Friday, July 29, 2005

Wipro quarterly profit rises 31 percent on outsourcing

From: silicon

India's third-largest software exporter Wipro Ltd. said Friday its profit jumped 31 percent to $98.1 million in the April-June quarter mainly because of outsourcing by Western corporations.Revenue grew 29 percent to $525.5 million, including $397.3 million from outsourcing, company results under the U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles showed.
In April-June 2004, profit was $74.8 million and revenue totaled $406.7 million.Western outsourcing was expected to contribute $422 million in revenue in the July-September quarter. The company also said rising costs and temporary restructuring expenses led to shrinking of gross profit margin to 33.16 percent of revenues from 35.65 percent a year earlier. To reorganize its call center business and diversify into other back-office services, Wipro is spending more money on recruitment, training and marketing.Wipro runs a separate division to provide outsourced services to Asian companies, and is also engaged in consumer care products, lighting and computer hardware.Wipro hired 2,097 software professionals during the latest quarter, for a total staff of 41,911. It also received 29 new clients.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 Technology Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

Software outsourcing and its future

From: free-press-release

A report by research and consulting firm Forrester Research mentions that, jobs which are lost in United States because of software outsourcing are primarily low salary IT jobs. These jobs are like software programming or computer support specialists or computer operators. But on the other hand, high end high paying jobs like system analysts, network analysts and research analysts have seen continuous and stronger growth. Jobs in this niche market is growing steadily at the rate of 4 to 5% every year. These jobs which require stronger domain knowledge and knowledge of internal working of IT systems and business process are difficult to software outsource.Jobs not affected by software outsourcing
Jobs for software engineers for the position of system analysis and application development implementation are also growing at the rate of 6% a year. This is because, though software outsourcing can be done to India or other offshore software development locations, customers require in-house staff for customization and maintenance of purchased software. Software outsourcing decreasing?

Report also mention that, attraction of cost saving in software outsourcing is yet very high and because of that, increase in jobs like software programmer will be very minimal. Also, because of very low increase in software programming jobs, salary rise will also hardly 1% in next few years. Salary of computer operators and database administrators will also grow at barely 1% rate. On the other hand, report also mentions about jobs which will have highest salary rise. Salaries of computer research scientists and information system managers will have highest growth which will be around 3.5% every year. While salaries of analysts and system administrators will grow at the rate of 2 to 3% every year.


For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 Technology Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

How to keep data safe while outsourcing offshore


From: computerworld

As U.S. businesses, policy-makers and security experts work to stem the tide of data thefts, an equal or greater vulnerability lurks overseas -- the level of network and physical security at outsourced operations of U.S. corporations.
Cheap labor and increased efficiencies continue to drive major U.S. companies to open and expand offshore operations throughout India, Southeast Asia and Europe. India's National Association of Software and Service Companies reported recently that India's outsourcing industry is creating jobs at the rate of nearly 100,000 a year, and its revenue is growing at more than 40% annually. Analyst firm Gartner Inc. estimates that global spending on offshore outsourcing services will top $50 billion by 2007.
Many of these outsourced operations involve handling and processing customer transactions and sensitive personal information, exposing outsourcing facilities to the same risk of data theft occurring domestically. As U.S. companies increase operations abroad, many aren't ramping up IT or physical security measures at these locations to manage that growth.
In order to prevent data breaches on the magnitude of what has occurred in the U.S., companies must implement strategies to ensure that the same security standards that they place on their corporate data are being required of companies they partner with across the globe to process their customers' financial and personal information.
Several factors magnify the risk of data thefts occurring at outsourcing locations. First, when it comes to outsourcing, U.S. privacy legislation is quite lax relative to European Union regulations. Here, U.S. privacy protections effectively end at the border, placing the onus squarely on the shoulders of the U.S. company if a data breach occurs offshore.
At the outsourcing facility, the following should be done:
Encrypt all data in storage and in transit.
Physical security controls should be in place to mitigate the risk of data leaving the facility via magnetic or optical media, recording devices, cameras and hard copies.
Ensure that sending any data in or out is monitored or even prevented for e-mail, Web mail, FTP, and data- and file-transfer Web sites (by controlling Web site access). Only essential
Internet communications should be allowed.
At the desktop, prevent any unauthorized data from entering or leaving the network via Universal Serial Bus (such as USB sticks) and FireWire devices (such as iPods), CD, DVD, floppy drive, SCSI, parallel or any of the other ports.
Each employee should be vetted for criminal records and credit history to see if he poses a high security risk. Simply put, if you can't manage your own finances, you shouldn't be entrusted to manage the financial records of others.
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and unless companies shore up security at outsourcing locations, operations across the entire company will be put at risk.
For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 Technology Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

Outsourcing continues to Grow

RICK ROTHACKER ,Staff Writer of Charlotte.com writes that "Outsourcing is still growing ".He proved his statement by giving evidences from following studies:
More than half of financial services companies outsource part of their operations, while 26 percent more plan to do so in the next three years, according to a new survey. Only one in five doesn't plan to outsource.
The study, the latest evidence of a growing financial industry movement, also found 20 percent of companies send work overseas, while a quarter plan to in the next three years. Overseas outsourcing, or offshoring, has raised growing concerns about the loss of U.S. white-collar jobs.
In the study released last week, Electronic Data Systems Corp. and The Economist Group, publisher of The Economist magazine, surveyed 300 industry executives worldwide. Plano, Texas-based EDS provides outsourcing and offshoring services to financial and other companies.
Charlotte, the nation's No. 2 banking center, is especially vulnerable to offshoring job losses because financial services is the heaviest user of foreign outsourcing.
Wachovia Corp. last month said it plans to cut an undisclosed number of jobs by sending technology work to India, starting this year. The move is part of a broader effort to trim annual expenses by $1 billion by 2007. Bank of America Corp. has expanded an Indian subsidiary.
By financial industry segment, retail banking was the most active user of outsourcing at 63 percent, according to the survey. Investment banking was among the least likely at 48 percent, but 38 percent of respondents planned to outsource in the next three years.
The most important factor in outsourcing? Costs, according to the survey.
300 Executives Surveyed
Here are the results of an EDS survey asking financial services companies whether they outsource or plan to.
• 52 percent: Currently outsource.
• 14 percent: Plan to in the next year.
• 12 percent: Plan to in the next three years.
• 21 percent: No plans.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 Technology Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

Thursday, July 28, 2005

Beyond Banglore: Outsourcing trends


From:google news

Few I.T. industry trends have been as controversial as offshore outsourcing. By not only offloading their I.T. functions to third parties, but also turning to remote low-cost outsourcers to gain the greatest savings, corporations worldwide have accepted the notion that many aspects of I.T. are merely commodities despite the business risks associated with outsourcing.
While few firms are equipped to handle all of their I.T. functions on their own, all companies should be cautious about a new round of opportunistic outsourcers trying to win a piece of the market with increasingly offbeat business models.
Many corporations are so desperate to reduce expenses that the idea of using almost any means to cut I.T. costs has become plausible -- despite the fact that even the most conservative forms of I.T. outsourcing can be fraught with problems.
This is because many outsourcers impose strict policies that discourage end users from submitting desktop support requests and force them to try to fix their own problems.
There is no question that outsourcing is a good idea for many firms that need to reduce operating costs and improve I.T. operations.
However, many companies will be hurt by hastily following the herd down the outsourcing path without thoroughly evaluating the growing array of new outsourcing providers.
Given that various research reports contend more than half of traditional outsourcing agreements to date have been terminated or substantially restructured because they failed to meet their original business objectives, firms shouldn't plunge into new outsourcing arrangements without carefully examining the latest market entrants.
As the labor costs of established offshore outsourcers in India and elsewhere escalate, many are searching for lower-cost locations and trying to create less-expensive service delivery methods to remain competitive.
Unfortunately, the new offshore locations tend to be even more remote with fewer skilled workers.
While some offshore outsourcers offer valuable I.T. skills and services, companies shouldn't entrust any part of their I.T. operations to outsourcers with short-term success strategies based on untested delivery schemes or transient, uncommitted workers.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

key benefits of outsourcing from India

From: e-isn
Some of the key benefits of outsourcing from India are:

