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The Official Magazine of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals
GlobalizationToday June 2011
VERTICAL POWER! We examine the latest developments within the hottest industry specialties.
Also in this issue: Applications Support in Latin America Collaborative Work Teams News, Blogs…and more
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INSIDE June 2011 7 PUBLISHER’S NOTE 8 NEWS FEED
What’s new and noteworthy in global commerce.
20 APPLICATIONS HEAD SOUTH
by Cláudio Della Penna, Paul A. Dougall, and Ariel Capone
It’s not just the corporate behemoths that outsource applications maintenance and support. Medium size firms are increasingly doing it, too. Here are “best practices” for outsourcing Oracle JDE/SAP applications to Latin America.
26 THE VIRTUAL TEAM by John Persinos
Looser than a team, but still a distinct set of workers linked to centralized managementthat’s the Brave ‘Net World of engineering development, especially in the avionics sector.
29 EMAIL’S STAYING POWER by Pelle Hjortblad
Think social media and smart phone technology will make email obsolete? Think again! Here’s why email will remain relevant, particularly for communications within the outsourcing community.
30 IAOP WORLD CONNECTION 34 SCRAPBOOK
14
VERTICAL SPECIALIZATION: THE FUTURE OF OUTSOURCING
by Sandy Frinton
IAOP’s Global Outsourcing 100 “sublists” give us the tools to unearth the sector expertise of outsourcing providers. Here’s a look at the many specialists who are transforming the outsourcing landscape. globalizationtoday.com
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GlobalizationToday
A Radical New Approach to Journalism
Giving the REAL Experts a Voice – And Letting Readers Determine What’s ‘Fit to Print’ Who decided that journalists, who’ve never worked a single day in the industries they cover, are the subject matter experts who should be writing the content for industry trade journals? Not us. At Globalization Today we think that borders on idiotic. If you want great content, you need to rely on experts. And to us the real experts are the people who work in the outsourcing industry “trenches” day in, day out. That’s why most of Globalization Today’s editorial comes from the industry itself. We’ve opened our platform to accept great content from wherever it may spring. And to help determine what “great” content is, we’re using technology that allows readers to rate each piece of content. This way the best content will “bubble” to the top and be more visible and the content that isn’t as useful will get buried. A true editorially meritocracy. This is your chance to contribute to our industry and get your voice heard. Yes – You can write for Globalization Today and get published. Every article submitted online will be published online and top rated content will be published in our monthly magazine edition. Go to www.globalizationtoday.com or email info@globalizationtoday.com to get your editorial contributor account.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
Specialize or Die?
Ali Comelek Founder and Publisher
An overarching view of outsourcing always enlightens us, but it’s particularly valuable to “drill down” within the data to provide a granular, sector-oriented snapshot of our field. That’s what this issue’s cover story is all about. When we conduct a major research task, such as our annual ranking for the Global Outsourcing (GO) 100, nothing goes to waste! For our story on vertical sectors within outsourcing, we sliced and diced the existing survey data related to the GO 100, to determine the most significant and interesting trends in the hottest vertical specialties today. You’ll find the results to be valuable, as you make your own strategic plans in your particular business niche. As our cover story makes clear, outsourcing clients are insisting that their selected providers wield prowess in their respective field. This client insistence, in turn, has compelled providers to develop their knowledge in specific process areas and use that expertise as a differentiator—as a Unique Selling Proposition, if you will—in the marketplace. IAOP detected this trend well in advance. Accordingly, the group developed “sublists” selected from GO 100 applicants. IAOP maintains more than 80 sublists, divided into categories, industry focus, service area, and region. While compiling the data for our cover story, one salient “take away” emerged: Specialized providers who are in the vanguard in their vertical sector are better poised in terms of expertise to ride technological changes and dominate their markets. Specialization is becoming a key tool by which outsourcing companies can sharpen their competitiveness. This “verticalization” appears to be the wave of the future. Generalization and an ability to see the big picture will always have a place, but it’s increasingly apparent that outsourcing providers will have to tailor their services and perspectives to a chosen niche—or get their lunch eaten by a competitor that’s more adept at the art of specialization. Also in this issue, we again look at the ever-growing importance of Latin America, this time in applications support outsourcing. More and more medium size companies in the U.S. are outsourcing their applications maintenance and support. This feature conveys advice on outsourcing your Oracle JDE/SAP applications to business-friendly companies down south. Our Editorial Director, John Persinos, takes a look at collaborative, Internet-connected work teams and how they’re creating greater efficiencies and fostering technological innovation in the avionics sector. I also think you’ll enjoy this issue’s column on email capabilities, and why social media and smart phone technology won’t supplant good ol’ email. Enjoy your issue! And please feel free to drop me a line, anytime. This publication exists to serve you, the outsourcing professional. To paraphrase the famous inquiry of former New York Mayor Ed Koch: “How we doin’?”
Founder and Publisher Globalization Today Magazine “Official Publication of IAOP” www.GlobalizationToday.com 1-602-492-4194
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NEWS FEED
NEWS Feed WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IN THE WORLD OF OUTSOURCING
LEGAL OUTSOURCING FIRMS CREATING JOBS FOR AMERICAN LAWYERS www.newyorktimes.com
Legal temp companies now pay as little as $20 a hour to lawyers for document reviews that a decade ago might have been billed at $200 an hour. Top American firms have cut hiring or moved to a lower-tier pay system for many new associates. Corporations are reducing their legal departments. But there is at least one glimmer of light. And it comes from a surprising direction. Outsourcing firms, the companies that in recent years added to the financial woes of the American legal profession by sending work to low-cost countries like India, are now creating jobs for lawyers in the United States. The American salaries for outsourced work, typically in the $50,000 to $80,000 range, may look meager compared with the six figures that new associates might still hope to draw at a big firm. However, outsourcing jobs typically pay better than temp work — and certainly better than no work at all. And at that salary range, American lawyers start to look a bit more competitive with their offshore counterparts — and more attractive to potential American clients that might not be comfortable sending legal work overseas. “If we’re going to deliver a fantastic client experience, the only way to do it is to have an onshore facility,� said Sanjay Kamlani, co-chief executive of Pangea3, a legal outsourcing firm with offices in New York and Mumbai. Pangea3, which was bought by Thomson
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Reuters in November, has just opened a 400-seat office in Carrollton, Tex., a Dallas suburb. The new office means Pangea3 will have lawyers working during U.S. business hours, on tasks that, because of logistics or American law, can be difficult to perform outside the country — like writing and vetting export control documents, military contracts and some patent reviews. Many of Pangea3’s main competitors are already doing legal work in the U.S. and have been hiring steadily in recent months. And though the industry’s total number of employees in the U.S. is still estimated to be only in the hundreds, analysts predict fast growth for the field.
Because legal outsourcing companies grew steadily during the recession as corporations trimmed legal staffs, the industry was able to attract investors like Thomson Reuters and Intermediate Capital Group. Now legal outsourcing companies and others are opening offices and hiring lawyers in lower-cost areas in the U.S., like West Virginia and North Dakota. Legal outsourcing companies employ about 16,000 people worldwide, according to Edward Brooks, founder of the LPO Program, which matches legal outsourcing companies with potential clients.
The industry made an estimated $400 million in revenue in 2010, according to the researcher The Datamonitor Group, which was just a tiny fraction of the world’s $200-billion-a-year legal market. But Datamonitor predicts legal outsourcing revenues will grow to $2.4 billion by 2012, based on the industry’s recent rapid expansion. In part because of the harsh economic climate of the last few years, “the reality is that the United States and the United Kingdom have many lower-cost locations and good supplies of legal professionals,� said Mark Ross, a vice president at Integreon, an outsourcing company based in Los Angeles. Integreon has lawyers and paralegals in 17 offices around the world, including India and South Africa. However, the company, which is now hiring lawyers and other legal professionals in its Fargo, N.D., and Bristol, England, offices, currently has about 500 employees in the U.S. and expects to have 600 by the end of the year. In the U.S., outsourcing companies are hiring lawyers from temporary legal services firms or recruiting them directly out of law school. The pay is often comparable to lawyers’ salaries in smaller cities. And the jobs can come with other benefits, like equity stakes in the company and management opportunities that might not be widely available at conventional law firms. Lily Liu joined Pangea3’s new Texas office after six years as a temporary lawyer and previous experience as a trial lawyer in Texas.
NEWS FEED
ASIA EMBRACES DATACENTER LEASING www.zdnetasia.com
Regional enterprises are turning to datacenter leasing options due to less legacy infrastructure encumbering adoption and increasing need for computing power, says Digital Realty Trust executives. Asian enterprises are more inclined to leasing data centers compared to their United States counterparts, because many don’t see the need to own them and don’t have the luxury of time in waiting for these facilities to be operational. This is the view held by Steve Flaig, director of marketing at Digital Realty Trust, who said that U.S. companies have a tendency to think that “no one can do it better” with regard to building their data centers, which is why they tend to own such facilities. Asian businesses, on the other hand, do not have such mindsets and are more open to leasing, he said. Additionally, companies in the region also have a pent-up demand for computing power. Flaig said: “[These companies] need capacity now. The usual project of [building
one’s data center] takes 2 to 3 years and that’s too long [for them].” Flaig’s observation reiterated what company CTO Jim Smith highlighted in a ZDNet Asia interview last year. Smith said that the pent-up demand for datacenter space stemmed from regional companies getting out of the 2009 recession relatively unscathed and was growing fast. The scene is gradually changing in the U.S., with more companies planning to lease datacenter space from a wholesale provider instead of building their own.
According to its annual survey of the North American datacenter market, which was released in May, 60% of the respondents plan to lease, an increase of 7% compared to last year. Furthermore, the data center market is expected to grow, driven by new computing technologies such as cloud computing and virtualization. The survey showed that 85% will definitely or probably expand their data center in 2011, an increase of 4% compared to last year. Growth is also expected in the Asia-Pacific region, Flaig added.
DOMESTIC OUTSOURCING SERVICES FOR INSURANCE AGENCIES LAUNCHED IN TEXAS www.insurancejournal.com
Independent Insurance Agents of Dallas (IIAD) Staffing Services division has teamed up with Work At Home Vintage Employees LLC (WAHVE) to provide domestic outsourcing services to supply back-office support to insurance agencies across the state of Texas. The joint venture provides IIAD Staffing Services clients with access to WAHVE’s roster of retired insurance professionals who work remotely for insurance firms, according to the announcement released by the venture partners. The IIAD formed the Staffing Services division in 2001 to provide insurance-specific staffing services and insurance employment services to independent agent and brokers in Texas. WAHVE, formed in 2010, provides domestic remote staffing services for insurance firms nationally.
