Monday, September 29, 2008

ASP.net: Adding value to technology

ASP (Active Server Pages) was first released in December 1996. Since then it has under gone several changes and has grown and tailored to the new methods of developing web sites and applications for the internet over the span of time.

In ASP.net major weight is on n-tier architecture in the applicationdevelopment and there is separation of data presentation, business logicand data access layers. It offers object oriented approach for the software development.

The .net compliant language is compatible with ASP.net like C# and VB.net,where both are server-sided languages. ASP.net process is separate from inetinfo.exe and the debugging process is easier in ASP.net.

Unlike traditional ASP it can run on Microsoft platforms as well as non-Microsoft platforms . In classic ASP the executable code cannot beseparated from the HTML making the page difficult to read and maintain. Thecode block has to be placed when ever the output is to be shown. This limitation of code is overcome in ASP.net by the use of server controls.The HTML and Web Server Controls created on the server require a The use of ASP.net pages gives a performance and security edge. It supports the usage of any .net language. There is no restriction over the use ofJava Script or VB Script on your Web pages.

Finally it can be said thatASP.net has opened up a whole new programming model with the blend andcombination of web forms, server-side controls, data binding along with webservices. ASP.net has just scratched the surface of the Microsoft Active Server Page technology, which will continue to improve in the coming yearswith the latest additions on the technology front.

A-1 Technology is a perfect place where you get the top quality serviceas we have expertise in ASP.net technology. Our team comprises ofspecialists of ASP.net technology enabling our clients to take maximumbenefit in ASP.net.

Friday, September 26, 2008

ROR – Super Productive,Powerful Web Application

A trivial phenomenon has swept the web world in the last few years. Like several things in the of software, it was over hyped. Here we are talking about ROR.

ROR, is the latest technical jargon that stands for Ruby on Rails. ROR is an open source web programming application framework designed for faster web applications. The Ruby programming is a free program and is constantly improved by ROR Programmers to make it more better and user friendly. Ruby on Rails development comes with features such as Model View Controller architecture that separates data from logic i. e. presentation layer and helps in organizing application program. ROR database access library simplifies data handling. Rails framework has an extensive AJAX library which it uses to generate AJAX code and the required Java script is automatically generated.

ROR is acknowledged for its proficiency to build web applications rapidly and with ease. Even for first-time users of Java, it could take just a little time to build a moderately useful web application that will communicate with a database using accepted Java web best-practices such as separating business logic, from display logic.

Rails has an ORM database layer built into its framework called Active Record. Another useful feature of Rails is scaffolding ,Rails can generate code called scaffolding that can be used to quickly put up functional web pages that talk to a database and allow you to add, delete and change information quickly and with very little coding.

Another trait of Ruby on Rails that enrich developer productivity is the rapid feedback loop. The feedback loop is the amount of time between making a change in code and seeing the results in the execution of application on the screen.

In Rails, one gets nearly-instant feedback as you code. There is no compile or packaging phase needed. You can immediately load a browser page to see the results of your changes. Managers should take note of this feature, because with enhanced productivity comes improved client satisfaction.

A Content Management System (CMS) provides the foundation for an easy to maintain a website. The most important thing is to decide which CMS should be used .

Customization factor that means how difficult it is to develop custom functionality particular to a project. Some CMS systems make this simple while others may present more of a challenge.

The ROR market is all geared up for anything that gives them visibility into their applications, whether that is on the developer's desktop or the running production application.

Benefits of Ruby on Rails include:
1. Rails works well with various web servers and databases as it is really easy to deploy web solutions using Rails.

2. With Ruby on Rails work is done faster otherwise before web applications which were using languages such as PHP, Java, ASP, could take ages to complete and in the end you may just have a large stack of unmentionable codes.

3. Rails provide fast and easy development with quality results.

4. With Ruby programming language you need to write few lines of code in comparison to other programming language to reach the same result.

5. The Ruby on rails framework software also supports MySQL, SQL, SQL Server, DB2 and Oracle.

6. ROR CMS provides very flexible solutions, final output depends on user choice no pre-format is mandatory, image cropping, resizing, multi-language support, excellent usability, sort able tree-based admin interface, layout editor, scaffold template is created.