Access to leading practices: external service providers give companies access to an extensive, highly specialized knowledge base--which providers must improve continuously to stay in business.
Clearer strategic focus: allows managers to focus on core competencies and strategic issues rather than on routine, time-consuming activities
Better resource allocation: can help shift the traditional focus from transactional activities and reporting to the delivery of forward-looking information and value-added business analysis.
Improving service quality and productivity --reduce response time, deploy solutions faster and improve system availability.
Improve performance--maximize the performance of an organization's enterprise client/server computing environment through the use of the latest technology and an outsourcer's performance management tools and expertise
Achieving cost effectiveness as well as cost Reductions
Significant cost savings, up to 80% in certain cases.
While it can be quite difficult to recruit the expected competence in Western countries, it is a completely different scenario in India, where there are lots of available programmers with a good academic background.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company

Titan Technology lands outsourcing contract

From: biz yahoo

Titan Technology Partners has been awarded an outsourcing contract with MCI Inc. that is valued at $20 million over the next five years.
The contract was the result of a joint effort by MCI and Titan Technology to provide information-technology services to Danka Business Systems plc
Under the agreement, Titan Technology will provide Danka with application management and support as well as development work.
As Danka's primary technology provider, MCI will manage all of Danka's core network services.
Danka, a British company whose U.S. headquarters is in St. Petersburg, Fla., markets office-imaging equipment and related services in the United States and Europe.
Under terms of the contract, Danka will move more than 60 employees to Ashburn, Va.-based MCI and its application support provider, Charlotte-based Titan Technology.
Titan Technology markets information technology consulting and outsourcing. The company has completed more than 1,500 projects for 350 clients in the United States and abroad. The company, founded in 1998, had revenue of $12 million last year.
For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Software outsourcing to India


From: i-Newswire

India has quickly become the benchmark for offshore software development. Every year, national association of software service companies (Nasscom) hosts a conference in UK. Motive of this conference is to bring more UK organizations to outsource their software development and IT enabled service business to India - outsourcing to India.There are many British companies like British Telecom and banks like HSBC and Standard Charted who heavily rely on outsourcing to India. This outsourcing to India saves above 50% of the cost according to many analysts. Analyst also predicts that, soon one Indian IT company will be among the top five technology companies in the world. Currently outsourcing to India is $10 billion and out of that, 2 billion businesses is from Europe. This is growing at the rate of 30% and according to Mr. Karnik, president of Nasscom, by 2008, Indian export earning will be $50 billion and total revenue will jump to 87 billion dollars. IT outsourcing and software industry is accounting for 25% of all exports for India and massive 8% of the total GDP. But it is employing just 0.25% of the total population only. With this massive demand in software outsourcing to India, India is providing 500,000 new IT and engineering graduates every year to meet the demand.Many other countries have entered in the software outsourcing band wagon like china, Russia and eastern European countries. But India is far ahead in this race. China has chance of developing a competitive offering but it will take few years.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

Outsourcing: Mixed results for Indian giants


From: australianit

SATYAM Computer's first-quarter net profit rose 16 per cent. The company won more clients as the outsourcing boom continued. The figure fell short of forecasts for India's fourth-largest software exporter. Net profit rose to 1.9 billion rupees ($57.5 million) for the three months to June, from R1.64 billion a year earlier, as revenue increased by 35.7 per cent to R10.6 billion. Shares of New York-listed Satyam Computer Services rose 1.41 per cent to R511.50 on the Mumbai stock exchange after the company revised its earnings upward. Revenue will increase by about 30 per cent to R45.3-R45.6 billion for the year, rather than by the previously estimated 28 per cent "in the light of better than expected performance in the first quarter. Net profit for the fourth quarter to March was R2.06 billion.
India's second-largest software firm, Infosys, kicked off the earnings season the week before with a disappointing first-quarter net profit of R5.32 billion. While up 37 per cent from a year earlier, it was below analysts' forecasts of R5.41 billion, prompting a stock sell-off. Infosys says earnings were hit by rising salaries.
However, India's top software exporter, Tata Consultancy Services, pleased the market with a first-quarter net profit rise of 22.59 per cent to R6.1 billion, as its international business grew by more than 5 per cent.
For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company

Monday, July 25, 2005

Benefits of outsourcing to India

From:datamouth

The benefits of Outsourcing to Americans show that the Consumers are provided with the services they demand, at lower prices. As many businesses themselves purchase services, their lower costs will result in savings that can be passed on to consumers. If a capable radiologist in India can read x-ray pictures at a quarter of the cost of doing so domestically, important health- care services can be delivered at lower cost to everyone, putting a brake on exploding medical costs.U.S. exporters of goods and services are benefited from the extra income generated abroad. The outsourcing of services to India counts in the U.S. balance of payments as an import of services. If we are going to start importing large amounts of such services, these imports must be paid for by exports of something. The dollars being spent by firms to purchase these services will come back to the U.S. either in the form of demand for U.S. goods (our exports to India) or foreign investment in the U.S. As McKinsey has noted, "[service] providers in low-wage countries require U.S. computers, telecommunications equipment, other hardware and software. In addition, they also procure legal, financial, and marketing services from the U.S."

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 technology Inc, an offshore outsourcing company

Revisiting India’s outsourcing boom

From: cpim

OFFSHORING, or the outsourcing of services by developed country firms to captive units or independent suppliers in developing countries has for some time now been a source for controversy in the developed countries, especially the US. Arguments that such offshoring involves not just the transfer abroad of new job opportunities that would have arisen in the developed countries, but the loss of existing jobs in the US to offshore locations abound. They derive their strength from reports that specific corporations have been reducing or plan to reduce their workforce in developed-country locations, even while expanding them in developing countries such as India. In the event, calls for protectionist responses that limit and roll-back the offshoring of services have increased dominate the US debate. On the other hand, firms clamouring to retain their tax holidays despite booming profits present outsourcing as the route to India’s economic salvation.

The recently released Annual Trade Report of the WTO provides an occasion to revisit these arguments, because a special chapter in the report focuses on offshoring of IT services and argues that: (i) the extent of net offshoring is exaggerated; and (ii) that to the extent that offshoring occurs its negative effects on the source country and positive benefits for the host country have also both been exaggerated.

BENEFITS EXAGGERATED
The WTO’s argument begins with pointing to the extremely shaky and predominantly private sector generated database on the phenomenon. In some cases as in India, even official information as available in the balance of payments statistics is collected and collated by a private body --- in this case the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM).