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FOREIGN INVESTMENT BOOSTS CONTACT CENTER OUTSOURCING IN PERU, COLOMBIA www.newswiretoday.com
While the Colombian offshore contact center outsourcing market has not lived up to its billing, the Peruvian market picked up the slack and has grown impressively in the last two years. Spanish companies, which were the biggest offshore revenue contributors to both countries, have increasingly set up operations in Peru to provide offshore services to Europe and other Latin American countries. In 2010, Spanish companies accounted for 70% of Peru’s offshore contact center outsourcing revenues and only 41% of Colombia’s. The Peruvian market is expected to grow faster than other nations within the region, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.9% from 2009 to 2015, compared to Colombia’s 12.4%. Similarly, offshore revenues accounted for only 18% and 43.7% of Colombia’s and Peru’s revenue pie, respectively. New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Colombian and Peruvian Contact Center Outsourcing
Services Markets 2010, finds that the Colombian market earned revenues of $447.0 million in 2009 and estimates this to reach $902.0 million in 2015. Meanwhile, the Peruvian market earned $171.0 million in 2009 and Frost & Sullivan estimates this will reach $393.7 million in 2015. Some foreign companies are still reluctant to outsource to Colombia because of the former’s limited bilingual resources. Local market participants in Colombia will also be facing the heat of competition from foreign-based companies, which will be looking to extend their services to local clients to complement their offshore portfolio with domestic business. “Nevertheless, Colombia is expected to accelerate its offshoring activity during 2011-2012,� says Frost & Sullivan Industry Manager Juan Gonzalez. “The country has improved its reputation for excellence in outsourcing in recent years,
and has created a supportive business environment, backed by favorable government legislations.â€? Meanwhile, revenues in Peru have increased substantially from $171 million in 2009 to $194.1 million in 2010 – 3.0% higher than Colombia’s revenue growth during the same period. Peru’s recent success lies in its agent workforce’s “neutralâ€? Spanish and robust technology infrastructure to facilitate the telecommunications businesses development. Both Colombia and Peru have benefitted from Latin America’s rapid recovery from the economic downturn, and companies have begun to consider them viable outsourcing markets for contact center servicing, sales, and debt collection. “Overall, increasing pressure on profit margins and the global economic climate have boosted the demand for customer care cost savings, giving a leg up to the contact center outsourcing services market in Colombia and Peru,â€? notes GonzĂĄlez. “Their ability to provide a fully integrated suite of end-to-end services has further reinforced their status as outsourcing hubs in Latin America.â€?
UNION CONDEMNS HP PLANS TO OFFSHORE 200 DWP JOBS www.sourcingfocus.com
Up to 200 jobs are at risk at Hewlett Packard that provides IT support to the Department for Work and Pensions at sites based in Newcastle, Lytham St Annes in Lancashire and Sheffield, United Kingdom. The union, which represents more than 2,000 members at Hewlett Packard in the U.K., says the proposals have yet to be finalised and will require ministerial approval by the Cabinet Office. But the union warns plans are at an advanced stage and the necessary “knowledge transfer� work could start in August 2011, with jobs moving to Bangalore in November 2011. The union says it is a false economy
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because the limited savings on IT would be overshadowed by the costs to the taxpayer through lost tax revenues and increased benefit payments to those
thrown out of work. PCS is calling on the government to fully consider the wider economic arguments. It is consulting its members about the proposals and has not ruled out industrial action. HP makes a substantial percentage of its revenue from government services and rewards its executives with multimillion-dollar packages. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “The government must not allow low-paid jobs to be offshored. It will be a disaster for U.K. workers and the tax payer and will only ensure that Hewlett Packard’s shareholders reap the benefits.�
NEWS FEED
TECH MAHINDRA INAUGURATES INNOVATION CENTER FOR MOBILITY SOLUTIONS IN TORONTO www.globalservciesmedia.com
Tech Mahindra, a global systems integrator and business transformation consulting services firm exclusively focused on the communications industry, announced the inauguration of its Innovation Center for Mobility Solutions in Toronto at the 2011 Canadian Telecom Summit. The Toronto Innovation Center will initially provide device certification services to Canadian wireless operators and further expand its services to provide enterprise mobility solutions on current and next generation mobile devices for the benefit of North American customers in general and Canadian carriers specifically. Tech Mahindra made this investment in Toronto after its selection by leading Canadian telecommunications providers for certification services of mobile devices. This Toronto Innovation Center will enable Tech Mahindra, through
its dedicated subsidiary for mobile applications, CanvasM Technologies, to offer mobile device certification services in a variety of areas including Application Testing, Field Testing, Inter-operability Testing and Performance Testing with expertise in 3G/HSPA+/LTE. Tech Mahindra has already invested in similar Innovation Labs for Mobility Solutions in Seattle (USA) and New Delhi (India). The Innovation Labs in New Delhi provides RF/Protocol Testing and Audio Testing services for 3G/ LTE devices deployed at many global telecommunications companies. Tech Mahindra continues to provide mobile device and application certification services to several North American telecommunications providers and device manufacturers. Jagdish Mitra, Vice President, Enterprise Mobility & VAS Practice, Tech Mahindra, stated: “The Toronto Innovation Center, along with our Innovation Labs and Ideation Factory in Seattle and New Delhi,
will enable Tech Mahindra to continue to pioneer new services and technology solutions for the growing mobile market and enhance the customer experience. It will also enable our customers to mobilize their business applications to better address their customer needs in the future…We look forward to expanding our operations to support other players in the mobility ecosystem in Canada and throughout North America.” Individual consumers and business customers are increasingly demanding creative mobility solutions, value added services and applications on an ever increasing number of phones, tablets and other devices. They are driving telcos to elevate their solutions beyond the network to support both lifestyle services and critical business services. Leading telecommunications companies partner with Tech Mahindra to own the certification of the growing number of wireless devices they are bringing to current and future networks for customers.
APAC GOVERNMENTS NOT PROACTIVE IN SECURING DATA www.zdnetasia.com
One fifth of public sector agencies in the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, are choosing to freeze investment in information security or not secure certain public information in order to meet IT budgets, according to an IDC survey released Friday. Conducted between December and January this year, the study polled 39 respondents from various public agencies, of which 17.8% said their IT departments halted investment in IT security or did not
secure public data. “It appears that awareness of appropriate security policies and best practices are poor among governments in Asia-Pacific,” Frank Levering, research manager for IDC’s Government Insights, said in the report. “Where policies and strategies are in place, the gap between best intentions and operational execution is frequently large.” The analyst also observed that despite rising threats from employees’ personal mobile devices connecting to government networks, many agencies still did not seem to have the tools necessary for basic monitoring of security events, frequency, nature or source. Levering said: “Employees follow trends feverishly and these individuals mix corporate and personal information,
unhindered by the much-needed restrictions.” IDC called for governments in the region to adopt a strategic approach to securing information, rather than just reacting to external factors. It observed that there were very few regulatory requirements in the region related to reporting security breaches. While regulatory requirements, at 59%, remained the top driver of investment justification in information security, liability and exposure only accounted for 12.8% in terms of importance. Client requirements made up 28.2%, according to the IDC report. Levering reiterated that a proactive approach to data protection will ensure “threats or risks do not find opportunities to manifest in an organization”.
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RECENT OUTSOURCING DEALS Global Telecom & Technology Completes Acquisition of PacketExchange Global Telecom & Technology, Inc., a global telecommunications carrier and leading network integrator serving the data communications needs of large enterprise, government and carrier clients, announced the completion of its acquisition of U.K.based PacketExchange. This acquisition provides GTT with greater business scale and a combined customer base of over 1,200 worldwide clients. GTT will add significant network assets in North America, Europe, and Asia as well as an expanded portfolio of data services, including: Global Ethernet, Global Peering, Collaborative Networking, Cloud Networking, Dedicated Internet Access and Transit, as well as Network Infrastructure-as-a-Service, complete endto-end managed network solutions. Officially announced on May 23, 2011, GTT has moved rapidly to integrate the network assets, services and clients into its proprietary Client Management Database (CMD) to ensure seamless high-quality support of ongoing client installations, service delivery and network support. “We are excited with the rapid progress in closing and integrating the PacketExchange acquisition,� states Rick Calder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Global Telecom & Technology. “The combination advances our growth strategy to scale the business globally through both organic growth and strategic acquisitions.� The acquisition was funded through an expanded term loan facility with GTT’s existing lender, Silicon Valley Bank and a new term loan facility from BIA Digital Partners, a private investment firm with a focus on mid to later-stage companies.
CSC Acquires Brazilian IT Service Firm Vixia CSC has acquired VIXIA Consultoria e Tecnologia Ltda., a Sao Paulo-based IT services firm focused on providing core operational software, business consulting and systems integration services to leading insurance, reinsurance and
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financial institutions in Brazil. The combination of CSC and VIXIA will offer the Latin American market a global portfolio of financial servicesspecific applications and services, along with deep, local market and service delivery expertise. The acquisition advances CSC’s position to support the expansion objectives of its multinational clients, as well as its position to pursue and win new business in this emerging financial services market. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
ExlService Closes Outsource Partners Acquisition ExlService Holdings, Inc. has closed its previously announced acquisition of Outsource Partners International, a leading global provider of finance & accounting outsourcing services with approximately 3,700 employees in the United States, Asia and Europe serving roughly 80 clients. As a result of the acquisition, EXL establishes itself as one of the leading third-party service providers in F&A outsourcing.
HP Signs 10-Year, $380 Million Deal with Healthways
Cognizant Board Repurchase Funds
Raises
Stock
Cognizant announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the expansion of its existing share repurchase program by $150 million, bringing the total authorization under the current repurchase program to $300 million. In addition, Cognizant’s Board has extended the expiration date for the repurchase program to June 30, 2012.