7. Rails applications are Tailor made to perfection for an individual or an enterprise and best fit for all kind of web application. Rails architecture is used and most preferred for development of CMS, e-commerce, portals, collaboration, and community.

The new performance management and profiling tools are important additions to the ROR development community as ROR moves from being a hobbyist development language to a bonafide enterprise development framework. Most of our attention now is moving over to the general rails environment and ecosystem creating tools and environments for development and production so that people can work better with and on their rails applications.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Africa to join India and China in the Outsourcing Arena

The first African Outsourcing Summit, hosted by the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) and Cyber Media, will be held on the 27 and 28 November 2008 in London. According to Dr Mohan Kaul,director general CBC, ' The summit is being held at a time when outsourcing is going through major change'. He further added 'It is expected that the global outsourcing market in 2008 will be worth $150 billion, with the potential to double in the next year.' The growth and potential of the industry has led countries such as India and China to look for partners offshore to match growing capacity needs. This need has led to the emergence of African countries as favorable outsource destinations.

The summit will bring together senior government policy makers and industry representatives from African nations, key decision-makers, outsource service buyers and other stakeholders from the European and global outsourcing industry.

A joint research report by CBC and Cyber Media will be presented at the summit. The report will benchmark the outsourcing initiatives of selected African countries, according to parameters that measure the capability and capacity of the outsourcing industry in those countries. CBC said the report aims to be a starting point for discussion for countries considering outsourcing in Africa, and highlights the key issues facing these countries.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Ruby on Rails: Making its Way towards The Top

Ruby on Rails is an open source web application frame work for the ruby programming language. It is projected to be used with an Agile development methodology, which is often utilized by web developers for its suitability for short, client-driven projects.

Ruby programming language was created in the late 1990's. It had a cult following but it failed to reach high status. In 2004, a company called 37 Signals released a Web programming framework called Rails, which was originally developed for their own in-house projects. Rails was written using the Ruby programming language. So it is the combination of Ruby and Rails together that has generated great anticipation in the development community.

Rails is a full-stack framework for developing database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Control pattern. From the Ajax in the view, to the request and response in the controller, to the domain model wrapping the database, Rails gives a pure-Ruby development environment.

It is an integrated framework that utilizes the dynamic nature of the object-oriented Ruby programming language. Rails developers emphasize features of the framework for productivity rather than tools, and they take a common approach to Web architecture that should satisfy the needs of a large portion of the Web application projects .


Ruby on Rails is known for its ability to build Web applications quickly and with ease. Even for first-time users of Java, it could take just about five to ten days to build a moderately useful Web application that will communicate with a database using accepted Java Web best-practices such as separating business logic, from display logic. With no prior training on Ruby on Rails, it takes about one day to accomplish the same goal using the Ruby programming language. In few more days, it enables user to build a relatively complete Web application with Ruby on Rails.

Rails has an ORM database layer built into its framework called Active Record. Another useful feature of Rails is scaffolding ,Rails can generate code called scaffolding that can be used to quickly put up functional Web pages that talk to a database and allow you to add, delete and change information quickly and with very little coding. As previously mentioned, in other languages you have to select naming conventions and define the general structure of the file system, while Rails utilizes conventions and the Ruby programming language so that all of that is provided for you.

Another feature of Ruby on Rails that enrich developer productivity is the rapid feedback loop. The feedback loop is the amount of time between making a change in code and seeing the results in the execution of your application on the screen. In Rails, you get nearly-instant feedback as you code. There is no compile or packaging phase needed. You can immediately load a browser page to see the results of your changes. Managers should take note of this feature, because with enhanced productivity comes improved client satisfaction.

It is essential to note that introducing a radically different framework such as Ruby on Rails can be detrimental to a company's development, testing, and production infrastructure. For example, Rails applications are installed differently than common development platforms such as Java or Microsoft's .NET. Operations managers need to understand how to deploy it effectively.