While recognising the private nature of the sources of these statistics, the WTO, for lack of an alternative, places IT and software expenditure worldwide in the order of 650 to 710 billion dollar in 2003. Total outsourced IT services (excluding software) are paced at around 285 billion dollar. Offshored IT and BP services are estimated to have been in the order of 40 to 45 billion dollar in 2003. This places offshored IT and BP services at just 2.5 per cent of world commercial services exports, valued at 1,800 billion dollar and at a meagre 0.125 per cent of world GDP valued at 36,000 billion dollar. No one can claim that this is enough to disrupt economic activity and employment in the developed countries.

The point is that even of this, the share offshored to captive units is quite substantial according to available estimates. According to the WTO: “Many surveys confirm that at present, most offshoring takes the form of captive offshoring. This view is supported by data on US IT services imports. In 2003, affiliated trade (or form US subsidiaries or joint ventures abroad) accounted for 63 per cent of US computer and information services imports, and for 77 per cent of US imports of other business, professional and technical services, a proxy for business process services.”

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 technology Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Software outsourcing and India

From: webnewswire

Studies show that, there are two main criteria which should be considered while choosing any offshore outsourcing provider. One is local attractiveness of software outsourcing industry and second is the capability of workers. In India, software industry is the high paying industry and that itself makes it most attractive industry. While offshore outsourcing was started in way back 90's, it has grown and matured now to provide quality software development as per any standards. And Indian companies are very much interested in maintaining their quality. Highest numbers of CMM Level 5 companies are in India at present. On the other hand, other countries are not matching above criteria.Majority of fortune 500 companies are considering India as their preferred destination for software outsourcing. India has emerged as a 'value-for-money' destination that has both cost advantage and quality that matches the expectation of global multinational companies. Indian universities are producing above 3 million graduates and around 300,000 post graduates every year. Software outsourcing industry is the highest paying industry in India. So large percentage of these students choose offshore software development company as their destination. But India is not just about number of graduates. Every CEO or CIO wants maximum return on his investment and reduce the cost. So more and more companies in developed countries are sending their software development requirements to low cost software outsourcing companies in India. Advantage India has achieved in software outsourcing is not overnight. Offshore Outsourcing has grown and matured with time. In 90's, companies like GE, Citibank and British Airways started outsourcing to India and till then it has gone through many phases to compete with the best. After Initial phase, companies like Nortel and Lucent started to outsource product development to speed it up and market faster. During this time, Indian majors like Wipro and Infosys also started. In the second phase Y2K bug gave lot of work to Indian companies and gave them enough finance to grow. And with that, they started in service provider section as well as in enterprise application development. Next wave was of BPO Industry which is till going on and supply is not meeting the demand. And along with these, software outsourcing is increasing continuously. According to McKinsey, software outsourcing will increase 30-40% every year for next five years. According to Forrester research, around 3.3 million white collar jobs will be outsourced by 2015. And according to Deloitte research, two million financial sector jobs will be outsourced by 2009. And major chunk of this software outsourcing and other jobs are coming to India.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

A Comprehensive Survey of Offshore Outsourcing

From: tmcnet

It’s no secret that offshore outsourcing is a hot topic now.
A recently released report issued by research and consulting firm Ventoro does an excellent job of cutting through the miasma. The company’s 2005 Offshore Outsourcing Report is the result of a survey of more than 5,231 executives in North America and Europe who were considered prime buyers of outsourced services originating from offshore (3,139 in the U.S.).Currently, only 19 percent of all companies in the U.S. and Europe are engaging in offshore outsourcing, a number much lower than the public’s perception. However, when looking at the Fortune 1000, this number jumps to a rather staggering 95 percent. Some notable findings from the study:
• Offshore outsourcing ventures seldom fail because of a single factor; more often than not it’s a combination of issues.
• Of those companies with existing offshore strategies, 72 percent planned to increase their spending on offshore. Only 10 percent of companies were planning to decrease their spending.
• For companies that chose not to move business offshore, they indicated it was primarily because of perceived security issues and quality.
• Aggregate estimates of cost savings realized because of the offshore model were calculated between 10 and 19 percent, depending on different factors. These numbers are significantly lower than the numbers that had been expected by the organizations following offshore strategies.
• The report indicates that when offshore outsourcing is done properly, a realistic cost savings rate of about 30 percent is a reasonable expectation.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Offshore Outsourcing: unraveling the puzzle

From: hindubusinessline

OFFSHORING, or the outsourcing of services by developed country firms to captive units or independent suppliers in developing countries, has for some time now been a source for controversy in the developed countries, especially the US. Arguments that such offshoring involves not just the transfer abroad of new job opportunities that would have arisen in the developed countries, but the loss of existing jobs in the US to offshore locations abound.
They derive their strength from reports that specific corporations have been reducing or plan to reduce their workforce in developed-country locations, even while expanding them in developing countries such as India. In the event, calls for protectionist responses that limit and rollback the offshoring of services have increased.
WTO has decided to come out on the issue which argues that: i) the extent of net offshoring is exaggerated; and ii) to the extent that offshoring occurs, its negative effects on the source country and positive benefits for the host country have both been exaggerated.
The WTO's argument is built on an effort to examine that the principal data sources are private, with official information being primarily restricted to that which can be gleaned from input-output tables and balance of payments statistics.
Second, there are significant discrepancies in the evidence available from different sources, whether they be private or public. And, third, in some cases as in India, even official information as available in the balance of payments statistics is collected and collated by a private body — in this case the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom).

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

Monday, July 18, 2005

Power of Offshore Outsourcing

Offshore Software development is a powerful way to deliver quality software solutions rapidly and with high flexibility, while at the same time making minimal demands on your internal IT resources.
The impact of outsourcing on your software development process includes:
Rapid implementation—no special software or hardware required
Minimal up-front investment and lower total cost of ownership
Faster speed to results
On-demand service with pay-as-you-go pricing
Expert software developers, technical support, and marketing specialists are only a phone call away
No internal resources needed to implement, maintain, and support
24x7 hours customer service

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

To win at offshoring: Start slow, be deliberate

From: networkworld

Outsourcing applications development work is not nearly as easy as people think. It takes a lot of iterations and a lot of pain to get to the point where you do it well. A more systematic approach that could be followed is, researching offshore service providers on the Web and sending out requests for proposals to companies.
Built up a stable working relationship with several providers. Technology also plays a part helping the two sides brainstorm.
For companies, there are often many advantages to outsourcing, including possible reduction in cost, improved efficiency, and the additional of outside expertise that a company may not have, or be able to build, internally. Outsourcing things like IT to foreign locations, although often criticized in the media, often allows the company to save significant costs that can then be reinvested in other areas like sales and marketing - often creating new jobs. There can also be disadvantages to outsourcing, including the creation of possible communication problems, loss of direct knowledge within a company, and difficulties managing the outsourcing process. As always, if you are considering outsourcing for your company, be sure to research the various outsourcing vendors available to make sure you find one that fits your needs.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Ecnomic benefits of outsourcing