HP Enterprise Services and Healthways, Inc. have signed a 10-year, $380 million applications and technology services outsourcing agreement to support growth and expand value to Healthways’ customers. HP will provide Applications Development and Applications Management services to further accelerate the transformational development of the company’s applications and technology infrastructure. As a result, Healthways’ mission-critical application, EMBRACE, will be able to support an increasing volume of customers and increasing market demand for multiparty integration.
Convergys to Sell Mobile Assets IBM Expanding in Africa IBM announced the opening of a new branch office in Dar es Salaam, as part of the company’s continued geographic expansion initiative to increase its presence in key growth markets and support its global growth strategy. The announcement follows the recent news of the opening of IBM’s office in Dakar, Senegal and gives IBM a direct presence in over 20 African countries including South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria.
Convergys Corp. will sell its holdings in the “cellular partnerships� located in the Cincinnati metropolitan area to AT&T for approximately $320 million in cash. As a result of its spin-off from Cincinnati Bell Inc. in 1998, Convergys received a 34% limited partnership interest in Cincinnati SMSA and a 45% limited partnership interest in Cincinnati SMSA Tower Holdings. Together, these two properties are referred to as the “cellular partnerships.� Convergys expects the sale to generate net after-tax proceeds of approximately $250 million.
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BEST PRACTICES IN OUTSOURCING CONTRACTS FOR BUYER PROTECTION IN PROVIDER MERGERS OR ACQUISITIONS by Kathleen Goolsby
As the outsourcing service provider landscape continues to shift through mergers and acquisitions, how can buyers construct their contracts to protect what they envision in the relationship despite a change in provider ownership? I spoke with two attorneys, James Nelson and William Russell in the New York office of Venable LLP, who frequently counsel clients on mergers and acquisitions and outsourcing matters, and asked them about insights and best practices to protect the interests of buyers of outsourced services Q: Sometimes when a service provider is acquired, some of the service delivery nuances that were in place with the prior provider are changed. What can buyers to do protect their branding and, in customer-facing processes, the customer satisfaction levels, in such cases? James Nelson: On one level, the service description in the agreement or statement of work or in a procedures manual documents the agreed approach. If there’s something that’s meaningful, the agreement needs to call that out. There needs to be enough firmness and clarity in the contract requirements so that the acquiring provider can’t suggest it doesn’t have those obligations. On another level, there should be a change-of-control provision in the agreement and language that requires notice and consent or some other mechanism that enables the customer to maintain control over who will be performing their outsourced functions. This is an area where people often think: I’ll put in a non-assignment provision or some other provision to eliminate the ability to assign the agreement. I think people don’t always think through what that really means. Unless it’s a major part of the deal, someone needs to be aware of the fact that even if a customer rejects an assignment, it won’t really stop the transaction from occurring. So the customer needs to think through how it will handle the outsourcing agreement, assuming the acquisition occurs. Some issues to think through include: t What are the intellectual property challenges? t How quickly can the customer move to another provider, and what will it need in the meantime? t If the scope of work is for sophisticated services, what will happen if the customer has to pull off a separation on a timetable it doesn’t like? t What if the people working with the original service provider leave? How does that impact knowledge retention? t Does the customer have contract provisions relating to review of new personnel? The plus of outsourcing can be the minus in that, if the customer does it effectively and to a great degree of success, it no longer has internal resources to bring the work back in house. The people also are not available to ask them for advice on how to fashion the organization to deal with the new impact. A best practice is to make sure the relationship is a win-win arrangement. I know that term gets over-used; but in circumstances where the provider benefits, the customer is not in as big a performance risk. Q: in the case of a merger (Hewitt and Aon, Dell and Perot Services, ACS and Xerox, to cite a few examples), the buyer can suddenly end up in a situation
where it was the big fish in a first provider’s pond, but now it’s a small fish in the second provider’s pond. What can buyers do to retain that focus and attention they had before the merger? Bill Russell: The performance commitments are the performance commitments, regardless of whether there’s been an acquisition or who’s actually performing the services. Many customers include a termination provision in the contract so that, if there’s a change of control with regard to the service provider (whether it’s an acquisition or a merger), it gives the customer an opportunity to say: “Wait a second, that’s not what we bargained for. This is not who we chose to deal with.” Customers should make sure they have enough flexibility in the agreement to allow themselves to get out of that type of situation or at least enough leverage to make sure their work is getting done as expected. That said, providers are cautious about signing an agreement that gives customers an “easy out;” they don’t want to be in a position where the customer has enough rights to potentially hold up a merger or acquisition because the provider can’t assign the agreement or the acquirer doesn’t want to assume the risk of a major customer exercising their termination right. Q: So then the customer has to pay a fee for early termination? Bill Russell: Whether the customer has to pay a termination fee to exercise its exit rights in the event of a change of control is often the subject of a fair amount of negotiation. Q: Especially now that companies are moving to the cloud, we’ll see some mergers and acquisitions among those players. One of the benefits of moving to the cloud is the business agility. Are companies tending to move into these arrangements very quickly without thinking through the issues surrounding mergers and acquisitions? James Nelson: The up-front homework in this case is: what’s really happening to the data; where is it going; if we need it back how do we get it; and if there’s an investigation, who else can get it? The cloud-based models don’t look the same in this regard as the typical outsourcing models. Buyers may be unfamiliar with what that means as far as their rights. What happens if there’s a merger involving a cloud company and the customer needs its data but the acquired company is unable to get it for a period of time? The whole set-up in the cloud is to have a one-to-many arrangement. That raises questions on ownership, privacy, where the data is located, and all sorts of points. These issues are not detailed in some cloud contracts. These contracts are simplified to be more of a subscription kind of document. Buyers need to do their homework and ask questions in advance. Just because the contract is simple doesn’t mean that it works the right way for the buyer’s needs. Like many things in the legal sphere, it may become apparent only after there are problems because people were not aware that their data would be available (or not available) in certain contexts.
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INDUSTRY SURVEYS
In Search of Vertical Excellence Our Global Outsourcing 100 “sublists� give us the tools to unearth the industry expertise of outsourcing providers. Here’s a look at the many specialists who orbit the outsourcing universe. By Sandy Frinton For Cybage Software, breaking into the Global Outsourcing 100’s Leaders category this year for the first time and being featured as a “climber� as one of the companies most improving its rank was a big achievement. But while being recognized among outsourcing’s best is certainly an honor for the India-based offshore technology provider, being named over the years on shorter “sublists� compiled by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) has proven to be just as important to this emerging company. “Today, the outsourcing space is not just about outsourcing technology. Companies are looking at industry value-add from vendors,� said Gurvinder Singh Chhatwal, AVP - Business Development. “Often we are picked as the vendor of choice because of the dedicated vertical and practice groups we have formed within the organization.� In 2011, Cybage was named best five by industry focus in hospitality; best 10 by industry focus as leaders in entertainment and media; best 20 by industry focus as leaders in retail and consumer goods; best 10 by service area as leaders in Research & Development; best 20 by service area as leaders in Customer Relationship Management; and best 20 by service area by companies in Research & Development. Like Cybage, many providers offering a diverse range of services – from facility services and financial management to
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customer relationship management and corporate services – around the world are realizing the value of differentiating themselves as industry specialists in an increasingly crowded industry. Neeraj Tandon, Senior Vice President – Business Services, HCL Technologies Ltd., an India-based global IT company, agrees.
INDUSTRY SURVEYS
“It is an increasingly competitive global market and with it comes the increasing challenge to stand out in the crowd,” Tandon said. “Being listed on IAOP’s sublist as one of the best in the industry and as a leader in the space is of much strategic importance to HCL. The Global Outsourcing 100 listing supports and adds credibility to HCL in the industry, to our employees, customers and business partners.” As a leader on the main list and top player in R&D and IT, VanceInfo Technologies Inc. of China also is focusing its expertise in providing IT consulting and solution services. “The competition is becoming fiercer all the time,” says Ken Schulz, who heads the company’s marketing department. “We differentiate ourselves not so much through marketing, but rather through employing industry experts who not only implement information and communication technology (ICT) solutions for our clients, but also provide true business value.” SPECIALISTS SOUGHT
Judges on the Global Outsourcing 100 panel say industry specialization is a growing trend in outsourcing. “The outsourcing profession has grown to a stage where being a generalist is no longer acceptable for most customers,” said Jagdish Dalal, COP, president, JDalal
Associates, LLC and IAOP’s managing director of thought leadership, who has been a judge every year since the program started and headed the panel for the first five years. “Customers are demanding that their selected providers be proficient or even be a domain expert in their chosen field,” he said. “This has led providers to develop their knowledge and expertise in specific process areas and use that as a differentiator in the marketplace.” Early on, IAOP recognized this trend and as a result developed the sublists selected from the Global Outsourcing 100 applicants. With more than 80 sublists by overall categories, industry focus, service area and region served as well as additional honors, all companies can earn their place on a list. With the constant technology changes, specialization and flexibility to rapidly react is required of providers, said panelist Vera Marquez, IT regional director, Hoffman-La Roche – Latin America. “Specialized providers who are market leaders in their sector are better positioned in terms of expertise and technology to promote shifts and to keep in track with the market movements providing new services or new ways of serving business in their area of specialization,” she said. In more specialized markets or where a specialty service is required, this is even more of a requirement versus in commodity markets, Marquez noted. For example, an outsourcing provider with knowledge in captive or regulated markets such as the pharmaceutical industry would be more adaptive to meet service demands or to assume new services or new customers from this industry segment than others. The value of the industry sublists from both the BPO and customer perspectives is increasing given the BPO market is sometimes perceived as commoditized, according to Kristin H. Weitz Rammer,
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BPO: The Analytics Advantage By Mike Salvino and Barbara Duganier It was a textbook problem in the volatile world of retail. In the summer of 2009, a major US music distributor experienced a sudden spike in demand for the CDs of one of the artists in its back catalog. How could it ramp up production to meet immediate needs without creating excess inventory in the future? This company had an edge, however—a longstanding outsourcing arrangement in place that, over a period of several years, had turned its supply chain into a finely tuned, industrialized engine. Moreover, the engine came equipped with a predictive analytics capability that could do more than just tell the company that manufacturing could not meet supply. The analytics could also identify how to solve the problem, leveraging insights across multiple domains beyond the supply chain, including finance and CRM. In short order, the music distributor had pinpointed the source of greatest demand. The company was able to make informed and timely decisions vabout where to boost production and where the most costeffective and profitable locations were to locate inventory. Net result: Instead of the costly alternative of increasing production everywhere in the world—which would have resulted in excess inventory and expensive shipping to redistribute products later—the company had an accurate, just-in-time, precisely targeted delivery approach that met customers’ needs for a dramatically lower cost.
