Basman | Explore: IT Outsourcing

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United Internet AG, Montabaur, today reached a general agreement with Teleperformance SA, Paris, with regard to the sale of the United Internet Group subsidiary twenty4help AG, Montabaur, to Teleperformance.

twenty4help is the current European leading company in technical support & help desk with a consolidated turnover of more than 100 Millions €. The company operates in many European countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands, UK, Sweden, Spain, Poland and Czech Republic and offers technical support in 22 languages.

With the sale of the company, which no longer belonged to the Group’s core business, United Internet has completed the final step toward becoming a pure Internet Service Provider (ISP). The Group’s Outsourcing segment, of which twenty4help accounted for around 90%, will no longer be separately disclosed in future. The remaining Outsourcing brand InterNetX will be integrated into the Product segment. In future, therefore, United Internet will focus entirely on its Product segment (with the brands GMX, WEB.DE, 1&1, Fasthosts and InterNetX) and Online Marketing segment (with AdLINK, affilinet and Sedo).

In the course of the transaction, the value of twenty4help AG was determined to be around EUR 85 million. The final purchase price is based on the audited and certified consolidated financial statements of twenty4help AG for the fiscal year 2006. Teleperformance will pay the full purchase price in cash.

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Accenture — in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) — conducted research with more than 200 Indian business leaders to explore the next phase of technology-led growth in India. In particular, the study (PDF) looks at the opportunities arising from increased access to information and communications technology (ICT) in low-income communities.

Background

A powerful combination of factors means that there has never been a better time for India to pursue growth opportunities based on information and communications technology (ICT):

• Exploiting the “demographic dividend”: ICT-based solutions have the potential to address many of India’s structural challenges, including education, health, employment and productivity.
• The convergence of stakeholder interests: There is increased acceptance among leaders from business, government and civil society that ICT can play a crucial role in enabling social and economic growth.
• Business investment is real: Indian firms see ICT as a major driver of the country’s current and future economic growth. Businesses expect to expand operations to more locations, but require adequate access to ICT.
• The new digital landscape: Innovations in technologies are dramatically expanding the possibilities of ICT-enabled growth in India.

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ACS announced that it is expanding its global capabilities with the construction of a new, 65,000 square-foot office and call center facility in Montego Bay, Jamaica. ACS is also hiring 600 additional employees to staff the new location.

Currently, ACS employs 1,300 people and is one of the largest information communication and technology services providers in Jamaica. The new positions will include call center agents, finance and accounting specialists, human resources benefits processors, and data processors.

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Tech Mahindra today announced the signing of a five year deal to provide BT with strategic sourcing services.  This contract is expected to create new revenue for Tech Mahindra in excess of US$1 Billion over this period. 
 
Tech Mahindra will support BT’s planned growth of managed services to business customers around the globe and continue to provide ongoing services related to BT’s internal systems, processes and re-usable platforms. 
 
Tech Mahindra and BT Group have worked together for 20 years on a range of projects which have proved very successful for both parties.  This deal builds upon and strengthens the productive working relationships developed during that time.
 
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In an interview with Nayan Chanda of YaleGlobal Online, N.R. Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys, discusses the challenges and opportunities for firms operating in India, and also identifies the factors required for success in a global market [24 min 27 sec - April 28, 2006]. For transcripts of the interview, please visit: YaleGlobal Online.

Listen to Mr. Murthy’s opening words to the first question:

How do you account for this meteoric rise of Infosys in the context of India?

Murthy: Well, you’re right. We celebrate our 25th year this year. On 2 July of 2006, we will have completed 25 years. First of all, I must say that God has been very kind to us because, as Louis Pasteur once said, that when God decides to announce his presence, he comes in the form of chance. Having accepted that, let me say this, right from day one, when we founded the company, when we sat for four hours to discuss what we should seek in this journey, we were all unanimous that we would seek respect. We would seek respect from customers, from our employees, from our investors, from our lender departments, from the government and from the society. And we said, if we seek respect from each of these stakeholders, we will do the right thing for them. And if we do the right thing for them, then everything will fall into place. So I’m happy that the company has not swerved from that part of taking respect right from day one to now. And that is perhaps the reason we have had what little success we have had so far.

Respect. Humble and impressive. Now listen to the complete interview:

And here is Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro and in the second segment Nandan Nilekani, CEO, Infosys Technologies [56 min 40 sec - Mar 1, 2006].

See, hear and read more interviews here at Basman’s.

Dear Santa, originally uploaded by caro wanders by mistake.

“Wooden hearts hanging from Fuzhou City´s christmas tree downtown. You gotta write your wish on the heart and hang it on the tree, the higher you hang it, the more chances you´ve got of it coming true…yey!!”

My warmest wishes of peace and joy to all around the world, and a prosperous New Year to you and your families! See you on the other side in 2007 … 

Take care!

Cem Basman

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced that it is expanding its global delivery center in Uruguay; the new site will host over 250 personnel. The site is based in the business center of the city of Montevideo, in a dedicated facility with the latest high technology world class infrastructure and cutting edge security systems.

The company undertook this investment to support the rapid expansion of its Latin American business and proactively lower risk for its clients by providing an alternative back up site in Uruguay. TCS already provides services to over 40 clients across Latin America & the United States using its existing Global Delivery center in Uruguay. “As we expand our operations in Latin America, which now comprise centers in Uruguay, Brazil, & Chile, we will continue to invest in infrastructure & people, to provide high quality services to our clients faster, with increased value and lowered risk”, Said N. Chandrasekaran, Executive Vice President and Head, Global Sales and Operations.