From: mackinac

Outsourcing itself is nothing new. U.S. companies and governments have been outsourcing domestically for decades by contracting out such services as payroll, database management, and janitorial services. The new twist has been the recent increase in foreign outsourcing, or offshoring, in which companies buy services from foreign-based providers. Foreign outsourcing has been made increasingly cost-effective because of the personal computer, which has digitized much of our work, and high-speed and deregulated transmission of that information through broadband and the Internet. Informational technology (IT) companies are increasingly outsourcing routine programming, data entry, and system monitoring. Call centers are shifting more of those thankless jobs abroad.
Foreign outsourcing almost certainly benefits the U.S. economy in the short run as well as the long run. Like more conventional forms of trade, foreign outsourcing allows U.S. companies to dramatically cut the cost of certain information technology services. As a result, U.S. companies become more competitive in what they do best, their “core competencies.” Better and more affordable services become available for consumers and taxpayers. Outsourcing allows companies to operate on an around-the-clock, “24/7” production cycle, further adding to productivity. Outsourcing is even making possible work that simply wouldn’t exist otherwise, such as chasing down delinquent accounts receivable that were thought to be beyond collection.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and offshore software outsourcing, contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

Outsourcing Is a Win-Win Arrangement

From: mackinac

Outsourcing, like trade in general, is reshaping the world in favorable ways beyond our borders. In a classic win-win from trade, outsourcing invigorates the U.S. economy at the same time it builds a pro-American middle class in India and other developing countries. The Indian high-tech sector is flourishing because that nation has ad-opted the U.S. model of zero tariffs on imported software and hardware, no restrictions on foreign investment, and an emphasis on post-secondary education.
While most of the jobs outsourced from the United States are on the lower end of the pay and status scales in the United States, they are among the best jobs avail-able in Indian and other developing countries. In such cities as Bangalore, Calcutta, and New Delhi, hundreds of thousands of young Indian college graduates, men and women alike, are realizing the fruits of middle-class life that we take for granted. Although the $6,000 paid to an Indian programmer sounds ridiculously low in American terms, it can buy about five times as much in India because of lower domestic prices, enabling Indian programmers to rent their own apartments, own cell phones, make car payments, and travel abroad.
As the United States seeks to win friends and influence events in South Asia and elsewhere, it would be hard to find a more naturally pro-American enclave than the Indian high-tech sector. It would be terribly short sighted to disrupt our growing, mutually beneficial trade and security relationship with the world’s most populous democracy to save a relatively small number of jobs that are not among the more well-paying in the Untied States.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and offshore software outsourcing, contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

Tuesday, July 12, 2005

Outsourcing Trade-offs: Avoiding the Pitfalls

From: compliancepipeline

Many may wonder whether outsourcing will ultimately increase, rather than decrease, complexity and cost. If planned and executed correctly, outsourcing certainly can make compliance easier and less expensive. But there are many pitfalls that those responsible for managing service providers must avoid.
Companies that outsource business processes—such as accounting, finance, and HR—need to verify that their service providers are maintaining adequate and effective internal controls over the processes entrusted to them. CEOs and CFOs are responsible for ensuring that internal controls in outsourced activities—even those moved offshore—have been documented and tested each year. Failing to do so may land them in jail. If those internal controls aren't found to be effective, the CEO and CFO have to expose these problems in corporate Securities and Exchange Commission filings, which may cause investors to lose confidence and lead to plummeting stock prices.
None of this is merely theoretical. Earlier this year, problems in achieving regulatory compliance surfaced. Bay View Capital Corp., when outsourcing its auto installment-loan process, found that two service providers couldn't offer an SAS 70 Type II audit report covering their operations. And Churchill Downs, the operator of the Kentucky Derby, couldn't obtain an SAS 70 Type II report covering the service providers that processed its pari-mutuel gambling activities. Also, Iomega Corp., maker of zip drives and other backup devices, had trouble obtaining an SAS 70 Type II report from its third-party distribution-and-logistics service provider. Both the CEO and CFO had to state that there were material weaknesses in the internal controls performed by their service providers, for which they were accountable.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

Benifits of IT Outsourcing.

Offshore Outsourcing in today's world is seen as a strategic management option rather than just a way to cut costs. It helps achieve the companies their business objectives through operational excellence and an edge in the market place. Every company today, has one or more of its services outsourced so that it can focus more on its core competencies. Outsourcing's emerging power as a business tool of unique versatility and flexibility is undoubted.

Resources of the companies need to be focused on core business functions so the non-core functions need to be outsourced. gives you the right combination of people, processes and technology to operate effectively in the Global market place without burdening your time and budget.This is the reason why more and more companies are showing intrest in outsourcing there activities to various offshore locations.India is certainly one of the prefered destinations for orgnizations world over.

Companies outsource in order to achieve the following benefits:
  • Financial Savings
  • Technical Abilities.
  • Market Agility.

Say for example most IT companies nowadays outsource their Human Resource procurement through placement agencies that help them to procure the right skilled people rather than the companies themselves looking in for suitable manpower in the market. These Placement Agencies who possess the core competence in the field of Human Resource Management justifies the company's decision to go up with the Human Resource they offer vis-a-vis the work expected out of it.

The benefits gained by the client on a short-term basis would be:
  • Ability to focus resources and attention on core business initiatives.
  • Reduction in headcount and attrition rates in the outsourced function.
  • Re-skilling of remaining staff with better and more marketable skills.
  • Refinement of project management, risk management, and service delivery skills.
  • Implementation of demand management and service delivery disciplines.
  • Optimization of systems management and support processes.
  • Access as needed to specialized resources.

Typical long-term benefits include:

Predictable results-based expense for the outsourced function over the life of an outsourcing agreement.
  • Joint and proactive problem solving and innovation.
  • Superior management of the business application portfolio.
  • Enhanced career opportunities for client staff, based on sophisticated.
  • Management, contracting, and outsourcing integration skills.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development
and software development outsourcing contact A-1 Technology, Inc,
an offshore outsourcing company

source:offshoreitoutsourcing.com

The 10 Most Powerful Words in Offshore IT Outsourcing

Below are outlined ten principles which, when fully understood, would help facilitate a solid and beneficial relationship with an outsourcing provider:


Facility Management
Outsourcing
Out-tasking
Downsizing
Rightsizing
Core business
One-stop shopping
Value added
Process re-engineering
Internal Customers

1. Facility Management.
With the complexities involved in maintaining the ever-changing office environment common to many corporations today, facility management is becoming more than a one-person job. Many corporations are turning to outsourcing facility management functions that involves maintainin and managing facility, furniture, and technology changes. Facility management outsourcing can be a cost-effective way for corporations to ensure the management of these assets is done accurately. A Facilities Consultant or Design Consultant would have the furniture and technology expertise to develop a long-term program to successfully and consistently handle asset management. By outsourcing this facility management function to an experienced consultant, a company could take advantage of an advanced CAFM (Computer Aided Facility Management) program designed to meet its individual needs. In developing a CAFM program, a database is created with furniture, IS and telecommunications attributes built in. This database can then be linked directly to the building space plan, making asset management very precise and therefore productive. In searching for a consultant to to outsource facility management, a corporation should choose a company that is also experienced in space planning, ergonomics training & project management. The benefits of facility management outsourcing can then be maximized.


2. Outsourcing.
The Webster's Universal Dictionary meaning of "Outsourcing" is: "A company or person that provides information; to find a supplier or service, to identify a source". In lay man’s language it is a pure contracting transaction whereby one company purchases services from another while retaining ownership and responsibility for the underlying processes; the clients tells the provider what they want and how they want the work performed. Here the client authorizes the provider not only to own and operate, but also redesign underlying processes, to reap even greater cost and efficiency benefits. Accordingly, moving along the continuum from client to provider control of non-core processes can create distinctive value, especially in a trusting, long-term relationship.