Sophisticated tools This is one of a growing list of examples where the intelligent use of analytics in business process outsourcing environments is making a significant impact. As with all applications of analytics, it leverages sophisticated tools and techniques for statistical surveying, root-cause analysis and optimization. Unlike many advanced analytics applications at some companies, however, BPO analytics begins on what is already a strong foundation of comprehensive data about a business process and how it’s performing. Where does such a foundation of highquality data come from? From outsourcing relationships in which providers are already highly motivated to produce timely data that helps them know, nearly in real time, how
efficiently a supply chain, a procurement function, a global finance organization or other business processes are performing.
Three ways analytics drives business advantage The analytics capabilities built on the existing foundation of data from a BPO relationship help companies realize significant benefits in at least three ways. 1. Improving the operational engine The first advantage in building an analytics capability on the back of a BPO relationship is that companies can go to a single source for high-quality data about the performance of a process or function—data that is measured and recorded consistently. An outsourcing provider that is helping to deliver essential business processes such as finance and HR is well placed to analyze the performance of a process end to end, across both client and provider, discovering where inefficiencies and risks exist, then working to drive time and waste out of the process and standardize wherever possible. 2. Discovering hidden insights A second critical area where analytics can deliver greater value as part of a business process outsourcing arrangement is in generating additional insights by tracking data across different parts of the organization. Such a capability can optimize results or help balance apparently competing or contradictory objectives. A common example is the balancing act companies face in reconciling the needs of the procurement and finance organizations. A procurement professional will want to push for early payments to get discounts from suppliers. But a finance professional will look instead to hang on to cash as long as possible. How can both sides of that equation win? The answer is that they cannot—not exactly. But with an analytics capability in place as part of an outsourcing arrangement that bundles procurement and finance, a company can be assured of finding the precise point at which the benefits on both sides of the equation are balanced, helping to generate as much business value as possible by improving cash management.
3. Innovations to drive revenue The third area where BPO analytics offers distinctive value is in helping companies manage data—from the front office, the back office or both—in such a way as to generate innovations or improve time to market to increase revenue. For example, one major company in the health and life sciences industry has established an outsourced center for the testing and assessment processes known as pharmacovigilance. This approach has helped the company to increase productivity by as much as 40 percent. The outsourced analytics capability has enabled the company to collect and analyze data faster, shaving significant time off the approval cycle, more readily identifying drugs with no marketplace potential and getting approved drugs to market faster.
Hard to duplicate Is an outsourcing arrangement the only way to make business process analytics effective? Certainly not. But the foundation of data and process industrialization upon which an outsourcing provider works, using highly sophisticated tools and talent, is hard to duplicate using internal resources alone. Companies that effectively use an outsourcing relationship to embed analytics into their business processes have an opportunity not only to reduce costs and improve process efficiency but also to generate the insights that can lead to market breakthroughs faster and with greater assurance. Outsourcing providers gain enormous insight into the way a client company works, at extremely detailed levels. It would be a missed opportunity if organizations failed to use those insights for competitive advantage. This article is based on ‘The analytics advantage,’ which originally appeared in the October, 2010 issue of Outlook, an Accenture publication. Used with permission.
You can read the full article at: accenture.com/analyticsadvantage
©2010 Accenture. All rights reserved.
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vice president-technology of MAXIMUS, who served on the evaluation panel. “This perception along with pricing pressure on the BPO’s creates a need for greater BPO specialization in order for them to compete effectively on factors other than ‘low cost,’� she said. “The BPO that is on a sublist has a greater chance of being viewed as a true partner that brings solutions to business problems that can enable that end user to be more competitive. “Those BPO’s that specialize and build vertical industry solutions are positioned
for securing a longer term relationship between the BPO and end user. If successful, this sort of partnership offers the opportunity for continuity of operations and cost savings to both parties.� TOP HONORS
Many companies are using inclusion on an IAOP sublist in marketing to their customers to show their credibility, gain recognition and get a leg up on the competition. “Being part of the sublists is great as it is a testimony of our focus to the specific industry,� said Chhatwal. “While being in the Top 100 does help us establish credentials with the client, the mention of a Top 5 or Top 10 in an industry vertical sublist helps us to stand out within the Top 100 and establish our credentials on the importance and focus to an industry.� In fact, the approach has changed the way Cybage markets itself. While just three to five years ago, 90 percent of its marketing efforts were around being a provider of general technology outsourcing services and 10 percent was focused on its industry expertise, today it is the reverse. A smaller “rising star� on the Global Outsourcing 100 list, China-based IT services provider Bleum also is setting itself apart with its focus on zero-defect systems development and services to the high-tech, financial services, telecommunications and retail industries for American and European companies. “The IAOP sublists recognize Bleum and our specialized services,� said William Stancer, vice president for business development. “When a potential client is seeking an outsourcing provider, they want the assurance that whoever they choose intimately understands their business. Being ranked within an industry sublist, as Bleum has been within the financial, retail and technology sectors, provides this assurance more so than a non-descript ranking among 100 other firms.� DIVERSITY OF OUTSOURCING
While many people think only of information and communication
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INDUSTRY SURVEYS
technology or manufacturing when it comes to outsourcing, many processes are effectively being outsourced as the Global Outsourcing 100 sublists show. “There is an incredible diversity of services and service offerings,” said Dalal. “When you really look underneath it, many different services are being offered and there’s a lot of diversity in the marketplace.” Indeed, IT/communication technology was the largest service area among Global Outsourcing 100 applicants and total revenue among providers indicating this was a top service area continued to increase by providers in this category to $112 billion, up from $940 million in the prior year’s list. Customer Relationship Management (CRM), research and development, real estate and capital asset management, and transaction processing were cited by a growing number of companies as major service focus area. Other service delivery areas companies on the Global Outsourcing 100 are focusing on include administrative, corporate services, document management, facility services, financial management, HR management, legal, marketing and manufacturing. DOUBLE IMPACT
Service providers are leveraging both their Global Outsourcing 100 numerical rankings with inclusion on top sublists to make the most impact with current and potential customers, companies said. “A Global Outsourcing 100 ranking shows that Bleum is a major player within the outsourcing industry, while the sublists build our credibility in specific areas of focus,” said Stancer. “When combined, these rankings prove Bleum to be a firm of choice for companies seeking an outsourcing provider.” Says HCL’s Tandon: “Industry recognitions have grown to be an indispensible sales and marketing tool that aids in the close of business. While the IAOP main list gives an overall picture of the company – the sublists are
quintessential with all regard. Primarily when the business focus caters to specific industries or services, industry or servicespecific recognition helps to strongly position the company to the client.” ITC Infotech also has seen the benefit of being ranked as a Leader on the Global Outsourcing 100 main list and on IT/ communication technology and customer relationship management sublists among others over the past five years. “The sublists take a deeper look at select capabilities and features the Top 20 companies globally,” said Khem Aithani, Senior VP & Head Strategic Relationship, ITC Infotech. “As a result, IAOP’s sublists for the Global Outsourcing 100 companies serves as a ready reckoner for our prospects to short-list/select services providers. “ITC Infotech prides itself in providing services to select industries based on our strong domain expertise in such industries. Therefore, being featured in the sublists adds immense value for us as a demonstration of our differentiators,” he said. “However, the main list carries a holistic listing of companies across a number of critical parameters. Thus, both lists work in conjunction, and being featured prominently in both is important for us.” OPENING DEALS
DOORS
AND
CLOSING
Since its inception in 2006, the Global Outsourcing 100 lists have become a go-to resource to many customers when making purchasing decisions. “Over the last six years since we have been producing this list, we have found that it is reviewed quite frequently by customers when selecting their potential providers.” Dalal said. “It is also viewed carefully by the providers to see their potential competition in the marketplace and determine their position in comparison to them.” Says Schulz of VanceInfo, “There are very
few sources where a potential customer can find authoritative information about the relative strengths of outsourcing firms. The IAOP sublists are one of the most comprehensive resources at their disposal.” Of course, after opening the door, providers need to close the deal. “While the lists do provide a basis for potential customers to choose from, their buying decisions are ultimately influenced by the process and quality of the work coming from the outsourcing providing firms,” said Stancer of Bleum. “Even within the IAOP list, there are varying degrees of expertise in delivery.” ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sandy Frinton, Staff Writer at IAOP
Sandy Frinton is a staff writer at IA AOP. She is an experienced PR and media specialist with a strong journalism and writing background, with a combination of nearly 20 years of PR and journalism experience. Sandy has written bylined news and features stories, traditional and Web 2.0 press releases, employee communications, e-newsletters, corporate letters from CEOs, annual reports and other communications in a wide range of business sectors. She also has managed communications and media relations for international businesses for major acquisitions, plant closures and business restructurings in the U.S. and globally. You can reach her att: sa s ndy.frinton@iaop.com
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LATIN AMERICA
Closer to Home More and more medium size companies in the U.S. are outsourcing their applications maintenance and support. Here’s advice on outsourcing your Oracle JDE/SAP applications to Latin America. By Clåudio Della Penna, Paul A. Dougall, and Ariel Capone For the past several years, the adoption of an outsourcing services model has been largely a concern of large enterprises and the federal or state governments. However, increasing numbers of mid-sized U.S. corporations are outsourcing their applications, too. Mid-sized companies in the U.S. have mostly relied on internal resources. We believe this is beginning to change. Over the past three years there has been a noticeable increase in the number of enquiries and engagements of mid-sized U.S. corporations looking to explore the Application Outsourcing alternative. Firms with sales between $2-8 billion, mostly manufacturing companies running fairly complex operations and supply chains, are beginning to seriously consider outsourcing the management and support of their core applications, such as Oracle and SAP. Increasingly, these companies are looking for ways to reduce costs and improve operating margins to remain competitive. At the same time they are focusing more on their core business: competitive pressures are inducing companies to get closer to their customers and to create an environment for innovation. Information Technology is becoming more and more critical in managing the enterprise in this highly competitive environment: Strategic sourcing can help to reduce costs while at the same time improve operating efficiencies, and Application infrastructure rationalization can reduce complexity and cost. Latin America is becoming an increasingly attractive option compared to traditional outsourcing locations. Latin America is emerging as an important source of Application Management Services to corporations in North America and increasingly in Europe, providing a combination of offshore services from Delivery Centers in the region and customer on-site resources.