A common question regarding Ruby on Rails relates to its performance relative to its peers. Some companies claim that Ruby on Rails does not perform as well as comparable systems. Comments such as these must be looked at objectively and balanced against productivity gains. Managers then need to make the decision of whether it is cheaper to hire people or purchase additional hardware, and chances are they will find that purchasing more hardware makes better financial sense.


A-1 Technology, an offshore software outsourcing company is working on Ruby on Rails technology . Various small and large organizations can greatly benefit from this wonderful technology. A-1 technology has best in class resources for Ruby on Rails technology that can help in leveraging the capabilities of Ruby on Rails to reduce development cost and time to market.




  • For more information you can contact our local sales person

    Richard Sarno
    Project Manager
    A-1 Technology, Inc.
    115 Broadway, 13th Floor
    New York, NY 10006
    P: (212) 397-7481
    F: (212) 931-8530


Saturday, September 20, 2008

M7 Aerospace to join the BPO Business arena

The M7 Aerospace LP has joined the arena of marketing the services of its supply chain management business support unit to outside customers.

The entity previously had been supporting M7's five commercial units by buying and managing the supply of aerospace components. M7's Supply Chain Management organization had been supporting some of the company's commercial and government businesses, including FedEx, The
Boeing Co.(NYSE: BA), Sikorsky, Lockheed Martin, Agusta Westland Bell and the U.S. government.

Brian Dannewitz, vice president of supply chain management for M7 says, 'We can substantially reduce indirect expense and increase cost savings for virtually any materials management operation.' Further he added, "Customers wishing to concentrate on their core competencies
can now achieve higher performance and efficiency gains in their purchasing and supply chain activities by subcontracting those functions to M7."

Under this latest move, the Supply Chain Management business will formally become a stand-alone Business Process Outsourcing provider.

As a Business Process Outsourcing provider, M7 will surely be able to offer staffing services and contract purchasing; logistics and shipping services; and procurement audit services.

M7 Aerospace is based out of San Antonio International Airport and operates from a 426,000-square-foot factory complex previously occupied by Fairchild Aircraft. M7 acquired the assets of Fairchild in December 2002 and began operating under M7 on April 1, 2003. At
present the company has more than 500 employees worldwide, including 300 in San Antonio.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Affordable, Comprehensive and Flexible Business Management System : SAP

SAP is an acronym for "System Application & Products" which creates a common centralized database for all the applications running in an organization. SAP is a single, affordable business management solution that integrates the entire business. The application has been assembled in such a flexible way that it handles all the functional department within an organization. Today major companies like Microsoft and IBM are using SAP's Products to run their own businesses.

SAP Services help you to maximize your success through a combination of SAP experts, methodologies, tools, and certified partners – plus a comprehensive portfolio of service offerings. These offerings span all phases of your solution life cycle, from planning to building to running. So you can align your IT and business strategies, get your software up and running fast and  keep it operating at peak levels – ensuring that IT supports your business goals.

SAP's applications are built around R/3 system which provides the functionality to manage product operations, cost accounting, assets, materials and personnel. It generally focus on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). The R/3 system of SAP runs on majority of platforms including windows 2000 and it uses the client/sever model.

It is very useful even for small accounting and financial firms. SAP jobs with companies are just getting off  the ground. The right professional with the specific SAP knowledge can improve the growth of a company. Investing time and energy into these positions can lead to great rewards  for SAP professionals. And  for SAP professionals who work with smaller companies can also make their  SAP experience  for the next job hunt.

A-1 Technology, an offshore software outsourcing company is working on SAP technology . Various small and large organizations can greatly benefit from this wonderful technology. A-1 technology has best in class resources for SAP technology that can help in leveraging the capabilities of SAP to reduce development cost and time to market.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Latest Buzz in the Technology for CMS Solutions : Joomla!

Joomla! is an award-winning content management system (CMS). That offers flexibility and power which is appreciated even by the new or intermediate web developer. Joomla! enables you to build web sites and powerful online applications. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made it the most popular web site software available. Best of all, Joomla! is an open source solution that is available free of cost.

