BPO attrition down 5-15%

he US financial meltdown has finally managed to do what the business process outsourcing sector has been trying to do for years on end - reduce the attrition rate of employees by 5-15 percentage points. BPOs that were coping with 30-40 per cent employee turnover are now reporting numbers between 20 per cent and 30 per cent.

Industry insiders as well as sector experts said that companies are unlikely to miss this opportunity to rationalise bloated boom-time salaries. "Companies are aiming to go back to the cost levels of 2005 and 2006. So, we will see an across the board reduction in salaries," said KPMG Head (people and change advisory) Ganesh Shermon.

Genpact, the largest BPO in the country, reported attrition rate of 26 per cent for the nine months ended September 30, 2008, down from 30 per cent in the same quarter of 2007. 24x7 Customer said the drop in attrition has been 10 percentage points this month. The company's annualised attrition rate is 38 per cent.

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Outsourcing one bright light in sea of global gloom

MANILA: Business outsourcing may not be the most glamorous industry in the world but it is one of the few bright lights amid the doom and gloom
of the global financial crisis.

The two countries which have benefited the most from outsourcing, India and the Philippines, expect to see some initial pain from the financial turmoil but the industry is confident it will ride out the storm.

In the Philippines the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry expects growth this year of between 35-40 per cent on revenues of around seven billion dollars.

"We are part of the solution, not part of the problem," Oscar Sanez the chief executive of the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) said in a recent interview.

The BPO sector expects annual growth of around 40 per cent with revenues hitting 12 billion dollars by 2010 and employing one million people compared with 300,000 this year.

In India, where the industry generates some 40 million dollars in annual export revenues, the story is much the same although it admits that it could expect some initial pain.

The sector traditionally views bad times as offering opportunities as Western companies cut costs by moving work to cheaper destinations offshore.

India leads the world when it comes to outsourcing with more than half the global business while the Philippines is a distant second with around 10 per cent.

Both countries place a great deal of importance on the sector as its growth creates jobs and much-needed revenue.
Rick Santos, the Philippine country chairman for global property services company CB Richard Ellis, told AFP that the crisis would "actually drive more BPO business to the Philippines".

"You will see many more companies having to go offshore just to survive," he said.

He said he expects about 502 million square metres (5.4 billion square feet) of Philippine office space to be leased this year, up 52 per cent from 2007.

India and the Philippines are the preferred destinations for European and American banks and IT companies for outsourcing their back room and call centre operations due to the highly educated work force and English speaking skills in both countries.

Sanez said that despite the financial turmoil he was confident the BPO industry in the Philippines will continue to see growth.

"Judging from the investor meetings we've been having recently our clients will want to ramp up their outsourcing activities in order to accelerate cost savings," he said.

"The Philippines is in a very strategic position due to its strong and successful experience with BPO particularly with large American and British multinationals giving it a high level of credibility and trust especially in critical times."

He conceded that in the short term there could be a "bit of distraction" due to management and ownership realignments in the banking sector.

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Systems Plus Solutions opens up in NJ

Systems Plus Solutions, Indias fast growing IT Consulting and Outsourcing Advisory firm, has announced the recent opening of its North American sales and operations office headed by the Systems Plus Solutions, LLC USA President Merveille Nagarsheth. Systems Plus is pleased to have the first USA office in New Jersey, said Merveille Nagarsheth, President of Systems Plus Solutions, USA LLC a newly incorporated division of Systems Plus Solutions, India. The opening of our new office in NJ reaffirms our commitment to delivering strong relationship and the best of industry practices to our clients in North America.

The office will initially focus on Business Consulting and Technology Solutions groups of Systems Plus, which include IT Audits, India Outsourcing Strategies, Application Development, Product Engineering, Offshore IT Support and Legacy System Migration.

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Opportunities for Indian IT Industry in Japan

Nasscom, the premier trade body and voice of the Indian IT BPO industry, and Pricewaterhouse Coopers, the leading professional services firm in India, today released a report on Japan titled Opportunities for Indian IT Industry: Japan. This is the second report in the Country Report series that focuses on specific countries , regions that are alternate markets, competitive destinations and or potential partners for India.

Speaking at the launch, Som Mittal, President, Nasscom, said, The Indian IT-BPO companies are fast diversifying into near territories and opening up new opportunities for growth. Currently, 90 per cent of the exports happen to the US and Europe, with rest of the world contributing just 10 per cent. These markets are investing in Information Technology IT offering huge opportunity. To facilitate this, Nasscom has launched the emerging market series.

Japan, as a second largest country economy and highly dependent on technology, currently constitutes only 2 per cent of our exports. With shortage of technical skills in Japan, and urgent need for business transformation, Japan would be a large market. While Indian companies have been targeting this market, a new concerted approach needs to be taken by both sides.”

Ambarish Dasgupta, Partner and Head of Consulting practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers India, the Knowledge partner for this report said, Indian companies must change the mindset, and move from being transactional to transformational in their approach, and be ready to invest in strong relationships upfront. The alternative markets to the US and the UK, like Japan, which we are covering in a series of reports, are very relationship focused. The prospects expect the partners to prove themselves in a relationship, building trust and being a trusted advisor rather than a vendor selling them products and services.”

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Indian cities top global outsourcing list

The Top 8 Global Outsourcing Cities includes as many as six Indian cities led by Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi National Capital Region, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune. Dublin Ireland and Makati City The Philippines are the other two cities in the list, according to a study by Cyber Medias Global Services and investment advisory firm Tholons. Indias representation in the top 50 Emerging Global Outsourcing cities has grown to four, from last years three, with the addition of Jaipur to the list at No 31.

The other three cities in the list include Kolkata at No 6, Chandigarh at No 12 and Coimbatore at No 17.
Cebu City The Philippines, Shanghai China and Beijing China lead the list of emerging global outsourcing cities.

The Top 50 Emerging Global Outsourcing Cities 2008 list has nine entrants Quezon City, Toronto, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City, Jaipur, Singapore City, Chengdu, Guadalajara and Mandaluyong City.

Six Chinese cities are a part of the top 50 emerging cities for global outsourcing list, compared to Indias four.

These are Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Dalian, Guangzhou and Chengdu.

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