Infosys BPO Ltd. announced that it has been awarded the highest rating and has been re-certified at capability Level 5, for the e-Sourcing Capability Model for Service Providers (eSCM-SP) by IT Services Qualification Center (ITSqc).

Swami Swaminathan, CEO and MD, Infosys BPO said, “We are proud to be the first Indian company, to be re-certified as a level 5 eSCM-SP provider. This recognition validates our continued commitment to operational excellence and provides cutting edge business value to our clients.”

Infosys BPO is the first company in India and third globally, to be re-certified at Level 5 for eSCM-SP. Infosys BPO was first certified at Level 5 in 2009. The practices in this model clearly meet the standards of being the best practices associated with successful sourcing relationships. The eSCM-SP helps sourcing organizations manage and reduce their risks, and improve their capabilities across the entire sourcing life-cycle. (more…)

CANADA is eyeing the Philippines as the site of its higher-value business process outsourcing (BPO) services, the ambassador to the Philippines Christopher Thornley said.

In an interview, Thornley said Canada sees very good opportunities for finance and accounting and shared services in the Philippines.

The interest in higher-value BPO services is a departure from the usual voice services offered by call centers, the Philippines’ main strength in the information technology/BPO industry.

While the Philippines has overtaken India in providing voice services, making it the call center capital of the world, Canadian companies see opportunities in non-voice services as they continue to expand the global footprint through offshoring and outsourcing.

Thornley cited Canadian telecommunication giant TELUS International, which has chosen the Philippines for various IT/BPO services. (more…)

Serco announced that it has completed the acquisition of , an Australian Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company, from the Skilled Group.

The sale price is made up of $8.2 million AUD to be paid on completion of the transaction, with a further earn-out payment of $5.0 mn AUD payable over the next two years, subject to achieving set revenue targets.

Chief Executive Officer of Serco Asia Pacific, David Campbell, said the company would be managed and run as part of the Serco Australia business. It will also leverage Serco’s global capability by forming part of the wider Serco Global BPO capability.

The acquisition will build on Serco’s BPO capabilities in Australia which include the successful operation of transport information and integrated transport management systems in Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia and operating the traffic safety programme detection and processing systems in Victoria.  It will also complement the global BPO-related services that Serco can offer its customers, such as its recent acquisitions in The Listening Company in the UK and Intelenet. (more…)

Notwithstanding competition from countries like Philippines and Vietnam, India remains an attractive destination for outsourcing services on account of its talented workforce, according to BPO major Convergys.

“The world has moved away from looking at outsourcing to places like India just as a cost arbitrage. The focus is now on transformational work, helping clients not just save costs but also increasing efficiency,” Convergys Senior Vice President (Customer Management) Nancy Pryor told PTI.

She added that while there is competition from other nations like Philippines and Vietnam, India still has a lot of factors working in its favour.

“India has a large pool of talented workforce who also have a good understanding of technology as well. They can easily deal with the requirements from clients across the US, Europe and Australia, which also happens in case of other locations, but India still has an edge,” Pryor said. (more…)

Tata Consultancy Services will provide a range of technology outsourcing services to the Commercial bank of Qatar as part of a five-year deal worth ‘tens of millions of dollars’.

TCS will provide application development and maintenance and render back-office or BPO services to the Doha-headquartered Commercialbank, sources said.

However, the current arrangement is a complete services deal and does not provide for the deployment of TCS BaNCS, the company’s flagship suite of software products.

The TCS Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Mr N. Chandrasekaran, said the company would not comment on individual client wins. (more…)

NYSE-listed WNS (Holdings) Ltd, a leading provider of global business process outsourcing (BPO) services, today said it was able to sequentially expand gross margin, operating margin and profit in the second quarter ended September 30 due to depreciation in the Indian rupee.

“During the second quarter, WNS’ sequential revenue growth drove improved operating leverage. Combined with depreciation in the Indian rupee, the company was able to sequentially expand gross margin, operating margin and profit in the second quarter,” a company statement said here.

The company’s revenue-less repair payments for Q2 FY12 increased 7.6% to USD 100.2 million, compared to USD 93.1 million in the same period last fiscal year, and rose sequentially 2.4% from USD 97.8 million. (more…)

A 25-year-old girl allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan on Monday morning. The deceased-identified as Kaushambi-is a resident of Govindpuri in southeast Delhi. Kaushambi was a native of Patna in Bihar and was working as a call centre executive in Gurgaon, said cops.

One of the girl’s relatives called police around 12 noon to inform about the incident.

“We received a call from Kaushambi’s uncle about the incident. Kaushambi was reportedly depressed. She had talked to her parents over the phone on the night before her death till 3:00am. However, when her parents called again on Monday morning, she did not respond. We have sent the body for postmortem. No suicide note was found from the spot,” said a senior police officer. (more…)

Chairman Emeritus of Infosys Ltd N R Narayana Murthy today said government and industrial establishments should come together and mount an awareness campaign to bring major software companies to this city. Delivering the keynote address at the inauguration of Mysore 2.0 Global IT - BPO Hub conference and expo organised by NASSCOM, he referred to the city’s salubrious climate and environment without any bottlenecks. “Mysore is a wonderful destination for any software company”, he said. However, he regretted that Mysore has not grown as per expectations of IT Industry due to some reasons and admitted he also owed his part for its “failure” along with leading city entreprenuers in not trying to showcase infrastructure available to attract big software companies.

He expressed happiness that Infosys has set up the world’s largest IT Training Centre with added hitech infrastructure here in a 337-acre plot and called on other entrepreneurs to make such an effort and bring Mysore on the global map. He said it is not NASSCOM’s duty to bring CEOs of major software companies here and urge them to establish their firms but that of Government and industrial entreprenuers to campaign and request the CEOs to come over here. Dwelling on facilities available for education, Murthy said though there are a number of good schools and colleges, there is a need to set up international schools. (more…)

Business process outsourcing companies expect earnings to reach $14 billion in 2012 as the industry explores new sources of revenue.

“[Our 2011 expected revenue] is roughly $11 billion and plus 20 percent of that [for 2012],” Business Process Association of the Philippines chairman Fred Ayala told reporters in a press briefing Tuesday.

He said BPO services other than the Philippines’ niche voice services were now entering the local outsourcing space. The services include engineering, sales and advertising, game development and other knowledge-process outsourcing services.

“Some of the new areas are coming up,” Ayala said. (more…)

BPO major Genpact said it will acquire media and business research firm EmPower Research for an undisclosed amount.

Genpact has signed a definitive agreement to acquire EmPower Research, which has strong capabilities in social media research, media monitoring and measurement, Genpact said in a statement.

This acquisition will add significant expertise and intellectual property to Genpact’s Smart Decision Services business, comprising analytics, research, re-engineering and risk management services, it added.

The deal is expected to close by the end of the month, subject to the satisfaction of certain customary conditions, it said. (more…)