3. Out-tasking.
Out-tasking is an emerging concept. It precodely defines the boundaries necessary to explain to a work force that it is being evaluated for possible outsourcing. With the uncertainty of today's business climate, facility managers are reluctant to discuss an outsourcing possibility until the certainty of the benefits is conclusive. At that time, the concept of out-tasking seems to make the explanation easier and is restrictive enough to help employees understand the overall and final effects of out-tasking.
The following quote summarizes this concept:
"As the facility management industry evolved and the need to explain the overall effect of this concept on potential customers emerged, the term outsourcing was coined to narrow down the functions to be outsourced to an outsource provider. To further ease potential anxiety, the service industry again coined a word, out-tasking, to further define the area to be tasked to an outsource provider."


4. Downsizing.
This was a source of much anxiety to the employees of companies looking at complete outsourcing or out-tasking of specific functions. Many times the outsourcing provider would use the term 'downsizing' in front of employees in presentations to management in teams exploring outsourcing or out-tasking. Downsizing became synonymous with reduction in work force immediately after the implementation of outsourcing.


5. Rightsizing.
To alleviate some of the anxiety caused by downsizing, the outsourcing/out-tasking industry put its thinking cap on and developed a new concept called rightsizing. Many times, while performing an on-premises evaluation, the outsourcing provider found that the numbers of support personnel were at the same levels as they were when the total company population used to be much higher. To make a logical manpower recommendation to a management committee reviewing outsourcing or out-tasking, outsource providers started to use 'rightsizing' as the term that best described the proposed reduction in support personnel headcount . This concept is gaining increasing acceptance among facility managera. The benefit of outsourcing, out-tasking, and rightsizing is allowing an enterprise to do what it does best or to return to its core competency.


6. Core business.
The business community today is made up of large and small companies. The larger the entity, the need to diversify increases. As a company adds more division and acquisitions, it often recedes further from the business that made it successful. For example, it is not uncommon for a food company to own a transportation company or for a railroad to own a fertilizer company.
Today's ecomomy demands a lean and right-sized organization in order to generate profits and satisfy stockholders. To complement the needs of the business community and their efforts to peel off unprofitable segments, the facility management industry has directed the benefits of outsourcing and out-tasking to the concept of core business or core competency.
By outsourcing non-core specific functions to an outsourcing provider, the business entity then can go back to what they do best-their core business.
Getting the customer back to their core business has allowed the outsource/out-task industry to penetrate new market segments every year. In 1994, more than 40 market segments were represented by the outsource/out-task industry.


7. One-stop shopping.
The presence of multiple service providers in the outsourcing industry allow a potential customer to minimize the number of proposals necessary to make an outsourcing decision. In the last five years, both the number of multi-service providers and the number of business entities looking at outsourcing or out-tasking multiple functions have increased. Five years ago, if a company wanted to out-task two or three functions at the same time, the final solution would have been multiple outsource providers, each performing a single function. Today, one-stop shopping offers the potential customer a minimal number of proposals to read and allows multiple functions to be outsourced or out-tasked for a better price. The primary contractor will be the focal point to the facility manager, even if there are subcontractors supplying services.


8. Value addition.
With the advent of one-stop shopping, outsourcing and out-tasking customers were afforded a lower price. Rather than having multiple service providers performing singular functions with supervision in each segment, the one-stop shopping provider could offer all functions to be outsourced or out-tasked with one level of management. This created a concept called "value addition" or more value for less money.


9. Process re-engineering.
The savings to both the customer and outsourcing provider in any value-added scenario come from improved process procedures. By looking at each function and breaking down the number of steps per function, the service provider decreased the number of steps and increased productivity. Process re-engineering will become more popular in the facility management industry during the next five to ten years.


10. Internal Customers.
The first nine areas explored concerted work methdologies that aimed to support a very important group of people - the employees. As the Total Quality Management (TQM) concept has spread across corporate America, the employees have been reclassified as internal customers of services provided by both internal and external suppliers. In the case of the outsourcing industry, outsource providers are evolving as external suppliers of on-premise services to the internal customers, the employees of the outsourced or out-tasked company.



For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company

Source:Offshoreitoutsourcing.com

Monday, July 11, 2005

Global Outsourcing Survey Findings

From: cio news

DiamondCluster International released its third annual Global IT Outsourcing study earlier this week. The survey of 210 senior-level IT executives at global 1000 companies found that while they are increasingly dissatisfied with the service and results they’re getting from their outsourcing patners, particularly offshore companies, 74 percent plan to increase their use of IT outsourcing this year.
Companies’ satisfaction with offshore providers dropped to 62 percent this year from 79 percent last year. Another stat that indicated buyers’ dissatisfaction with outsourcing was the number of buyers who had terminated outsourcing agreements in the past 12 months: that number more than doubled from 21 percent last year to 51 percent this year.
As a result, 7 percent of the IT execs who responded to the survey indicated that they planned to decrease their onshore outsourcing and 5 percent planned to rein in their offshore outsourcing.
Also of note was the percentage of buyers who plan to outsource some IT functions to China in the next three to five years: that number jumped to 40 percent this year compared with just 8 percent last year.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company

Saturday, July 09, 2005

How offshoring of services could benefit france !

Compared to the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany, offshoring of services is still a nascent phenomenon in France. Nevertheless, the trend is creating waves of anxiety among white-collar workers who fear losing their jobs to lower-priced labor abroad and sparking protectionist sentiment.

MGI research has shown that offshoring has the potential to create wealth not only for offshore locations, but also for the countries that send the jobs. In the United States, MGI found that every dollar of corporate spending on back-office and IT services
like sofware development outsourcing and other type of offshore outsourcing, offshored to India generates more than $1.14 of new wealth for the U.S. economy.

But in Germany, every euro of spending on such jobs moved offshore returns on average less than €0.80 of value. France falls between the two. For every €1.00 of spending on corporate service jobs that is moved offshore, France earns back €0.86.

To capture more of the potential benefit from offshoring, France must focus on creating the jobs of tomorrow and increasing the flexibility of the labor market to help workers make the transition.

Source :Mckinsey

For the best offshore outsourcing services, software development outsourcing and offshore software development, contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company

U.S. Immigration and the Myth of Offshoring

If conventional wisdom holds, the immigration landscape will be transformed beyond recognition within a few short months as a panicked Congress takes a meat axe to the H-1B and L-1 visa categories. Spooked by blaring headlines, dramatic testimony and anecdotal evidence of visa abuse, the politicians will run up to the 2004 election cycle by trying to find someone to blame for the nation's economic ills. When they round up the usual list of suspects, immigrants will doubtless be at the head of the line. Congress will not wait for the conclusions of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology whose report on how America can maintain its high-tech leadership is due by year's end. Decisions on immigration policy will come before next spring when the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, will tell us what the impact of offshore outsourcing of technology jobs is on the domestic job market. The political imperative to do something now must and will prevail. Desperate to regain power, the Democrats will find immigration restriction a painless way to make themselves culturally acceptable. The Executive Council of the AFL-CIO has already adopted a resolution demanding that Congress act to "reform" the H-1B and L-1 while increasing federal regulation of employers who use them. What will this mean for the rest of us?