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A former Gartner and PwC (now IBM) analyst and outsourcing exec, Vinnie Mirchandani, lets some speculations live up again:

The rumors have been floating for a few weeks now. IBM plans to acquire Satyam (or at least a major stake in), the 4th largest Indian offshore player.

Satyam is strong in several manufacturing markets and has one of the better packaged application practices of the Indian firms. It has also done a poor job marketing itself compared to the other Indian firms and IBM would clearly turn that around. But IBM inconsistently positions its own growing India operations, so I suspect integration will be a challenge.  And IBM will have to quit the double speak to customers about not being in India for lowered costs and reluctantly passing those along. It will also pressure Indian firms to step up their own western acquisitions to accelerate market share growth.

In January 2006 NetworkWorld summed it up:

Indian software services and business process outsourcing companies have been acquisition targets for the last couple of years, as multinational technology companies, particularly services companies, try to build low-cost services capability in India.

In 2004, IBM acquired Daksh eServices, a business process outsourcing (BPO) company in Gurgaon near Delhi. Last year, IBM acquired Network Solutions, an infrastructure services company in Bangalore, India, but the acquisition was focused on strengthening IBM’s networking and managed services for the Indian market.

In 2003, Perot Systems bought out its Indian partner, HCL Technologies, in their joint venture HCL Perot Systems in Noida near Delhi. In the same year, it also acquired Vision Healthsource India, a Chennai-based provider of billing and claims solutions for healthcare service providers in the U.S.

Oracle also last year acquired a 41% stake in i-flex solutions, a publicly held banking software company.

There had been a lot of speculations about this since the beginning of 2006. But what indicates now in December that this could be still a deal? Or it is just hot air again … We’ll watch the stocks and crosscheck these rumors again and again.

Sony Europe is outsourcing several of its core IT development functions to India-based Satyam Computer Services.

Satyam announced on Wednesday that SAP application development, enterprise application integration and testing services for the European wing of the Japanese electronics giant will be carried out at the Indian outsourcer’s new offshore-development center (ODC) in Bangalore.
 
According to Satyam, the move will “enable the Sony Infrastructure Services team to focus on core activities such as platform enhancement, optimization and innovation” while Satyam handles IT development for Sony sales and distribution, warehouse management, finance and business intelligence systems.

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The deal creates a focused national player and a strong partnership, ensuring continued high quality service delivery to Getronics’ clients in France and strengthened services in Belgium.

Getronics, the international ICT Services and Solutions Company, announced today the completion of the sale of 67% of its business activities in France to the French ICT Services and Solutions company APX Synstar. In addition, APX Synstar has transferred all of its business activities in Belgium (APX Belgium SA/NV) to Getronics.
 
The new strategic partnership in France, created with the assistance of KPMG Corporate Finance, enables Getronics and APX Synstar to leverage each other’s capabilities to deliver best-of-breed end-to-end solutions (including applications and managed services) to their clients in France. The deal creates a strong, focused national player with in-depth knowledge of the French market, a prestigious client base and a wealth of expertise in designing, building, deploying and managing ICT services and solutions. At the same time, Getronics is also able to further strengthen its services and capabilities in Belgium.

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Infosys Technologies (NASDAQ: INFY), a world leader in information technology and consulting services, today announced that the company will be added to the NASDAQ-100 index, effective with the market opening on Monday, December 18, 2006. The NASDAQ-100 index is composed of the 100 largest non-financial stocks on the NASDAQ Stock Market in terms of market capitalization. Infosys Technologies is the first Indian company to be added to the NASDAQ-100 index and is the only Indian company to be part of any of the major global indices.

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Satyam Computer Services, Ltd. announced that it will establish a 2000-seat software engineering global delivery campus (GDC) in Cyberjaya, Malaysia, about 50 kilometers south of Kuala Lumpur. The largest and first GDC outside India will serve as a major technological development and software support facility for Satyam’s ASEAN, US and Middle Eastern customers in addition to the 100 seater global solution center (GSC) established about three years back.

The MOU to this effect was signed today between the Multimedia Development Corporation, an agency of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and Satyam in the presence of The Honorable Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Razak, other cabinet ministers and key Malaysian dignitaries.

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Training Provides Skilled Employees to Achievo

Achievo Corporation, the software and information technology outsourcing provider with a local front-end and China back-end service model, today welcomed the first group of university graduates from a joint training program with the Beijing ACEIT Training Institute. In addition, Achievo has signed long term agreements with China’s Shenzhen University and Beijing Information Technology Institute to provide qualified personnel to Achievo on an ongoing basis.

“As global businesses look to China as the alternative outsourcing destination for high-quality software development, we must be prepared to have qualified employees in place with skills that meet the specifications of our clients’ projects,” said Dr. Robert P. Lee, Achievo’s chairman and CEO. “With the complexity of software today, it isn’t enough to expect that university graduates will have all of the capabilities required by clients. We are investing time and money in this training and professional development program to ensure that we have a pool of qualified graduates we can hire immediately to keep pace with our growth, and know that these graduates have the skill level to deliver the results our customers expect.”

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Over-the-counter debt and derivatives volume seen as key avenue for expansion for exchangesThe increased growth and profit pressures that come from going public combined with sweeping new regulations are rapidly transforming the world’s financial exchanges, according to a research report by Accenture.

The report is based on in-depth interviews with more than 50 senior executives at leading stock and derivatives exchanges, clearing and settlement institutions, and buy- and sell-side firms in Europe, North America and Asia.

According to the report, the percentage of the world’s stock market capitalization residing on publicly-held exchanges has grown by nearly a factor of eight in the past six years, from 8 percent in 2000 to 63 percent in 2006. The related transition of exchanges to public ownership with accountability to shareholders is forcing the industry to rapidly pursue new revenues and greater profitability.

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