STPI scheme may not be scrapped
This may be big news but nobody is willing to talk about it, yet there are unconfirmed reports that STPI scheme may be given another 5 years. Sources who are reportedly in knowledge of this meeting suggest that a large group of influencers in the ruling combine is gaining favor with the scheme. It may not be long before we get a formal statement, but until then, lets keep our fingers crossed
Over the past few weeks I have received a tremendous amount of hate mail regarding my column The coming death of Indian outsourcing. It seems to have catalysed debate on the problems facing the Indian outsourcing sector, such as annual 15 per cent salary hikes and 20 per cent attrition. What India needs to do to survive as the world’s back office boils down to this: It must first adjust its value system, and then it must broaden and strengthen its education programs to increase the supply of trained professionals. more
A simple tin box - the purest, simplest version of the web available - has transformed the lives of villagers in rural India. Peter Lyle reports
Last November, as she listened to a conference speaker outline his vision of a future in which public-private partnerships would build thousands of sophisticated internet centres connecting remote villages to a high-speed lifestyle where they could pull up local maps on their Java-equipped mobile phones, Rose Shuman came back to a question she had been grappling with for some time.
Given all the clever people who worked in information technology, and all the enthusiasm they had for its potential to empower ordinary citizens, why didn’t more of them come up with ways of taking computers to the people that didn’t require millions of dollars, miles of cable and man-hours to realise?
It wasn’t an idle inquiry. That same month, in the Indian village of Ethida, several hours’ drive from New Delhi, the second Question Box came into being.
Essar Group’s BPO outfit Aegis BPO Services has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Bangalore-based call center operations of AOL, a subsidiary of Time Warners. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed; sources cited the deal to be worth USD 25–30 million. The transaction is likely to be completed by end-April 2008. According to the acquisition, Aegis will deliver customer service and technical support to AOL clients. Post-acquisition, about 1,200 AOL employees in India will be transferred to Aegis. Through the transaction, Aegis will be able to improve its voice and non-voice offerings in the technology support segment as well as expand its business in India. Further, the transaction will assist AOL 
to focus on its core operations. Headquartered in India, Aegis is a BPO services provider with annual revenues of about USD 200 million. Its clients include American Express, AT&T, Humana, Western Union, Vodafone, and a host of other blue chip companies. The company has 25 delivery facilities across the US and India. Following this acquisition, Aegis’ headcount will moves from 19,000 to over 20,000.
Global Crossing is making it easier for enterprises to migrate from traditional telephony to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) by introducing Global Crossing Managed IP Telephony Solutions. The service enables customers to take advantage of VoIP’s enhanced capabilities and more predictable cost structure.
Using Global Crossing Managed IP Telephony Solutions, enterprises can bundle and customize the company’s VoIP service elements to save money and simplify the transition to an integrated VoIP solution. As part of the company’s VoIP Professional Services portfolio, Managed IP Telephony Solutions integrates the Global Crossing Enterprise VoIP Services portfolio with Avaya Inc.’s IP telephony hardware and software components. These bundled — yet customizable — solutions include equipment selection, procurement and installation; local, long distance, international and toll-free calling; private numbering plans, collaboration tools and other advanced features; on-site technical assistance; and remote support. Global Crossing will serve as a single point of contact for the entire cutover, including switching from existing services to VoIP and conducting employee training.
(more…)
Large and small British businesses are increasingly outsourcing their IT.
Big Four firm KPMG signed a five-year contract with BT last month but smaller firms are also seeing the benefits of IT outsourcing, according to Accounting Web.
The news provider reports that London accountancy firm Andrews Cross & Co has committed to outsourcing 100 hours of work per month, helping to solve its recruitment difficulties.
West Midlands-based accounting firm AGS has turned to outsourcing to bring its IT to the level required to support the company’s professional work, according to the website.
AGS founding partner Steve Aston says: “We had to get the IT spot on. [Outsourcing ] was about that extra 10-20 per cent that dynamic, innovative IT delivery could give us.”
Better value and improvements in broadband internet services are meaning an increase in the popularity of IT outsourcing as more large and small businesses realise it can bring a competitive edge, reports Accounting Web.
Essar Group’s Aegis BPO Services has announced that they are now acquiring the AOL’s call centre operations in India.
The two companies did not reveal the financial aspects of this deal which was expected to take place since quite some time.
Aegis added that they would take over the company’s 1200 people strong workforce and integrate them into the tech support segment.
Aegis MD Aparup Sengupta added about this deal: “This gives us clear visibility and expands our line of services.”
HDFC Bank is moving its business process outsouring (BPO) activity to semi-urban areas, and is planning to hire about 2,000 people in the next two months. The move is expected to bring down costs by 50-60%, primarily due to cheaper human resources and real estate cost.
The bank will soon open a 400-seater BPO in Tirupati, the second one after Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, sources close to the development said.
The Mumbai-based bank is expected to have 2,000 people working at the two BPOs by June, sources said.
