over the years.

During the world’s first conference on publishing BPO services organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) hosted at Chennai, Integra Software Services founder-MD-CEO Sriram Subramanya noted, “With several global publishers offshoring their publishing BPO services to India, there is an accelerated trend of acquisitions, which is likely to intensify as more players look to acquire new capabilities, clients, market presence, offshore capacity and onshore capability.”

”The publishers’ expectations are increasing in terms of speed to market, consistent quality, end-to-end services, reduced pricing, multiple and complex deliverables, need to deal with fewer suppliers,” he said adding ”there is an increasing demand supply gap on the manpower side combined with high attrition and increasing cost.” 

SPS Technologies CEO Sharad Wasani said publishing has to encompass a gamut of services. Companies in this space have to learn to listen to the customer and put together a package that will offer additional value-add services, for full-service management has come to stay.

“The KPO industry is predicted to be anywhere between $12 billion and $15.5 billion by 2010, at an annual growth rate of 40 to 50 percent. The global opportunity for publishing outsourcing is estimated at $8.1 billion, and, if offshored, it is estimated to be valued at $4.86 billion,” Aptara International chief technologist and senior vice-president Guruvinder Batra said.

Via : Rediff.com / SiliconIndia.com

The global BPO industry will reach the US$ 100 billion mark by 2010 and Sri Lanka too could take a major share of this market.

Director of Strategic Development, The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Rick Sturge, who was in Sri Lanka last week for the Achievers Education Institute awards ceremony said India would account for around 30 per cent from this market and China 15 per cent.

“Sri Lanka has a good chance of taking one percent of this market which would be very productive,” he said. He said the geographical advantage and high literacy rate are some of the key plus points for Sri Lanka.

In addition the advanced technological solutions offered also makes Sri Lanka a very exciting destination for the BPO industry. He also said that accountants play a vital role in development and the United Nations had invited accountants to get involved in re-building era.

“Their assistance was also sought from several African countries and Egypt requiting to play a key role in development,” he said.

He noted that one might be surprised to note that over 50 per cent of accountants work in non-financial institutions.

CIMA is a leading membership body that offers an internationally recognised professional qualification in management accountancy, which focuses on accounting for business.

Sturge also said there are over 18,000 vacancies for accountants that need to be filled urgently. He said quality people come through the local CIMA education and they can fit into any post anywhere in the world.

There is a growing demand from Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei to open more CIMA certified training institutes in those countries. “This shows that the demand for CIMA is on the rise,” he said.

A Visakhian student who excelled at the Achievers Education Institute in CIMA programme said that CIMA people make their pathway beyond accountancy by using finance skills to focus on future success rather than past performance and they are helping to drive the worlds top organisations.

“The commercial sector is rapidly expanding globally with no boundaries and the role of the management accountant has become indispensable,” she said.

By: Shirajiv Sirimane

Source & Credit

BANGALORE: Mortarboards, black robes, tassels and caps thrown into the air… seems like a scene out of a college graduation ceremony, doesn’t it? And what if we were to say that the course duration ranged from three to eight weeks and equipped you with fancy accents to converse with people through the night? Now, does it sound more like a call centre?

While companies have been reported to have tried everything from quarterly appraisals to free Snicker vending machines (which has worked, of course!), 24 x 7, a business process outsourcing (BPO), has gone one step ahead. The company recently organised a graduation ceremony for its trainees, where parents and family members participated and get a preview into the lives of these call centre employees.

With the average attrition rate in most companies being quoted at 15 per cent by industry survey reports, companies have realised that fat pay cheques may lure the young and the restless; however, that alone is not enough to retain them. Human resource (HR) analysts in companies are working round-the-clock to find that perfect formula which will keep the fast and furious employee fastened to his seat.

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The UKs second largest BPO firm, Vertex, is moving some of its key support and administrative functions to its offshore centre in Gurgaon. The 1,800 people strong offshore facility services about a fifth of its customer contracts, and will now also handle Vertexs own functions in finance and accounting, analytics, human resources, IT and workforce management.

About 120150 positions have been moved to India and about 100 more positions could be offshored at a later stage, said Vertex managing director private sector and utilities John Hall.

Vertex ownership changed hands early last year when a consortium of private equity firms led by Oak Hill Capital Partners acquired the UKheadquartered BPO from United Utilities. The bid also saw interest from some large Indian IT and BPO providers such as Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro.

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There is an opportunity for India’s BPO industry, as US-based Contact Centers are failing to engage in significant proactive CRM on behalf of its customers, according to a research report becoming available in India today.

Altitude Software, a leading independent contact centre solutions vendor, and ContactBabel, contact center industry analysts, today announced findings on the Outbound and Call Blending activities of US Contact Centers, from the “US Contact Center Operational Review 2007”, based on a study of the performance, operations, technology and HR aspects of 204 Contact Centers.

The research, sponsored by Altitude Software, shines a new light on US Contact Center’s Outbound CRM “lost opportunity”, with only 26% of contact centers surveyed engaged in proactive customer service, and a mere 11% actively cross-selling or up-selling to existing customers. Feeding into this state of affairs is a clear “technology gap” in contact centers, with 45% using only basic (or preview) dialers and 55% using predictive and progressive dialers, better suited for legislative compliance and for sensitive “CRM calls”.

“The report findings underline the extent to which contact centers are failing to make an intelligent use of the available technology to deliver proactive customer service – which can be a strong brand builder as well as an effective call avoidance tactic.” said Steve Morrell, principal analyst at ContactBabel.

“India’s BPO industry needs to put itself in a position where it can help companies addressing the US market reinvent customer service through “proactive customer care”, enabling contact centers to use outbound calling to increase customer goodwill” stated Mr. Sanjay Sapru, Altitude Software India Country Head. “Businesses can use the contact center to proactively contact affected customers/groups when service disruptions are anticipated. Or they can pursue customer satisfaction follow-up after service fulfillment. This business approach can prevent inbound call peaks, allow for better staffing and resource management, and above all increase customer satisfaction”

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