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CASE STUDY: KRAFT FOODS
Since 20 200 06, Kraft Foods has selected Grupo ASSA SA to provide Application Outsourcing (AMS) Se ervices, from its Delivery Centers in Latin America, to its operating units in more than 20 countries in Latin America, China and Philippines. The Company Kraft Foods is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the world, and iss one of the oldest, being 230 years old. Kraft manages 159 industrial plants and employs more than an 90,000 people on a global basis. In Latin America it has a very strong presence, with operation ns in 18 countries, and is a market leader in 21 product categories. The Mission Kraft Foods needed to select an IT Service Provider that could combine deep techniccal application expertise, strong Outsourcing tools and methodologies, and a strong and cohesivve regional presence in Latin America. The Outsourcing Project was divided into 3 phases:
In a recent Gartner report, 8 countries out of the Top Global 30 Leading Locations are now in Latin America, and the number has increased recently to include new entrants such as Peru, Colombia and Panama, together with long-standing locations such as Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Brazil and Mexico, displacing European and Asian locations such as Ireland, Singapore and Spain. In certain cases, such as Mexico and Chile, they have received high ratings in key factors like language and government support, emphasizing the commitment of these countries to consolidate their positions. The higher cost relative to Indian providers is compensated by other attributes, such as convenient time zones, cultural affinity, quality of the labor pool and increasing government support. At the same time, the large global IT Services firms such as Accenture and IBM have become more selective on their portfolio, focusing in large strategic clients with large projects. This is also true today of the top-tier Indian IT Service Providers: clients that are not in the Fortune 500, or spend less than $10 million annually have found that they do not get the attention of the large Indian firms anymore, or are a low priority. At the same time an increasing number of U.S. corporations are choosing these countries in Latin America as a location of choice over India for the deployment of
t Phase I: Transition: Based out of the city of Curitiba, in the state of Paraná, in southern Brazil, working closely with the local management team in the definition of the Service Level Agreement parameters and indicators; t Phase II: Take over of the Outsour urci cing ng Service from the Abasto Delivery Center in Buenos Aires in 2007 (this service in 201 10 wa wass transferred into the new Delivery Center in Buenos Aires) t Phase III: Service stabilization, designed to increase productivity and speed in the resolution of incidents During phases I and II, the scope of the Outsourcing Service was 7 x 24, covering all the different client time zones across the globe. The Benefits Kraft has gained in flexibility and in a deeper understanding of the outsourcing issues in the region of Latin America. The highly personalized service provided by Grupo ASSA has translated into a time-sensitive respo pons nse culture, managing both application support and maintenance services with new prroject depl p oyment. Kraft has responded by channeling most of its outsourcing demands into one regional al partner, Grupo ASSA. The Service Model The service model is a AMS (Application Management Services) Near Shore Model, combining on-site presence at several critical customer locations (such as Pacheco in Argentina and Curitiba in Brazil), with Near Shore Services delivered from the Buenos Aires Delivery Center. The Results Kraft Foods has seen a highly consistent quality of service, without one single fail in the Service Level Agreement metrics since 2007. Over time, a wider portfolio of services has been added, including but not limited to business process improvements, and support services in the deployment of local projects and implementations. “In working with Grupo ASSA we have found a capable and flexible partner, that over time has shown strong commitment not only in our medium- and long-term projects, but also in our day-to-day problem solving”, says Marcos Spalding, Kraft Foods Application Support Manager for Latin America. Contact: Curitiba, Brasil - marcos.spalding@kraftla.com +5541 3314 4000
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RECRUITMENT RECRUITMENT PROCESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING OUTSOURCING
BUSINESS BUSINESS PROCESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING OUTSOURCING
CONTINGENT CONTINGENT WORKFORCE WORKFORCE OUTSOURCING OUTSOURCING
HUMAN HUMAN RESOURCES RESOURCES CONSULTING CONSULTING
THINK COMMUNITY.
CAREER TRANSITION CAREER TRANSITION & ORGANIZATIONAL &EFFECTIVENESS ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
EXECUTIVE SEARCH & TALENT SOURCING
Join the KellyOCG Community today— It’s your source for thought provoking industry content:
Social Networking: How Social Media is Changing the World of Work The advent of social networking has fundamentally changed the way people search for work and exchange information about career opportunities. As in many sectors, the technology is re-shaping the job search landscape and creating intriguing challenges for employees and employers alike.
Future of Work/Talent Mobility Why we are now everywhere, and nowhere, all at once. In this paper, we take a somewhat-philosophical shot at explaining/interpreting the first round of results from the 2011 Kelly Global Workforce Index™. With nearly 100,000 respondents across 30 countries, we have statistical validity and reliability that’s off the charts.
Global Market Brief & Labor Risk Index A proprietary blend of leveraging Kelly’s labor market knowledge with Eurasia Group’s expertise in political and socio-economic risk analysis, the Global Market Brief & Labor Risk Index delivers a groundbreaking resource for companies as they assess market investments and global labor strategies. Published on a quarterly basis, the Global Market Brief & Labor Risk Index report includes detailed insights for 55 of the world’s most important economies and is segmented by four geographies: The Americas; AsiaPacific; Europe and Eurasia; and Middle East and Africa.
Coming Soon D Why Plugging into Talent Will Fry Your Brain D 2011 Global RPO Report
LEAN at Work in the Recruitment Process Six Sigma was all the rage over the last few years, and now LEAN has become the new buzzword in quality and process efficiency. This white paper outlines how KellyOCG has introduced LEAN into the recruitment process. It will educate you on: D Basic LEAN principles D Introducing and sustaining LEAN as well as lessons learned
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D How being LEAN can improve processes D Strategies for implementing LEAN in recruitment D Benefits of LEAN D Sustaining a LEAN environment
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LATIN AMERICA
CONTINUOUS INNOVATION
shared-services Delivery Centers. What to look for when partnering with an outsourcing service provider: A POSITIVE AND REWARDING USER EXPERIENCE
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Claudio Della Penna Chief Operating Officer Grupo ASSA
Claudio is Chief Operating Officer at Grupo ASSA. He has a degree in Industrial Engineering from Buenos Aires University and completed the Stanford Executive Program at Stanford University. Before joining Grupo ASSA, Claudio was a Partner at Accenture in Sao Paulo, Brazil. He led important technology and business process redesign projects and from 2003 to 2009 was in charge of the Application Management Services Practice at Grupo ASSA. He developed an and nd ma m na naged outsourcing services to severall Forrtune 500 companies in the US and nd d EEur urop o e, serving more than 40.000 op end userrs. s. A As hea e d of the Application Maana nage gem ment Services at Grupo ASSA he led the development of the Application Management Services methodology and was responsible for service delivery and customer satisfaction.
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Perhaps the most important criteria when setting up an Applications Outsourcing model is how the relationship between management and the consultant providing the service is going to work out. A typical consultant on the Outsourcing Team should have: t Strong communication skills and speak good English t The ability to establish a comfortable working relationship with his end-user t Deep application knowledge t An understanding of the company’s business processes t The capacity to integrate the different components of the enterprise: Accounting, Manufacturing, Distribution and Sales t The ability to focus not only on working on the incident with acceptable response times, but at the same time solve the root cause of the incident t Consistency in his approach: the same solution when faced with the same problems t Good analytics of evolution of incidents over time t The ability to present management with alternative solutions when faced with a new challenge t Good people skills, being non-intrusive, and willing to go the “extra mile� to serve the customer We believe that Latin American firms are better equipped to provide this positive user experience than most traditional Service Providers from Asia.
IMPROVEMENT
&
The new outsourcing framework must allow for the ability to evolve and transform, rather than just maintain the systems under its care. This business process transformation approach includes not only assessing the application and integration architecture, but also mapping business processes, singling out the most critical ones, and identifying potential productivity improvement initiatives, including the preparation of a business case, with its related cost reduction plan, phased out over time. This approach requires high-level agreement and collaboration between the Service Provider, IT and business management, establishing effective metrics, actionable strategies and a commitment to organizational change. The biggest challenge often lies in being able to better articulate existing business processes with the underlying IT applications. STRONG “SOFT� INFRASTRUCTURE & PROCESSES
You must be sure that your service provider has developed strong and consistent human capital processes. Some of the key Human Capital elements that must be in place are: t A strong recruiting organization t A comprehensive Human Capital team that provides the consultants with: -Induction and training programs -Mentoring and Coaching -Career plans -Frequent performance evaluation and promotions t The capacity to design, build and manage a Knowledge Management platform to capture, organize and share information t The ability to reduce customer time-tomarket to a minimum t Reduced supervision spans: not more
LATIN AMERICA
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
than 10 consultants to a Leader (this are not industrial high-volume services!) t Delivery Centers that can be defined by the consultants themselves as a great place to work INTEGRATED SERVICE CORE
Standard procedure in the industry requires that the support service be divided into three levels: Level 1 or Incident Management, Level 2 or Problem Management, and Level 3, or Change Management. These service teams are usually structured as autonomous units, very often located in different cities, with little operating interaction among them, and requiring different skill sets. What you really want to look for is an integrated support service team, structured along processes defined in the ITIL framework, with three clearly defined and differentiated levels: Incident Management, Problem Management and Change Management, but one team manager that looks after the overall customer relationship and is permanently informed as to what is going on at each of the three levels. This integrated approach has the benefit of providing continuity and consistency to the way the incident is solved, reducing the time to solution, and providing ultimately one face to the client, independent of the degree of complexity. This has the additional benefit of keeping high levels of satisfaction among the consultants that provide the service, as it gives them the flexibility to move or rotate out of the support services team, and into project teams at on-site client locations for a period of time. This in turn, gives the consultant a chance to understand better the client’s business processes, such that when he returns to the support team, he will do so with invaluable hands-on experience. Drive to Standardization is another critical element in the application management process, especially if your company has the complexity of managing
several business units, geographies, or any other form of decentralization. Make sure your partner has the experience, the tools and methodologies, to take you successfully through the design and building of the template, before you begin to roll-out to the different units. ROBUST GOVERNANCE
Finally, make sure you create a robust and effective Governance structure: once the contract has been signed and it´s in place, this will be the single most important entity for overseeing the overall performance of the Outsourcing engagement. You can plan on creating a “Center of Excellence” with your Service Provider, developing a set of high standards and best practices. Often times a well-managed CoE can become a showcase of the Cost Savings and Operational Improvements your division has achieved for the rest of the organization. Look to pick the right collaboration platform, allowing the combined clientservice provider team is completely synchronized, receives a common and consistent set of information, and most importantly makes an optimum use and allocation of resources. ROBUST GOVERNANCE
t Place the importance of a positive “User Experience” with your Service Provider high-up in your criteria list, when shifting to a Application Outsourcing model t Soft criteria, such as the Recruiting and Retention policies of your Service Provider may be of more value in the long run, than aggressive metrics on your Service Level Agreement t Look for a partner that will contribute, on a consistent basis, to continuous process improvement t Latin American Service Providers are more conveniently organized and staffed to bring these qualities to your operation
Ariel Capone Senior Director Grupo ASSA
Ariel Capone is Senior Director at Grupo ASSA, responsible for the Health Care vertical market. He joined Grupo ASSA in 1999 as part of the Junior Professionals program, working in several ERP implementations. Throughout his career he has participated in many important assignments involving IT projects and Business Process Transformation, first in the small business practice of Grupo ASSA, later in consumer goods companies, and from 2003 in the health ca care re ind ndus ustry. Today, the Health Care practice off Gru upo ASSA has +300 consultantss in Argen enttina, Brazil, Mexico, the US and Eur urop ope. Ariell is is an industrial engineer from the University of Buenos Aires, and has an Executive Business Management and IT Degree from the University of San Andrés.