CMS is a software that keeps track of every piece of content on your web site, like a local public library keeps track of books and stores them.  A major advantage of using a CMS is that it requires almost no technical skill or knowledge to manage.

Joomla! is used all over the world to power web sites in ,corporate web sites or portals,corporate intranet and extranets ,online magazines, newspapers, other publications,e-commerce , online reservations,government applications,small business web sites,non-profit and organizational web sites ,community-based portals,personal or family home pages.

It is specially designed for ease to install and set up even if the user is not an advanced user. Many Web hosting services offer a single-click install, getting your new site up and running in just a few minutes. As a web designer or developer, you can quickly build sites for your clients. Then, with little instructions, you can empower your clients to easily manage their own sites themselves.

Many companies and organizations have requirements that go beyond what is available in the basic Joomla! package. In those cases, its'  powerful application framework makes it easy for developers to create sophisticated add-ons that extend the power of Joomla! into virtually unlimited directions.

Since Joomla! is based on PHP and My SQL, it builds powerful applications on an open platform anyone can use, share, and support that too with extreme ease.

The core Joomla! framework enables developers to quickly and easily build: inventory control systems, data reporting tools,application bridges,custom product catalogs, integrated e-commerce systems, complex business directories,reservation systems and communication tools etc.

A-1 Technology, an offshore software outsourcing company is working on Joomla! technology . Various small and large organizations can greatly benefit from this wonderful technology. A-1 technology has best in class resources for Joomla! technology that can help in leveraging the capabilities of Joomla!  to reduce development cost and time to market.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Pace Up your Business With Wonderful Technology : Flex Programming

Flex is a framework that enables you to build dynamic and interactive,Rich Internet Applications or RIA. Flex applications are delivered onInternet via the Flash Player or to the desktop via Adobe Apollo. Itprovides a modern, standards-based language and programming model that supports common design patterns. MXML, a declarative XML-basedlanguage,Action Script 3, is used to describe UI layout and behaviors,and a powerful object-oriented programming language is used to create client logic. You can also build applications using the free Flex SDK or Flex Builder, an Eclipse based IDE.

It is a complete, powerful application development solution for creating and delivering cross-platform RIA within the enterprise and across the web. Flex, makes it possible to program real-time systems that can respond to dynamic environments. Even when certain resources are not available, the program can produce approximate, imprecise results.

Adobe Flex Builder 3 accelerates Flex application development. It is an Eclipse based development tool enabling intelligent coding, interactive step-through debugging, and visual design of the user interface layout, appearance, and behavior of RIA.

Flex Builder 3 is available in both Standard and Professional editions. Both editions allow import of assets from Adobe Creative Suite 3 software, making it easy for designers and developers to work together. Flex Builder 3 Professional further adds powerful data visualization capabilities, the new Advanced Data grid, memory and performance profilers, and support for automated functional testing for developing business-critical applications.

It delivers business benefits across a wide range of industries, as well as meet the specific needs of enterprise customers. It has remarkable speed letting you to wind up your projects in the minimum time.

A-1 technology an offshore software outsourcing company is working on Flex technology. Various small and large organizations can greatly benefit from this wonderful technology. A-1 technology has best in class resources for Flex technology that can help in leveraging the capabilities of Flex to reduce development cost and time to market.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

On the Verge of Latest Technology Market : i phone Technology Software

The most hyped consumer electronics device ever created,The Apple iPhone Third Generation(3G) has finally landed in India. The good bits of the Apple's cool box include a stylish  Hi-T mobile with extremely snappy features like i pod,3G,Multi touch,Global Positioning System (GPS),Sensors,Accelerometer etc.

Especially designed for the tech-3 generation, it is a revolutionary combo of a stylish and ease and includes a phone , wide screen i pod, breakthrough Internet device enabled  with fast 3G wireless technology, Techno savvy 's can now surf the web, download email, get directions, and watch video even while they're on a call.