It is ironic that the hue and cry is loudest now when the numbers are heading south. As of March 2003, according to India's National Association of Software and Service Industries (NASSCOM), the number of H-1 visas issued to Indian IT professionals dropped from 77,000 in 2001 to 33,000 in 2002 while the 2003 level is expected to be in 30,000 neighborhood. Nearly 40,000 Indian H-1B visa holders went home over the past two years as the IT bubble burst in the United States. While 15,000 L1 intracompany transferees travelled from India to the United States, this is a fraction of the 315,000 L visas issued this past year. Before Congress slashes the H-1B rolls, perhaps they would want to consider the fact that 170 Indian IT companies employed nearly 60,000 people in the United States in 2001. These Indian H-1B engineers paid almost $ 500 million in income taxes, made a significant social security contribution, and purchased $1.2 billion in goods and services. Beyond this, take a look at the findings from a study just completed by the global consulting firm of McKinsey & Company. It is certainly true that India software and service exports to the United States in 2003-2004 are expected to be a hefty $8.5 billion. It is, however, also true, though not as frequently or loudly mentioned, that the savings to the U.S. economy by offshoring work to India over this same period is estimated at between $10 billion and $11 billion. When you factor in the Indian importation of $3 billion in American high tech imports, some of which will be used to write software for export, as well as the tax and social security contributions noted above, McKinsey concluded that the aggregate benefit to the Ameican economy from Indian offshoring to be a healthy $16.8 billion.

By 2010, through offshore Outsourcing , McKinsey predicts a net savings to the American economy of $390 billion. Free Trade creates direct and significant economic benefit in the United States. The Global Personnel Alliance reports that the L-1 visa program has created 1.5 million jobs in the United States as a result of international investment; 450,000 jobs in Georgia and California alone were created or kept alive by foreign investment. For every $1 in offshoring, America gets back $1.15. During the recent debates over ratification of the Singaporean and Chilean free trade agreements, the United Parcel Service, the nation's largest employer of Teamsters members, announced that international profits had soared more than 150% over the past quarter; UPS estimated that, for every 40 packages shipped overseas, it was able to create one additional ( usually unionized) US job. Teamster President James Hoffa Jr. warned that congressional Democrats who were tempted to oppose such trade pacts "ran the risk of paying a high price." The growing profitability of US companies boosts the economy, leads to fewer job reductions at home, and enables competitive employers to redeploy displaced workers to higher-value jobs. Such workers can receive traning under both the Workforce Investment Act and the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act. Given the depressed equity markets, maximizing profitabilty by cutting costs is no longer optional. A recent report by Deloitte Research sees offshoring as essential to financial survival. Absent such a strategy, the share price of any such unfortunate employer could be expected to fall off the table as analysts write off the stock. If US companies do not make IT offshoring part of their overall labor arbitrage planning, their competitors will undercut them. In the long run, such uncompetitive businesses will either be forced to close their doors or lay off more American workers. Rather than causing the loss of American jobs, offshoring is a mechanism to maintain levels of domestic hiring that would otherwise simply not be possible. US banks, insurance companies and financial service providers have saved $6 billion in the past 4 years by offshoring to India. During this same period, such savings made it possible for these same employers not only to avoid layoffs but actually add on 125,000 new jobs.

A classic example of why offshoring may not be the menace to American workers that it seems at first glance is the difference between the US automobile and steel industries. Detroit, which long ago embraced offshoring, remains the largest automobile industry in the world. The US automobile industry employs about 900,000 workers, roughly the same number as in 1974 and 1994. Employment in car-related sales and services has grown 20% from 2 million to 2.4 million over this same period. Operating from around the world, shunning the false promise of protectionism, the American automobile industry made the key strategic decision to invest in new equipment and ways of working. It is one of our most impressive success stories. By contrast, the US steel industry, which has stubbornly resisted offshoring and lobbied for tariffs, has endured a consistent decline. Steel production in America has plummeted from 145 million tons in 1974 to 99 million tons in 2001. Employment plunged from 610,000 in 1974 to 181,000 in 2001, despite subsidies, tariffs and quotas that totaled $30 billion since 1976. No US steel producer now ranks among the top ten. Not satisfied with the current level of protection, the U.S. steel industry now demands a 20% tariff as the price of its political support. A recent NASSCOM study reveals that such a tariff would save 9,000 steel producing jobs, but cost 74,000 steel consuming jobs- a loss of 8 jobs for every steel job retained. It is not so easy these days to tell the players without a scorecard. For decades, Ford has built cars in Spain and England while General Motors has done the same in Germany. Are these American or European cars? What about the car that Toyota manufactures in Kentucky or the one that Honda builds in Ohio? Japanese or American ? While the loss of jobs is certainly an important way to define America's stake in the highstakes global economic competition, it is not the only, or even the most logical way to do so. Listen to what the Honorable Bruce Mehlman, Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy in the U.S. Department of Commerce, had to say this past June to the House Committee on Small Business:

While policymakers try to promote national interests, it is getting much harder to define them as the global economy develops. For example, is it better for America to buy a BMW made in South Carolina or a Ford made in Canada? How about IT services procured through IBM but performed in India, versus services purchased from Infosys but staffed using H1B workers living and spending their salaries in America? Is it better to help manufacturers remain competitive by enabling them to cut IT costs through Offshoring or help IT service-workers remain employed by shielding them from global competition? New Jersey recently wrestled with a similar question when its Department of Human Services…off-shored a basic call center used to support a welfare program. In the wake of the controversy, the State returned the nine jobs to New Jersey, albeit at 20 per cent higher cost (thereby reducing the amount of funds available for the welfare recipients, for whom the call center is needed). How will we answer the question when seeking to maximize resources for medical care for the elderly, education for our children or homeland defense?

The myth is that greedy American IT employers are using offshore outsourcing as an excuse to get rid of their IT staff. Truth is that most companies who have gone to offshoring retain 70% or more of their IT employees. Since many companies lose 5% anyway through annual attrition, combining planning with offshoring can reduce or eliminate layoffs. David Samson, a spokesman for Oracle, calls the expansion of operations in India as "additive" and had not resulted in any job losses in the United States. Ralph Szygenda, the Chief Information Officer at General Motors Corporation, says that the greatest risk is to ignore the realities of a global economy. "You can," he explains,"probably protect your internal resources if you have a five-to-10 year transition." Joe Drouin, the Chief Information Officer at automobile-parts maker TRW Inc. did just that when his company began IT outsourcing work offshore three years ago. Reducing staff through normal attrition, TRW never fired a single worker."We haven't let TRW people go so that we could build up our IT resources in India," Drouin explains."Everything we've done up untilnow has been supplemental."