Paul Dougall Corporate Development Vice President Grupo ASSA
Paul is the Corporate Develop pment Vice President at Grupo ASSA, resp ponssib pons ible e for for MEtA, Strategic Initiatives an nd Allliancces, and Strategic Marketing at Grupo oA ASSSA. He is also Vice Chairman of the Grupo ASSA Board of Directors, and chairs the Audit it Committee. He joined Grupo ASSA A in 199 999 as Director of Corporate Finance, after several years as Director of Equity Capital Markets at Deutsche Bank Argentina. Paul currently heads the Strategic Marketing team, with a focus in creating a the brightest “thought leadership” organization in Latin America, providing strategic clients and prospects with deep, industry-vertical insights and expertise. He is also Director of the Grupo ASSA Corporate Social Responsibility program.
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COLLABORATIVE WORK TEAMS
Here’s how a leading avionics company uses a collaborative and transparent supply chain to enhance innovation, efficiency and quality. It’s an effective strategy from which the entire outsourcing community can learn. By John Persinos I once saw an amusing bumper sticker that read: “It’s not just a good idea, it’s the law: 186,287 miles per second.� The message, of course, refers to the speed of light in space. Probably at the wheel of the car was a Trekkie or MIT grad wearing enormous horn-rimmed glasses and a pocket protector in his short-sleeve white shirt. It made me think of the speed of innovation in avionics, a field that I’ve covered for many years as an aerospace analyst and journalist. Avionics is a combination of the words “aviation� and “electronics,� and that’s exactly what the word means. It entails all electronic systems used on any aircraft, whether commercial or military, fixed-wing or helicopter. Avionics encompasses communications, weather detection, collision avoidance, engine and fuel control displays—all the blinking lights that a pilot sees and must interpret in the cockpit. Avionics as a term and as a distinct field didn’t take hold until the early 1970s, as an outgrowth of the increasingly sophisticated military aircraft developed to fight the Cold War. As is often the case, these military innovations spun off into the commercial sector. Until then, radios, radar, displays, and radio navigation aids were individual and often mechanical (that is to say, nonelectronic) systems. The explosion of computer technology in the early 1970s made it possible to turn gauges and dials into electronic systems—hence, avionics. According to G2 Solutions, an aerospace consulting firm based in Kirkland, Wash.,
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avionics sales in the air transport market are projected to exceed $10 billion in 2011, representing an average annual growth rate compared to last year of +4.6%. The industry is expected to at least equal that rate of growth next year. G2 asserts that the avionics sector remains the most innovative in aviation, in terms of new technology adoption and experimentation. The speed of product development in avionics gets faster all the time. It doesn’t adhere to any fixed velocity, but it certainly does move instantaneously, at the speed of the light pulses within fiber optic cables. Collaborative work environments connected via the Internet allow for rapid avionics innovation, but they ensure that participants don’t get carried away in today’s fast-paced environment. The goal is for avionics engineers to move in tandem with their outsourcing vendors, not ahead of them. Management gurus have no shortage of buzzwords for the changes that are transforming the landscape of avionics development: rightsizing, reengineering, the virtual workbench. Whatever trendy label you slap on it, it all boils down to helping avionics engineers interact more efficiently. In the avionics industry, the push for economies of scale is being supplanted by the pursuit of flexibility, innovation and speed. Increasingly, the sum of a company’s parts is generating work efficiencies that are greater than the whole. Looser than a team, with a considerable amount of work outsourced to disparate vendors, but still a distinct set of workers
In this era of outsourced engineering prowess, product development m
linked to centralized management-that’s the Brave ‘Net World of engineering development, especially in the avionics sector. Notable case in point: Harris Corp., an international communications and information technology company based in Melbourne, Florida, helps aircraft Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) control the design and creation of avionics components by offering a common interactive development infrastructure.
COLLABORATIVE WORK TEAMS
moves at the speed of the light pulses within fiber optic cables.
This “groupware” approach ensures that each of the vendors contributing to an avionics system produces standardized modules that can be easily integrated. Cockpit designs are instantaneously shared online, with seamless communication among all participating engineers and vendors. This collaborative environment also utilizes remote access storage systems for archiving common use data files that can be accessed, modified and retrieved by the
distributed workgroup members. Increasing numbers of avionics companies are taking this approach, by providing a single point of management for the design and manufacture of all avionics and electronics within an aircraft system. The result is greater avionics affordability and more frequent technology updates. As government regulations regarding avionics continue to evolve and become more stringent, it’s increasingly vital for avionics makers and their OEM end users to possess the ability to rapidly update features and functions in the cockpit, in ways that appease the various world bodies that govern aviation. The online collaborative workspace greatly expedites this process. New avionics technologies envisioned by Boeing, Airbus and other major aircraft OEMs are developing at an exponentially faster rate because of the efficiencies of the Internet-connected workspace. Avionics companies are forging increasingly sophisticated suites of technologies designed to share and manage data in collaborative work environments. The result is an organization of highly productive users who are tied together electronically rather than physically. As the avionics industry emerges from its slump, Harris is in a strong position to benefit. The company’s products include combat radios, fighter-jet cockpit communications and command-control systems for military planners. The company has five divisions: microwave systems, broadcast communications, network support, radio communications, and government systems. What gives Harris a decided edge is that only half its sales are commercial, with the other half to government agencies including the FAA and the Pentagon. This dichotomy helped the company survive the brutal slowdown in commercial aviation, which is now finally showing signs of easing. The continued growth of military spending (albeit at a slower rate of growth) in 2011 will boost military avionics, which is Harris’ forte. According to G2 Solutions, the world’s air forces are at various combat aircraft replacement and upgrade cycles, which is good news for the avionics market. Most NATO countries are in an active
replacement phase for their 1970s designed aircraft, while emerging nations such as India will evaluate entirely new aircraft sources in the near future. More than 5,000 combat aircraft will be entering service globally during the next decade, with a peak of 524 deliveries in 2014. The military avionics market also will be fueled in 2011 by expanding airlift operations worldwide and the corresponding need for new communication, navigation and surveillance equipment that allow military aircraft to share airspace with commercial aircraft—again, Harris’ area of expertise and a market that it dominates. The company’s success is prompting other companies in the aerospace sector, notably Boeing, to also adopt a collaborative engineering model. Hand-in-hand with collaborative engineering is virtual prototyping, which is the application of advanced modeling and simulation in an online integrated environment, to support technology development and system design. This ensures efficiency and quality control throughout the entire product life cycle, from inception in the drawing board to final manufacture. Collaboration, transparency and a “groupware” approach: it’s a strategy that can benefit all types of outsourcing organizations, in any business sector.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John Persinos Our magazine’s Editorial Director. He formerly served as Editor-in-Chief of Aviation Maintenance magazine and Online Publisher for Aerospace & Security Media. He also served as Publisher and Editorial Director of AviationToday.com. You can reach him at: 301-385-7211, or Yo john hn.p .persinos@globalizationtoday.com.