For music animals, it is one amazing i pod with wide screen display and multi touch controls. With its GPS mapping you can get directions and see traffic as it combines GPS, Wi-Fi, and cell tower location technology with the Multi-Touch interface,

It supports for enterprise features like Microsoft Exchange, and the new Application Store, It responds to motion using a built-in accelerometer. Using  your movements you can rotate, change the display and control games.
   
The iPhone SDK was released on March 6, 2008, which  allows complete access to the phone. The iPhone Developer Program provides a complete and integrated process for developing, debugging, and distributing your free, commercial, or in-house applications for iPhone. Complete with development resources, real-world testing on iPhone, and distribution on the Application Store, you have everything you need to go from code to customer.

The iPhone Developer Standard and Enterprise Programs provide the development resources you need to create your iPhone applications, test directly on iPhone and distribute
 
You can develop an application for it using your existing web tools the SDK for the iPhone is standard Dynamic HTML (DHTML) through the Web browser. So, you can use all the familiar HTML, Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), and Asynchronous Java Script™ + XML (Ajax) front-end technologies in combination with your choice of back-end technology: PHP, Rails, Java™ technology
     
Even though Apple created iPhone as a closed device,  several developers bought them with the express purpose of designing and running third-party software. Who have run third party applications on their iPhone, but its concepts and code examples have shown to be remarkably similar to Apple's official SDK,

We at A1 technology make iPhone Developer Program, which means that by delivering your software or web service on iPhone, A-1 Technology aims to enter into a new and exploding technology market. You can have one of the first third party applications on this new technology devised either by porting an existing application or developing a new. Our iPhone developers are professional in iPhone programming and softwares which would be required for the development. So you can opt for hiring our  iPhone SDK Programmer or Outsource iPhone SDK Programmer. We are experienced in the field of developing mobile applications on various platforms.  
       
We have a perfect combination of our professional skills and experience that makes us the ideal choice for your iPhone application development.

A1 Technology, an offshore software outsourcing company is  working on i phone  development technology . Various small and large organizations can greatly benefit from this wonderful technology. A-1 technology has best in class resources for i phone  development technology that can help in leveraging the capabilities of i phone  development to reduce development cost and time to market.





  • For more information you can contact our local sales person

    Richard Sarno
    Project Manager
    A-1 Technology, Inc.
    115 Broadway, 13th Floor
    New York, NY 10006
    P: (212) 397-7481
    F: (212) 931-8530


Monday, September 15, 2008

IRS cancels Outsourcing contract with IAP

IRS has decided that it will cancel a multi million documents-management contract which is expected to bring more than 700 outsourced IRS jobs in house. The agency announced last week that it will no longer contract with IAP Worldwide to manage and store taxpayer files. The Federal employees will resume performing those duties from Oct. 1. It is expected that IRS will take three months to fill the needed positions with seasonal and full-time employees.

The company has won a $103 million contract for the work after a controversial public-private jobs competition was held which was won by the IRS employees and then successfully challenged by IAP. IAP at present is well known for storing and managing taxpayer files at seven regional tax return processing centers since last two years. Arlene Mellinger, a IAP spokeswoman told that IAP will continue to perform the work throughout the transition to the in-house team.

According to Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union,'This marks the first time since this administration launched its aggressive contracting out program that I have seen a major contract ‘in-sourced.’ He further added “Turning over the sensitive work of filing and maintaining tax returns and their related documents and correspondence was a bad idea from the start.”

“Federal agencies should take a long look at the private-sector companies doing the work of the federal government and bring that work back in-house,” Kelley said and further added, “When federal employees are given the tools and resources to do their jobs, there is no one who can do the work of the federal government better than federal employees.”

According to NTEU, IAP failed to meet two deadlines to begin managing the documents, leaving IRS to staff the centers with federal employees for part of 2007. After IAP took over the work, there were lengthy delays in retrieving the information stored in those facilities.

However the IRS declined to comment on why it canceled the contract with IAP.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Indian IT stepping towards Japan

Indian IT services companies have turned to Japan as the right market , Japan being one of the most IT spending nations in the world. Considering Japan as a major automobile and consumer electronic manufacturing destination in the world and as one of the most IT spending nations, Nasscom, an IT industry body is presently undertaking a study to evaluate the out sourcing opportunities in Japan.

