Infosys BPO, the business processing outsourcing arm of Infosys, the country’s second-largest exporter of information technology services, is setting up a new centre in Dalian, China, with a 500-person capacity, Swaminathan D, the managing director and CEO of Infosys BPO told Business Standard.

Infosys established its first BPO centre in China in 2006. Located in Hangzhou, it employs 1,000 people. “We plan to offer back office support from Dalian as an additional location in China. We believe it is easy to get enough talents in Dalian who are good at managing the Japanese and Korean processes, other than Chinese and English,” said Swaminathan.

He says a reason Infosys is seeing a lot more BPO opportunities in China is that a large number of global clients are having operations in the country. “Thus, we look at locations which provide strategic and competitive advantage to our clients as a part of our location strategy. Besides, it enables us to extend or expand our talent pool,” he added. Read the rest of this entry »

A call centre employee was found dead in his car on a service road in Sector 29 in Gurgaon on Sunday evening.The victim has been identified and his family has told the police that he was facing a financial crisis. The subsequent postmortem has shown that he died of heart attack.

“When we reached the spot after getting information about an unidentified Maruti zen parked near Max hospital, the car was locked and the victim was lying on driver’s seat. When we forced open the car, he was already dead,” said Jagdish Parshad, SHO of sector 29 police station.The police could identify him with the help of his corporate identity card as Sunny Rajpal, resident of C block, Palam Vihar. He is survived by his wife, also a BPO employee, and an 11-year-old son. Source

Job opportunities in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector topped the list of vacancies posted by private sector employers in the online job matching system, Phil-JobNet, said Labor Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baladoz in a statement Monday.

Reports from the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) showed that BPO job vacancies reached 39,281 as of end-September 2011.

Baldoz said this number affirmed the Philippines’s status as the BPO hub of the world.

However, that same report also revealed that the number of applicants for the BPO industry on Phil-JobNet do not match the high number of vacancies, with only 1,030 jobseekers applying for BPO positions from January to September.

“BPO companies continue to expand their business operations in the Philippines. On the demand side, from the year 2010 to the past three quarters of 2011, call center service workers hold the number one position in the vacancy list,” said BLE director Ma. Criselda Sy. Read the rest of this entry »

Gujarat, which had been riding high on the BPO boom, is now concerned about a new proposed US law, which seeks to bar US call centres operating in locations such as India from seeking federal grants or loans.

The bill, if passed, also has a provision to charge US call centres a penalty of $10,000 per day, for failing to report a relocation to an offshore location, within 60 days to the US Department of Labor.

Industry estimates say that eight out of 10 companies in Gujarat caters to the US markets.

“It is unfortunate that a report relating to the bill cites reasons like outsourced call centres like the ones based in India pose a serious security threat. This is nothing but a political move,” said Jay Ruparel, co-founder and chief executive officer, Azure Knowledge Corporation.

The bill also proposes that customer service representatives will have to disclose their locations and transfer call back to the US on request. Read the rest of this entry »

Infosys BPO, the back office subsidiary of Infosys, has acquired Australia-based sourcing and category management services firm Portland Group. The A$37-million all-cash deal is expected to be completed by early January 2012.

According to Infosys, which has often been criticised by analysts and industry watchers for not being aggressive on acquisitions despite sitting on almost $4 billion of cash, the deal will help it establish presence in the Australian market with more offerings in the value-added segment.

“The deal will essentially enable us to have a reach into the Australian market. It will enhance our sourcing and procurement capabilities. Infosys’ focus has always been on value-added services and this will add to it,” Swamithan D, CEO and MD of Infosys BPO, told ET.

Portland Group has over 100 employees with a reported revenue of approximately A$31.3 million for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011. “Portland Group has over 100 procurement specialists with domain expertise and some 40-odd clients. None of them is our clients as of now. The deal will certainly help us intensify our service offerings and take sourcing and procurement functions to a higher level,” he added. Read the rest of this entry »

Tata Consultancy Services plans to invest Rs 600 crore in phase one to set up a software development campus in Nagpur, Maharashtra.

The campus will be built in two phases, and the software outsourcing services provider plans to employ 8,200 people for IT and BPO services in the first phase. Phase two of the development will be of a similar size, TCS said on Monday.

TCS’ Nagpur campus will be located on a 54 acre property in MIHAN SEZ [Multi-modal International Cargo hub and airport] on the outskirts of the city, it said.

TCS shares were down 1.6% at Rs 1,128.50 on NSE in morning trade. Source

It was a feast for the ears and the eyes. The women were in red, the men in black, and the stage was rimmed in seasonal greenery and lights as the combined Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus awaited conductor JoAnn Falletta’s downbeat Friday morning in the annual “Classical Christmas” concert.

She responded with a lavish program containing 16 works ranging from music that everyone knows and loves to selections of considerably more substance than one usually expects in seasonal concerts of this sort.

From the listener’s perspective, the mix was marvelous.

The glittering orchestration of Rimsky-Korsakov illuminated the opening “Polonaise” from his “Christmas Eve” suite, immediately followed by Waldteufel’s “The Skater’s Waltz,” with its familiar theme and lilting rhythms. Read the rest of this entry »

Engineers from Delhi and Bihar are the best when it comes to IT product, IT services, KPO, BPO, software testing and hardware networking roles, according to a survey.

The National Employability Study 2011 by Aspiring Minds after analysing the employability scores of over 1.2 lakh final year engineering graduates reveals that while Delhi engineers are the best when it comes to IT services, BPO, KPO, software testing and hardware testing, engineers from Bihar (including Jharkhand) were the best in IT product roles where Delhi engineers come a close second.

Bihar and Jharkhand engineers took the second spot in IT services, BPO, KPO, software testing and hardware testing roles.
Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh lag behind in quality even though they have a large number of engineering colleges. Read the rest of this entry »

Techno Brain, Africa’s leading ICT Solutions, IT Training and BPO / ITES services provider and a CMMI Level 3 & ISO 9001: 2008 Certified company with operations in USA and India announced today that its BPO / ITES division has been listed in the 2011 CIO Awards for Top 100 Innovative Companies in East Africa. Techno Brain BPO / ITES Division is also the only BPO Company to be listed in the Top 100.

“It is an honor to be listed in the CIO Top 100 Innovative Companies,” said Manoj Shanker, CEO, Techno Brain Group. He also added, “Being the only BPO Company to be present in the Top 100 list makes this award more important for Techno Brain. This award recognizes our journey and track record in integrating IT with business processes to deliver innovative solutions and long term business value to clients across the globe.”

Lakshman, General Manager, Techno Brain BPO / ITES, stated, “This is a pretty good start for us and getting listed in Top 100 Innovative Companies is a testimony to our best BPO practices. In the present market scenario, IT has become the key strategic player and differentiating factor for BPO companies. Keeping this in mind, we will strive to demonstrate excellence in implementing ICT for delivering significant and best-in class business process outsourcing services going ahead.” Read the rest of this entry »

To give girls belonging to backward classes an edge in the competitive job market, the Kerala SC/ST Women’s Welfare Association has decided to introduce BPO training programme for them in the district headquarters.

The association’s legal advisor advocate Sunil M Karani said on Tuesday that the short-term courses were aimed at equipping tribal students with the nitty-gritty of the BPO industry.

“The free course will be held with the support of BPO training centres and placement cells in every district. Our aim is to improve the professional standard of these girls and help them to be on a par with their urban colleagues,” he said.

Minister for the welfare of backward communities P K Jayalakshmi had promised financial aid for the training programme, especially designed for SC/ST girls who had passed plus-two or an equivalent course. Read the rest of this entry »