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COMMUNICATIONS
EMAIL IS HERE TO STAY By Pelle Hjortblad
Despite the advances in social media and smart phone technology, email won’t disappear any time soon—especially in uses related to outsourcing. Here’s why. Email has been the dominant means of communication since the early days of the Internet and remains for many today their main work tool. However, new and emerging communications platforms have started to pose a threat to email’s dominant position, which has lead to a growing number of voices predicting the death of the email. Are these emerging communication tools really here to stay and will they make email completely obsolete? I believe that the outsourcing community will discover that email will show great staying power. These new means of communication, generally labeled social media, have indeed started to pave the way from the private realm into business communication. Analyst firm Gartner predicted recently that social networking services will replace email as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 per cent of business users by 2014. This is quite a bold statement when you take into consideration that many businesses are still hesitant to allow social media at work. Even if email is on the decline, this transition is not evenly distributed. Some industries, offices and individuals are naturally faster to adopt new technologies and these groups are more likely to substitute some of their email communication services with that of social media. Professionally email will be used for many more years, in my view. But there is no question about the fact that new communication channels that borrow functionality from social media will play an important role for business communication. The benefits are too great to not make use of social media in the workplace. Communication becomes faster, more transparent, more interactive and thereby makes work interactions more productive and efficient. Not to forget that social media channels will play a dominant role in younger generations’ communications repertoire. However, this does not mean that businesses are forced to find ways to include Twitter and Facebook in their communication strategy. They must face the potential that lies in social features as, for example, the Facebook wall, micro blogging services and instant messaging. Some behaviours and actions will shift more quickly to social media. Today, for instance, very few project management professionals collaborate on documents via email. They employ webbased groupware instead. Aligning social networking with project collaboration solutions can replace approximately 90 per cent of the email communication that you otherwise need to inform and coordinate work. We will see the same shift with other kind of email usage for professional project collaboration, such as for ‘action planning’, task coordination, issues management and so on. However, this shift will
continue at a gradual pace and the messaging platforms will blend and integrate with that of web-based applications. Social networking functionality can also make project collaboration far more easy, efficient and fun than any email messaging system ever can. The shift can lower stress and reduce quality control issues induced from email overflow. With this will arrive newer, more effective, flexible— and human—ways of working. From a security perspective it makes sense to look at platforms designed to fit the needs of business communication. There are already several players out on the market, such as Google Apps, Projectplace and Salesforce, that incorporate tools inspired by social media into new communication platforms for businesses in order to make your communication faster, more efficient and transparent. As Gartner predicted, the shift towards a new way of business communication is already coming fast and rapidly. Therefore I can only advise companies to start planning ahead to not miss out on this future shift in communications. Does this shift really mean the end of email? I would not be all too concerned about the future of the electronic mail. As stated above there are some new tools out there that beat it to the punch in terms of flexibility and speed. Moreover, “wall communication” or instant messaging will help to cut down on the amount of emails being sent back and forth tremendously. Just adding various new tools to the communication mix will, however, not be the way to go about this. Each business needs to find the solution suitable for their organisation. What we need is a hub, where all those streams of communication float together. And this hub will undoubtedly be the good old email inbox. We can already see this in our private inboxes where the Twitters and Facebooks of the world inform us via email once someone has started to communicate with us on the new social media platforms. Email will still exist in 10 years, but it will have gradually transformed into something of a different form. In conclusion, email will be around for a bit longer, but its role will change. It will turn into a gate for other emerging communication channels. One might even want to argue that email will become even more important than it is today. Yet, the fact remains that companies have to quickly start thinking about taking measures to be able to adapt to changes in business communications.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pelle Hjortblad has served as CEO of Projectplace International since 2005. An established sales and marketing industry veteran, Hjortblad has experience in Swedish as well as international companies. Before joining Projectplace, Hjortblad was CEO of Paynova, taking the company to IPO in 2004. Previously, Hjortblad worked in the Tele 1 Europe/Song Networks group as COO for the Swedish operations and later as CEO of the Swedish subsidiary. Hjortblad also previously worked on Tele2 AB, in leading positions such as marketing manager, sales manager and information manager.
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WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE IAOP
WELCOME NEW IAOP MEMBERS IAOP is pleased to welcome new and renewing corporate and professional members from: 3forward LLC; Accenture; Aditya Birla Minacs; APAC Customer Service; Assurant; Blazent; CGI; Chinasoft International; CNO Financial Group; Coventry Healthcare; Covidien; Crawford & Co.; CROC Inc.; CSC; Everest Group; Grupo ASSA; HCL America; HD Supply; Hexaa; Infosys BPO; Insigma; Intel Technology India; Johns Hopkins University; kele, inc; Kraft Foods; Lumina Chartered Accountants; M-Core; Manulife Financial; Marketstar Corp; Merck & Co.; Nike ; OneNebula; PHH; Plum Creek Investments LLC; PwC; RampRate; RTM Consulting; Rural Sourcing; SABMiller; SolarWinds; Stevens; Sutherland Global Services; Westpac; Whirlpool; and Zurich Financial Services. For information on IAOP membership, e-mail sales@iaop.org.
IAOP WORLD CONNECTION CONFERENCES & EVENTS THE 2012 OUTSOURCING WORLD SUMMITŽ February 20-22, 2012 | Disney’s Contemporary Resort & Conference Center, Lake Buena Vista, Florida Outsourcing Beyond the Horizon: Turning Opportunities into Tomorrow’s Successes
Today’s
Register now at www.IAOP.org and not only will you get the lowest possible rate — a $500 savings — you’ll also get a FREE room night* at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Year after year, The Outsourcing World Summit brings the global community of outsourcing professionals together for an unparalleled knowledge sharing, networking and personal and business development experience you can count on. The 2012 Outsourcing World Summit - the 15th edition - will continue this tradition of excellence. The financial and economic crisis has reshaped and transformed the outsourcing industry. It has also created never before seen opportunities. The 2012 Summit addresses how to capitalize on these opportunities to maximize success at your organization.
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WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE IAOP
MEMBERSHIP Membership in IAOP provides access to an extensive array of services, and just as importantly distinguishes organizations and professionals as leaders in the field of outsourcing. IAOP membership demonstrates a commitment to innovative thinking, continuous performance improvement, and to the sustaining development of outsourcing as both an industry and as a profession. CUSTOMER CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP Organizations that are currently outsourcing or are considering one or more outsourcing initiatives should become Customer Corporate Members of IAOP. This membership provides organization-wide access to the association’s research, training, certification, and networking programs - all designed to help companies achieve better business results through outsourcing. PROVIDER/ADVISOR CORPORATE MEMBERSHIP Outsourcing service providers and advisory firms should join IAOP as Provider/Advisor Corporate Members. This membership provides the same organization-wide access to IAOP’s research, training, certification, and networking programs as Customer Corporate Membership, but also includes member-only sponsorship opportunities that serve the marketing and business development needs of these companies. PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP Professional Membership is available to individuals either as part of their company’s corporate membership or on an individual basis. This membership serves the needs of practitioners working in the field of outsourcing whether as customers, providers, or advisors. In addition, it provides these professionals with direct, personal access to association services. t Learn what the latest innovations are and how to implement them t Hear industry best practices and lessons learned from leading practitioners and visionaries t Stay current on the latest outsourcing tools and technologies, including the cloud t Meet and evaluate vendors in the Global Services Mall (or showcase your company as an exhibitor!) t Network with 700+ outsourcing professionals from around the globe Every year, hundreds of outsourcing executives from across the industry and around the world who are seeking the very latest insights and ideas attend the Summit. Educational sessions deliver specific actionable solutions to current challenges faced by experienced professionals. Case studies feature actual experiences and the lessons learned, and discuss new ideas, approaches and opportunities. The Outsourcing World Summit has become the event that executives attend each and every year to stay informed of the latest developments affecting the outsourcing industry and their profession.
Hurry! The “Save the Date” promotion extended through June 15! *With paid registrations from 5/1-6/15 only. Free room night valid for stays between February 19-22, 2012, and must be booked by January 11. The one free room night will be credited to delegate upon checkout.
MEMBER SERVICES
IAOP membership provides access to a wide range of services designed to help you and your organization improve outsourcing outcomes. Many of these services are included as part of IAOP’s Professional or Corporate Membership, with discounts available for use beyond the level provided. Some services are also available individually at non-member rates. t Globalization Today - The official publication of IAOP creates the largest and best informational publication on outsourcing by uniting and tapping the collective intellect of individuals from around the world. IAOP Members receive a free subscription plus the opportunity to get published, promote products/services and advertise. t IAOP’s Knowledge Center, Firmbuilder.com® - This online repository houses more than 600 articles, including chapter meeting presentations, conference proceedings, industry whitepapers, research articles and more. t Chapter Network - Through its active and expansive chapter network, IAOP members can share their expertise and find knowledge on best practices for specific industry segments, topics and geographic areas within outsourcing. t Conferences & Events - IAOP hosts the world’s best-known and most highly-respected executive conferences on the topic of outsourcing. t Certified Outsourcing Specialist Family of Certifications - Receive 50 complimentary COS tests each year. t Value Health Check Survey - This web-based diagnostic tool provides outsourcing customers and service providers with rapid insights to realizing outsourcing value. t BestOutsourcingJobs.com - Companies seeking the best talent for outsourcing jobs, as well as professionals looking for employment opportunities, can benefit from this IAOP member service provided through BestOutsourcingJobs.com. For more detailed information, visit www.IAOP.org/MemberServices. CALENDAR OF EVENTS
IAOP CHAPTER MEETINGS IAOP chapters provide a forum for members to collectively focus on professional development, networking, and the advancement of outsourcing within specific areas of common interest. Each chapter is led by chairs and co-chairs with deep knowledge in the area covered. IAOP members are members of the association, and not of a specific chapter, and are encouraged to participate in as many chapter meetings as they wish. Non-members are welcomed to attend any chapter meeting as IAOP’s guest to learn more about the association and its work. t
JUNE 1
PACIFIC NORTHWEST CHAPTER MEETING ON “CLOUD 101: CLOUD OVERVIEW WITH SERVICE PROVIDER LANDSCAPE AND OFFERINGS” AND “MEASURING THE RAIN: BENCHMARKING CLOUD SERVICES”
t
JUNE 2
SAN FRANCISCO AND GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY JOINT CHAPTER MEETING
t
JUNE 7
BANGALORE CHAPTER MEETING ON “TALENT TRENDS IN OUTSOURCING” AND “THE ROLE OF GOVERNANCE IN OUTSOURCING”
t
JUNE 27
ATLANTA CHATPER MEETING
t
JULY 21
CHICAGO CHAPTER MEETING