Much ink in the press has been given to the prediction by John McCarthy, Forrester Research's Group Director of Research, that 3.3 million U.S. services industry jobs and $136 billion in wages will move offshore over the next 15 years. The fact that this represents only 2% of total U.S. employment today is rarely mentioned. An equally dramatic forecast comes from Gartner Research that some 80% of U.S. corporations will have considered offshore outsourcing by next year. Jon Piot, the Chief Executive Officer of the Impact Innovations Group in Dallas, warns that "software development in the U.S. will be extinct by mid-2006, because of Offshore software development with gradual job losses much like the U.S. textile industry experienced during the last quarter of the 20th century."
Other projections are considerably less alarmist. A new report just released by the Rand Corporation's National Defense Research Institute concludes that the United States will remain the leader in information technology for the forseeable future. Richard Hundley, lead author, dismisses potential software development and E-commerce challengers as "losers or laggards." In May, the Information Technology Association of America surveyed 400 hiring managers from both IT and non-IT companies; only 6% of all respondents, and about 12% of IT managers, said they had already moved jobs overseas. Dan Griswold, Associated Director of the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies, reminds us that, even if Forrester is on target, and 220,000 IT jobs do leave annually, this is far less than the two to three million jobs that would disappear as a result of normal economic changes in technology and business competition. In fact, what Forrester conveniently leaves out, is the fact that the US economy typically adds a net one to two million jobs annually.The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 22 million new jobs will be created between 2000 and 2010. In fact, the most rapid job growth will occur precisely in those sectors- computer and data processing- that are most susceptible to offshoring. Between 2000 and 2010, the BLS anticipates employment here will soar by 86%. Even if 300,000 computer and data processing jobs are offshored by 2010, this is only 8% of the total 3.9 million such jobs that will then exist. This pales in comparison to the impact that new areas like nanotechnology will have. Michael Roco, senior advisor for nanotechnology for the National Science Foundation, predicts that nanotechnology will inject $1 trillion into the global economy in the next 15 years and employ some 2 million people.

Off-shoring has its limits, though opponents and advocates do not seem to know what they are. Issues of cultural diversity, data privacy, intellectual property and political stability, to name but a few potentially complicating factors, may all play a part in slowing down its momentum. The impact on India itself may not be as universally positive as it first appears. A 1999 study by NASSCOM worried that the cost of employing top drawer software engineers in India could rival that in America in only 15 years, while other Indian experts predict that wage equalization could happen even faster. Already, in an effort to lower costs, Indian IT service firms are themselves sending work to cheaper markets, such as China. Beyond economics, India may find that the IT off-shoring wave that links it even closer to the American economy also serves to modulate the exercise of Indian foreign policy, particularly in such hot spots as Kashmir. The danger of a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan is unlikely to entice more US Fortune 500 companies to come to India. When the Indians have to choose between national pride and economic enticement, which will win out? Beyond that, India's preferred position may not survive an even newer phenomenon, that of "near-shoring" in which such closer markets as Canada, Brazil, Mexico, even Russia, position themselves for a slice of the lucrative US pie.
Of all the myths that surround off-shoring, none is more pernicious than the threadbare argument that is a threat aimed solely at American workers. The off-shoring trend impacts equally US workers and US employers. Their fortunes are joined at the hip. This is NOT a worker vs. employer issue. To believe that is to misunderstand what is radically new here. Jobs have left America for cheaper labor markets before, but this is the first time that America's primacy in the global economy is under serious and sustained challenge. Corporate executives who are ready and willing to cut labor costs may not fully grasp that their own survival is also at stake. Writing recently in Fortune Magazine, Geoffrey Colvin captures the true essence of what off-shoring means: The difference this time, as we keep reading, is that outflowing jobs are higher paying and have more intellectual content.That's a difference not just of degree but of kind. Until now, smart, educated people in the U.S. have thought up ways to create wealth and then paid others to do the labor, often in foreign countries… No more. Those developing countries, which obviously always had people just as smart as ours, are now turning out people just as educated. They can design the work, too, and because educational and living costs are a fraction of ours, companies in those countries can afford to hire those people. That is a profound change: Designing the work is the essence of business, management, compet- itiveness… What makes anyone think that progression is suddenly going to stop? The next rungs on the ladder are product innovation, brand building and overall management. We're looking at three billion people getting better by the day at the things that make us the world's leading economy…We don't have to lose out in this historic shift. But nothing says we're destined to win either. We've never seen this movie before. Which is why it's a mistake to cast the latest outflow of U.S. jobs in the familiar terms of labor vs. management and the plight of the worker. It's that-but it's much more.

While America's markets can adjust, there is, and for good reason, considerably less confidence in the ability of our educational system to do so. At a time when Americans continue to earn fewer graduate degrees in computer science and mathematics, the need for such knowledge continues to grow. What is at stake is the intellectual future of the nation. American students fall further behind their international competition in virtually any test of math and science literacy. The blame for this cannot be placed at the doorstep of the H-1B and L-1 workers. Once it is the ability of IBM itself to remain competitive, then the shareholders will sit up and really take notice. Such a challenge cannot be met by limiting the number of H-1B or L visas. At most, such restrictions will slow down the ability of India to present itself as a viable strategic IT alternative but will not stop it. America has serious issues to deal with in the 21st century and it needs serious solutions to solve them. Slamming the doors shut is not one of them.

Source :Nasscom


For the best offshore outsourcing services, software development outsourcing and offshore software development, contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company

Friday, July 08, 2005

Properly Structuring Facility Management Outsourcing

From: blogsource

Facility management outsourcing, like most outsourcing sectors have both clients who report high savings and complete satisfaction as well as others who have lost money in the venture and are consequently quite dissatisfied. Success in outsourcing, however, is not simply a matter of chance. In fact, a recent report produced through a survey taken at the Outsourcing Institute's Fifth Annual Outsourcing Index indicates that there are certain definative steps that can be taken to ensure success in facility management outsourcing. Regarded as the most important is selecting the right vendor (63%). Following this is ongoing relationship management (46%) and proper contract construction (40%). While those intimate with the outsourcing industry regard such findings as quite in line with expectations, they are nonetheless often overlooked by new entrants to outsourcing. Within these general recommendations, however, there also exist far more specific guidelines to achieving a successful outsourcing interchange.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, software development outsourcing and offshore software development, contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

Thursday, July 07, 2005

Outsourcing results in increase of share prices

From: blogsource

The Centre for Economic and Business Research and IT services firm LogicaCMG has recently released a report indicating the positive and negative effects of outsourcing. The report indicated that share prices on average are 1.7 percent higher one month after the announcement that a company would contract with an outsourcing firm relative to the stock price of rivals. Firms that explained the rationale behind their outsourcing move saw even greater relative stock price increases. For this reason alone, many large companies might consider a small but public entry into outsourcing. However, the report warns that not all the effects of outsourcing are positive. Regarding the computer desktop support industry in particular, the long-term effects of outsourcing can be quite negative. vnunet.com Reports:
Outsourcers introduce formal processes for IT support and can even charge extra for some requests.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, software development outsourcing and offshore software development, contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Outsourcing : Impression vs. facts

From: blogsource

"Most of the expectations and fears related to the size and dynamics of offshoring of IT services are exaggerated. At present, the impact of offshoring services jobs is far stronger in the popular perception than on actual production, employment and trade patters," says an 'essay' on offshoring of services released as part of the WTO's annual World Trade Report 2005.
Offshore outsourcing has duly become a fluent phenomenon. As the survey suggests its evident that the concept of outsourcing, though , is yet to make it big on the production charts but has already paved a way for its popularity into the mind of people .It is this impression which is going to bring about positive effects in promoting the concept of outsourcing as it doesn’t take much time before impressions convert themselves into accountable reality. Thus before we know outsourcing is bound to show its impact on actual production, employment and trade patters

For the best offshore outsourcing services, software development outsourcing and offshore software development,conatact A-1 Technology,Inc,an offshore outsourcing company.