According to Ameet Nivsarka, Vice President, Nasscom , 'Revenue from Japan hardly contributes to three percent of our total software services exports. We believe that Europe and Japan offer huge potential for Indian vendors.' Nasscom, an IT industry body is presently undertaking a study to evaluate the out sourcing opportunities.

Sabyasachi, Senior Director, neoIT added that currently Japan's outsourcing requirement is for embedded software and solutions and a lot of low end work testing and coding. When it opens up for more complex solutions, Indian services majors will see a traction coming from this region

Some of the Indian companies have already attempted to enter the outsourcing market of Japan. For example India's second largest IT company, Infosys has signed a pact with Nihon Unisys to combine its global delivery model with the latter's strength in the Japanese market.

Another major Indian IT company, Wipro has tied up with some of the leading Japanese corporates including NEC. Around 3 percent of Wipro' s IT revenue comes from Japan. Similarly, Infotech Enterprises, Patni Computer and KPIT Cummins have substantial presence in Japanese market.

In an IT analyst 's opinion In Japan it takes a considerable period of time to build the relationship and get a contract as local talent and understanding of IT buying behavior of corporations in Japan were critical to make a foray into this market.

Friday, September 12, 2008

EJB With three tier structure, expecting a great future ahead

Java beans are Java objects and its  application determines the methods and properties available in an object using reflection. Its methods and properties can be determined by an application at run time and customize it's properties using the methods available for that object.

Description of Enterprise Java Bean (EJB) application development is incomplete without the  understanding of what a java session bean actually is. So Java session beans are Java components that run in either stand -alone EJB containers that are part of the standard java platform enterprise edition application servers. These java beans are typically used to model a particular task or use case such as input of customer information or executing a process that maintains a conversation state with a client application.
       
Most of the database driven applications are developed using open source technologies  having  a three-tier structure. The web application itself runs in the browser of a desktop or a laptop. Users can only access the front end of the application to input data or search strings. Java being platform independent allows applications to be accessed on any device say a pda ,cellphone or  telnet device.
     
EJB application development occurs by employing a three-tier architecture consisting of a front end known as the web container, an EJB container, the third tier being the database. This three-tier structure has proved to be immensely useful for enterprise application development.
     
EJB  container manages the server side components .Their similarity to Java Beans r is only to the extent that they both share the name Bean and both are customizable components. A normal Java Bean is basically an Intra-Process Component,where as an EJB is an Inter-Process Component. That means that an EJB component can be accessed and used by many processes existing in different JVM s.

In order for a container to be able to manage bean instances,EJB classes must implement certain interfaces that contain the call back methods that a container invokes to notify the bean instance of any change in it's properties or to inform the bean instance of any specific action that it has to take        
   
An EJB is written as if it is a single threaded application. In fact,EJB classes can never be multi threaded. They can not be threads themselves nor can they start any new thread. It is the job of the container to manage instances of EJB classes.
     
However all the  fields available in a class are  not directly accessible.  The application inspecting the java object can manipulate only those for which there are public methods available to get or set the fields of the object. Further, if an application has to create an object and set it's properties,the class defining the object must have a public default constructor which the application can call.
 
Hence  it is quiet important  for a normal Java object to qualify as a Java bean and the class that defines the object must have a public default constructor which should implement the serial interface if the bean state which has to be stored provided it should have methods that allows the  application builder to customize their properties.

For  this the server side application should monitor data on each bean instances and update the modified value of all bean instances. Again,providing a private bean instance to each client can be a load on system resources such as memory. To make a balance between performance and resource utilization,it becomes essential that  limited number of bean instances are shared among a larger number of clients,with the server side application managing the  problems related to consistency of data among all the shared bean instances.
               
Any of the above-mentioned technologies JSP,JSF, java servlets can be used to call a session bean. Since the Enterprise java bean container is connected to the database, it is capable of processing the queries of the users. Once the session bean is invoked , it processes the request and sends a feed back to the web application. The web application then formats the response as required and returns a response to the client end.