For more information IAOP chapters, go to www.IAOP.org/chapters
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WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE IAOP
NEWSWIRE WORLD’S BEST OUTSOURCING PROVIDERS AND ADVISORS RANKED BY IAOP U.S.-Based Companies Dominate Top 10 Leaders of Global Outsourcing 100
U.S.-based companies dominated the top 10 Leaders in the 2011 Global Outsourcing 100Ž list with Accenture continuing to hold the number one position among service providers for the fourth consecutive year and Alsbridge named the top advisor for the first time. Released today by the International Association of Outsourcing ProfessionalsŽ (IAOPŽ), six U.S. companies are ranked among the top 10 service providers along with Accenture, including (5) Convergys, (6) CB Richard Ellis, (7) CSC, (8) NCR and (10) Johnson Controls. Other companies in the Leaders category of companies with more than $50 million in revenue or 5,000-plus employees are: (2) ISS, Demark; (3) Sodexo, France; (4) Infosys Technologies, India; and (9) Wipro Technologies, India. The independently judged, opt-in ranking of the world’s best outsourcing service providers and advisors is a respected go-to resource to help customers compare companies using an objective methodology. This is the seventh provider list and third advisor ranking. The overall results show the continued strength of the global outsourcing industry as well as it diversity across a broad range of industries from IT, HR and R&D to facilities management, real estate, food services and customer relationship management. The list also reflects the industry’s true global nature with these companies operating and employing people around the world. Despite the economy, total revenue grew 10 percent while employment is up 4.5 percent, down slightly from 6 percent last year, according to information submitted by applying companies. Designed to replicate the evaluation process that customers use when selecting providers, the final ranking is based on a weighted average of size and growth rate, customer references, demonstrated competencies and management capabilities. “These firms on the Global Outsourcing 100 are today’s leaders and tomorrow’s rising stars,� said IAOP Chairman Michael Corbett, who led the judges’ panel. “The applicants companies went through a rigorous process that will help them better understand what customers are looking for and present themselves in the best light to win business.� The Rising Stars category of smaller fast-growing companies that are ranked numbers 76 to 100 provide a snapshot of outsourcing destinations to watch and include Latin and South America. U.S.based companies also placed well in this segment with 9 percent of the fastest growing companies based here. The top 10 companies in this category are: (76) Intetics, U.S.; (77) Scicom, Malaysia; (78) Auriga, Russia; (79) CIeNET International, China; (80) Globant, Buenos Aires; (81) Xceed, Egypt; (82) Global eProcure, U.S.; (83) Synygy, U.S.; (84) Bleum, China; and (85) Grupo ASSA, Argentina. The top 20 advisory firms are all U.S. based other than Quint Wellington Redwood of the Netherlands. This year’s rankings are: (1)
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Alsbridge, (2) KPMG, (3) TPI, (4) Kirkland & Ellis, (5) EquaTerra, (6) PricewaterhouseCoopers, (7) Booz & Company, (8) Avasant, (9) Quint Wellington Redwood and (10) Morrison & Foerster. For complete lists and more than 80 sublists with rankings by geography, industry and service areas, see www.IAOP.org. PRESIDENT AND CEO OF SOFTTEK INDUCTED INTO OUTSOURCING HALL OF FAME Leader in IT Services Honored by Industry at Outsourcing Summit in Cartagena
TreviĂąo, co-founder, president and CEO of Softtek, has been inducted into the International Association of Outsourcing ProfessionalsŽ’ (IAOP’s) prestigious Outsourcing Hall of Fame, the industry’s highest professional recognition for contributions to business and society. She was honored at a luncheon ceremony attended by hundreds at The 2011 Latin American Outsourcing Summit in Cartagena, Colombia on May 27. In an almost 30-year career, TreviĂąo has gained international recognition as a promoter of the IT services industry in and from emerging countries, collaborating with various governments to increase Latin America’s participation in the IT field. As president of Softtek, which TreviĂąo co-founded in 1982, she positioned the company as a key part of Mexico’s opening its doors to the United States as a provider of IT services. This shaped what is known today as Near ShoreÂŽ, Softtek’s trademarked delivery model, and a term widely used in the industry to define outsourcing services provided by countries within close proximity. “I may have one of the most rewarding and humbling jobs in the world. Being inducted to IAOP’s Hall of Fame is obviously a great, great honor,â€? said TreviĂąo. “This is not an individual achievement. Unfortunately, we cannot have all my 6,000 Softtek colleagues and hundreds of clients accepting this recognition. It is through their hard work and trust that we have made great strides in maturing the IT outsourcing industry in Latin America.â€? TreviĂąo is identified by several media publications as one of the most influential executives in Mexico and Latin America. She has been on the Board of Directors for Walmart Mexico since 2006, has participated in forums at the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, Kellogg School of Management, Harvard Business School and London Business School. She has been an involved supporter of many charities throughout Mexico and served as a board member for several universities and nonprofit organizations. TreviĂąo is a frequent presenter in national and international forums related to entrepreneurialism, information technology and the role of women in business. “The Outsourcing Hall of Fame recognizes the very best professionals in the outsourcing industry whose outsourcing management practice and leadership has significantly contributed to business and society at large,â€? said IAOP Chairman Michael Corbett, “I am pleased to welcome Blanca TreviĂąo, the first female to be honored, into the Outsourcing Hall of Fame.â€?
WHAT’S HAPPENING AT THE IAOP
CORPORATE & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COP MASTER SCHEDULE
CLASS
&
GOVERNANCE
WORKSHOP
The COP Master Class is a great option for earning up to half (75 points) of the Knowledge and Training points needed for COP certification, and fully completes the required training for the aCOP designation. Completing the one day Governance Workshop is worth another 15 COP Certification points. IAOP is actively registering now for the following classes: t JUNE 27-30, 2011: KINGBRIDGE CONFERENCE CENTRE, TORONTO, CANADA (ACT NOW, FILLING QUICKLY!)
Human Resource departments may now endorse various IAOP certifications by partnering in our new IAOP Certification Enabled (ICE) designation that would enable leading outsourcing service provider, customer and advisory companies to highlight their adoption of international best practices in hiring their workforce by endorsing IAOP certifications. This designation can help differentiate participating companies in the marketplace, and help promote awareness of the certification programs and encourage adoption across the industry. Find out how to engage this program with your hiring practices at www.IAOP.org/Content/23/193/3116 Executives interested in bringing the COP program division- or company-wide are invited to contact your account executive or email: sales@iaop.org.
t SEPTEMBER 19-22: INVERNESS HOTEL & CONFERENCE CENTER, DENVER, CO t OCTOBER 19-21, 2011: HARBOUR PLAZA METROPOLIS, HONG KONG t NOVEMBER 21-24, 2011: KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA
Please visit www.IAOP.org/training_calendar for a full list of classes and current discounts and specials. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES AVAILABLE!
No matter what industry you are in, IAOP has resources available for all outsourcing professionals. For the latest titles from IAOP, ITSqc and others please visit www.iaopbookshop.com, and get 15% off of any title you order. Also new from IAOP are titles from the American Bar Association found at www.ababooks.org/ affiliate/iaop. CORPORATE PROGRAMS
IAOP’s private master class calendar is filling up with Corporate Companies taking advantage of educating their employees inhouse! With the dramatic cost savings, there is no better time than now to use up your training budget. Host an in-house class for between 10 and 25 employees, partners and customers and save on time and travel. Classroom training will be delivered by an IAOP Authorized Trainer at your facility with each student who successfully completes the COP Master Class provided with a Certificate of Completion noting that they have earned 75 points toward the COP designation and fulfilled the aCOP training requirement.
TEST YOUR OUTSOURCING PROFESSIONAL SKILLS (GET A FREE GIFT IN THE PROCESS)
Are you prepared to successfully manage outsourcing initiatives? Do you have the knowledge and experience needed to the industries most elite Certified Outsourcing Professionals? Begin your journey to earning one of IAOPs most distinguished designations by testing your outsourcing professional skills with IAOPs 10 question quiz. (please download it here: http://www.iaop.org/Download/Default.aspx?ID=1595 Once you have completed the quiz email it to copprogramservices@ iaop.org for your results. Those who submit the quiz will receive a complimentary electronic sample Outsourcing Professional Body of Knowledge (OPBOK) print version from IAOP partner Van Haren Publishing. IAOP’s Corporate Development programs address the growing need for organizational-wide outsourcing expertise through standards covering the end-to-end outsourcing process and training and certification programs to enhance the skills and abilities of the individuals who design, build, implement and manage outsourcing initiatives as well as those who are skilled in the delivery of outsourced services. Training and certification through IAOP reflects the highest industry standards and achievement criteria, and are the de facto programs recognized by customers, providers and advisors of outsourcing services. For more information on any of IAOP’s programs and services, email: info@iaop.org.
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Outsourcing Professionals around the World Gather for Learning and Networking Nearly 400 outsourcing professionals convened in Cartagena, Colombia during the last week of May to kick off the first-ever 2011 Latin American Outsourcing Summit, hosted by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals® (IAOP®) and ANDI, the National Business Association of Colombia. Leaders from across the Latin American business community along with IAOP’s thought leadership and global network joined to better understand and leverage the explosion of outsourcing taking place across the region, including Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru. “Colombia has access to innovation like never before,” President Juan Manuel Santos said in a video statement which opened the event and showing the government’s support of the industry. “Outsourcing is proving to be most important in providing businesses with a high level of flexibility,” said IAOP Chairman Michael Corbett. “Outsourcing providers need to be able to provide their customers with the ability to enter into flexible relationships.” Corbett shared results from the 2011 Outsourcing World Summit Survey that showed 97 percent of respondents globally are outsourcing the same or more and the top 200 companies in outsourcing generated some 4 million jobs. “The Great Recession has in fact been good for the global economy,” Corbett noted. Organizations such as Accenture; Bancolombia; Baker & McKenzie; Capgemini; CB Richard Ellis; Colliers International; Colombia’s Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism; Heineken; ITSqc; Johnson & Johnson; Matryzel Consulting; Nearshore Americas; neoGroup; Morrison & Foerster; PwC; SABMiller; Softtek; Teleperformance; Zona Franca Bogota; and many others participated.
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Outsourcing Professional Certification FrameworkTM (OPCF) The OPCF is designed to address the needs of individuals who work across the global outsourcing industry from entry level positions focused on the delivery of outsourced services through to senior executives leading global outsourcing programs at customer, provider, and advisor organizations. At each stage in an individual’s career there is an opportunity for both professional development and professional recognition. The OPCF is made up of three families of certifications:
Certified Outsourcing ExecutiveTM (COE) Certified Outsourcing Professional® (COP) Certified Outsourcing SpecialistTM (COS)
BENEFITS OF CERTIFICATION Certification establishes a level of professional recognition essential in a field as complex and risk-based as outsourcing. When working together across the customer-provider relationship, certification brings a common framework for success that benefits both organizations involved. Certified individuals command greater respect within the industry and their companies, higher compensation levels, and expanded and enhanced career opportunities.
*
I’M A COP
*Expect better, more consistent results with me.
Training programs are available at the individual and corporate level. For more information, visit
www.IAOP.org/OPCF.
ADVERTISER INDEX PAGE #
COMPANY NAME
URL
16, 17
Accenture
www.accenture.com
28
BCS
www.bcs.org/opportunity
4
BeyondCore
www.beyondcore.com
0, 2, 39
International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP)
www.IAOP.org
22, 23
Kelly Outsourcing & Consulting Group (KellyOCG)
www.kellyocg.com