Outsourcing IT Development: Advantages

From: webspacestation

You can outsource almost anything. IT development outsourcing isn't much different than any other kind of outsourcing. When you face an insistent need to start a new IT development project, you have to weigh your current in-house capacity first. If your experience and budget allow you to cope with the task without resorting to any outside expertise, you should probably take full advantage of your potential and do it yourself.
Advantages
Basically, outsource service providers offer you higher quality services at a lower cost. This makes the advantages of IT development outsourcing obvious, so let's have a look at just a few of them.
Outsourcing IT development is a most effective way to stretch your budget. When managers plan IT development outsourcing, they usually make it their aim to cut down the company's expenditures by 30%. This is a figure that speaks for itself. Of course, there's always the risk of failure, but if you outsource prudently, you'll afford to implement projects of such a scale that would be impossible for you to reach on your own.
If you need to have state-of-the-art IT solutions worked out and innovations implemented with small losses, outsourcing may be the only way out. It will save you from the nightmare of retraining your employees (or even hiring new ones) and/or paying for re-equipment.
Cutting your costs and upgrading the quality of the services you offer will allow you to expand the competitive capacity of your business. I suppose the state the IT market is in today makes this simple argument a crucial one.
When you outsource IT development to an outside company, you can concentrate on your core activities. You won't be able to completely forget all about the project or its part that you have chosen to outsource as soon as you sign a contract with an outsource service provider, but you won't have to get scattered, either.
If you deal with an experienced and highly qualified vendor, you'll be able to gain valuable expertise in support of your IT capacity. Almost any vendor will surely try to set a dependency trap for you, but it doesn't mean you have to acquire the dependency pattern instead of learning everything you can derive from the vendor's expertise.

For best offshore outsourcing services, software development outsourcing and offshore software development, contact A-1 technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Microsoft And TCS To Open Outsourcing Center In China

Indian software services provider Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. is teaming up with Microsoft to launch an IT Software outsourcing company in China.

The joint venture, the latest step in Microsoft's expansion into China, will offer software-development services to Chinese and Western companies.

Under the terms of a memorandum of understanding, TCS will hold a majority stake in the firm, expected to launch in early 2006 in Beijing. Microsoft will take a minority interest. Three Chinese firms are also participating in the venture.

In a statement, TCS officials said the joint venture will focus on providing software-development services to both Chinese companies and multinationals in the West. It will provide services and support for all major software technologies and won't limit itself to Microsoft's .Net environment, TCS said.
The company also will offer specialty services for the financial-services, manufacturing, and telecom industries, as well as for several other major vertical markets.

Infosys Technologies Ltd., meanwhile, is one of several major Indian vendors looking to provide outsourcing services from China. They see the country as a hedge against rising costs in India and a lucrative market in its own right. Infosys, Satyam Computer Services, and Wipro Technologies all have operations in The People's Republic. Earlier this year, high-level Indian and Chinese government officials declared their intent to work more closely on cross-border IT initiatives. Major Western vendors that have already opened service centers in China include IBM, Affiliated Computer Services, and Accenture.

The Chinese government is following the Indian model to ensure that a steady supply of IT talent is available to foreign service providers setting up shop in the country. The government has established 35 national schools to provide software training, especially in technologies such as .Net, Linux, Java, and Web services. Its goal is to have 800,000 trained software pros by the end of the year, versus 600,000 in India.

The Chinese government also is promoting the use of widely recognized quality-control standards. To date, 11 Software outsourcing companies with operations in China have attained Capability Maturity Model Level 5, the highest ranking from Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute. Among those, seven are indigenous Chinese companies

source: Informationweek.com

For the best software outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing ,contact A-1 Technology,Inc,an offshore outsourcing company.

A new market for Offshore Outsourcing??

From: infoconomy

According to a report by Forrester Research more than one million jobs in Europe will move offshore by 2015. The report mentions that as European firms - especially in the UK - ramp up their spending with offshore service providers in countries like India, they will increasingly displace substantial numbers of employees from their current roles. Following the UK will be Germany, France, the Netherlands and Italy. Countries such as Ireland, Greece and Portugal face far lower employment impacts from the trend since companies in these countries show a far lower tendency to adopt offshore outsourcing as a budget option. Also, in many respects such countries act as low-cost IT and service locations in their own right. he trend to migrate jobs to lower-cost locations such as India and Russia will be motivated by a number of factors, says Parker. First, there is a strong emerging skills base in low-wage countries. Russia, for example, has 40% more scientists per head than the UK, France or Germany. Offshoring is much cheaper. The annual salary of a systems architect in the UK currently stands at about ˆ130,000 per annum, while a comparable systems architect in India commands just ˆ40,000.

For the best offshore outsourcing services,offshore software development and software development outsourcing,contact A-1 Technology,Inc,an offshore outsourcing company.

Offshore IT outsourcing helps economy

In the latest salvo in a debate over sending tech work overseas, a report sponsored by an industry group concludes that the practice is good for the U.S. economy and its workers.

Offshore outsourcing of software and information technology services tasks not only is boosting the U.S. gross domestic product but also helping to generate U.S. jobs, including positions in the IT sector. This report is sponsored by ITAA trade group which has members like tech giants IBM, Electronic Data Systems and Accenture.

While offshore IT software and services outsourcing has displaced and will continue to displace workers in IT software and services occupations, increased economic activity creates a wide range of new jobs--both IT and non-IT," the report states.

"As the benefits compound over time, the U.S. economy operates more efficiently, achieves a higher level of output, creates more than twice the number of jobs than are displaced, and increases the average real wage."

The cost savings and use of offshore resources "lower inflation, increase productivity, and lower interest rates. This boosts business and consumer spending and increases economic activity," the report states.

The study says the benefits of offshore software outsourcing and IT outsourcing added $33.6 billion to real gross domestic product in the United States last year. By 2008, real GDP is expected to be $124.2 billion higher than it would be in an environment in which offshore IT software and services outsourcing does not happen, according to the report.

Shipping software and IT services work abroad leads to higher real wages for U.S. workers through lower inflation and higher productivity, according to the study. Real wages were 0.13 percent higher in 2003 and are expected to be 0.44 percent higher in 2008, the study states

Source: CNETnews.com

For the best offshore outsourcing services,offshore software development and software development outsourcing contact A-1 Technology,Inc,an offshore outsourcing company.

Monday, July 04, 2005

Offshore outsourcing for start-ups

From: ittoolbox

Once you have decided on the location-say India-you need to finalize how you want to go offshore. If you go the outsourcing route then you need to find a vendor in the offshore destination who will be a suitable match for your company in terms of work culture, costs and expertise.
You can either choose a project-by-project approach starting with small, low-risk pilot projects and once you are comfortable with the vendor and his delivery and quality you can sign up a longer-term contract with them.
The pilot projects will help in establishing a mutually convenient way of interaction, delivery and project acceptance. This is the toughest part of the deal. If your interaction and delivery are smooth then you have done it!
The other option is establishing your own subsidiary in the offshore destination.This has the disadvantage of getting entangled with lots of legal issues and investing upfront. However, the advantage is that you get to keep all the work inhouse and hence all the control. However, challenges of communication etc. will still be there and here again the pilot projects should be carried out to establish the procedures between the two sites before embarking on major project development activity.
Ideally choose a vendor who can transition you to your own offshore subsidiary once you are ready for it.

For the best offshore outsourcing services, offshore software development and software development outsourcing, contact A-1 Technology, Inc, an offshore outsourcing company.