Being open source EJB application development is expecting a very bright future in the enterprise application development space in coming time.

A-1 Technology, an offshore software outsourcing company is working on java technology . Various small and large organizations can greatly benefit from this wonderful technology. A-1 technology has best in class resources for java technology that can help in leveraging the capabilities of java to reduce development cost and time to market.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Source Net Solutions No. 1 APOV for III Consecutive Year: Brown Wilson group

According to the list compiled by the Brown-Wilson Group, authors of The Black Book of Outsourcing. Source Net Solutions ranked No. 1 among the Accounts Payable (AP) outsourcing vendors for the third consecutive year on the 2008 Top 50 Best Managed Global Outsourcing Vendors.

On this occasion, Leon Busch, the president and Chief Executive Officer of Source Net Solutions said, "Receiving this recognition for the third consecutive year underscores the extent to which we've institutionalized our commitment to out performance in support of our clients, enabling them to focus on building new revenue streams while reducing corporate risk,"

Source Net Solutions is a division of The Bank of New York Mellon's Treasury Services group which secured first overall rank, by beating all vendors surveyed in 11 different categories, which included support and customer care; trust; best-of-breed technology and process improvement; reliability; customization; and deployment and outsourcing implementation.

The Brown-Wilson Group analyzed more than 24,000 validated responses from outsourcing users globally and investigated more than 700 functions and 40 sectors to determine "best fit" vendors within multiple industry specifications. The 2008 listing is based upon 18 operational excellence key performance indicators completely from the perspective of the client experience.

The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation is a leading provider of financial services for institutions, corporations and high net-worth individuals, providing superior asset management and wealth management, asset servicing, issuer services, clearing services and treasury services through a worldwide client-focused team. It is a global financial services company which at present has more than $23 trillion in assets under custody and administration, more than $1.1 trillion in assets under management and services $12 trillion in outstanding debt. focused on helping clients manage and service their financial assets, operating in 34 countries and serving more than 100 markets.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Legal Outsourcing Catching Popularity in India

Legal outsourcing is the latest movement catching up with the audience and following the tendency that many countries are going for India. Tough economic conditions bring pressure to cut the price of legal services and the simplest way of cutting costs is by allocating the work to cheaper suppliers. This is of particular interest to in-house lawyers who are already working to reduce their expenditure on external law firms while streamlining their own departments.

Both back office work and the front line provision of legal services can be outsourced and law firms are already outsourcing work such as word processing, graphics and design, accounting and IT. India is among the most popular current locations for this.

India having a large number of well-qualified English speaking lawyers adds to the world's largest supplier of outsourced legal services. Usually the junior Indian lawyers are less expensive to employ and Indian law firms have spotted this opportunity and set up their own outsourcing operations.

The outsourcing of legal service is challenging and many lawyers are intuitively uncomfortable with the idea that some of their work might be parceled out to third party providers but the reality is that much of the work that lawyers do today is relatively routine and does not need to be kept exclusively to traditional law firms.

Looking forward, it is unlikely that the ongoing efforts to reduce the costs of legal service will stop at outsourcing Just as outsourcing enables routine work to be done more cheaply, so too can technologies such as automatic document production and work flow systems.

Whereas outsourcing costs are likely to rise as a consequence of inflation in the more popular outsourcing locations in the coming years, in contrast, technology costs will tend to fall over time. Accordingly, those who are considering outsourcing should always investigate whether there is a technological alternative that may be less costly and allow lawyers and clients to avoid some of the tricky legal and regulatory obstacle

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Outsourcing hike lead to domestic growth in India:IT Industry Survey

As a result of maturing outsourcing market, India's IT market has hiked so high for the first time in over a decade to 34 per cent in 2007 -08, as compared to 27 per cent for exports, which is the opposite of what happened the last fiscal, says the annual IT industry survey. In value terms, exports, at Rs.1,897.92 billion 47.45 billion, still account for two thirds of total revenues while the domestic sales were estimated at Rs.990.18 billion.

The creditable performance of India's domestic IT market, with 65 per cent growth in business process outsourcing BPO industry has made it possible. The value of outsourcing depends largely on the structure of the relationship. This is where Indian domestic transactions in the BPO space underwent a major shift in fiscal 2007-08. At 24.5 billion, the Indian domestic IT market is not exactly a small market. In terms of dollar it grew 50 per cent the survey adds.

The survey further finds some interesting trends in the outsourcing industry where the players are evolving from short term, project driven deals to longer term, comprehensive outsourcing initiatives will help the IT industry. Over the next few years, staff augmentation and project based deals would gradually dwindle to be replaced by more comprehensive outsourcing engagements is expected.

During the year, the market saw IT services companies bag multi million dollar deals for periods ranging from 5 to 10 years, apart from large outsourcing deals in the e governance and e procurement space. IBM Global Services bagged the accounts of Vodafone, Idea Cellular and IGI. HP secured Bank of India and Britannia orders. TCS clinched a huge passport processing contract.

This change has been an eye opener of sorts because, for the first time, people seem to have woken up to the potential of the domestic BPO market, the survey says while pointing towards other reasons for the domestic IT growth.

Monday, September 08, 2008

Canadian company geared up to provide outsourcing to Sun Trust Banks

Symcor Inc a Toronto-based company has signed a 10-year agreement to outsource "a significant portion" of the Sin Trust bank's back-office banking operations. In addition, Symcor will handle bank's check clearing, lock box processing and statement production functions. Symcor is already well known in providing similar back-office services to five of the 15 largest North American banks.

Symcor will purchase or lease those facilities from Sun Trust in those locations, which adds to the Canadian company's existing operations in Chicago, Atlanta, Orlando, Fla., Charlotte, N.C. and Los Angeles.

As part of the deal, about 1,500 Sun Trust employees will be moved out of the bank and, according to a company spokesman, 54 positions could be eliminated. However, the bank did ensured transparency in the process. In fact last year, the bank sold branches and office space across its southeastern footprint in a sale/leaseback agreement and cut staffing.

For Sun Trust, the latest move is part of the bank's company-wide cost-cutting initiative announced last spring, dubbed "Efficiency in Execution," or E Squared, as told by company spokesman Mike McCoy. He further added,"This is consistent with the rest of our E Squared program'.

However the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed in the statement, nor did the bank disclose possible cost savings as a result of the deal.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Expected outsourcing opportunities India: TCS

BPO companies have taken a fresh look at tapping the domestic outsourcing opportunity in India.

Indian economy is growing and so is the opportunity to outsource given the need to cut costs in a difficult environment. And, global BPOs like Infosys and TCS are expected to go all hammer and tongs to grab a slice of the USD 16 billion domestic outsourcing pie.

According to VK Raman,Head-BPO Services, TCS , "We have a small BPO presence in the domestic market, which is in single-digits. We believe that if we put our mind to it we will find the right solutions. The scope is very large, so growth can be there. We need to solve equations like cost and margins among others."

And experts adds that question arises from the absence of wage arbitrage and lack of Indian companies fully appreciating the benefits of outsourcing. However, TCS, which ventured into and long before it was fashionable, begs to differ.

Joining TCS in that view are BPO bigwigs like Genpact and WNS who recently announced efforts to concentrate on the Indian market. big companies are willing to invest in the long-term despite not seeing immediate profits on the table.

Friday, September 05, 2008

IT and IT-enabled outsourcing latest upsurge in Cebu economy

Information Technology (IT) and IT-enabled outsourcing investments have emerged as the latest growth driver of the Cebu economy after export-oriented industries and tourism, Though outsourcing in software development and data transcription services have been in Cebu since the 1990s, but the industry received a pace  only after 2K.

According to the Cebu Education Foundation for IT (C Ed F-IT) the number of software developers  raised  from 850 to more than 5,000, while IT-enabled service workers increased from 7,000 to more than 20,000 from the 2001 to 2007. Between 2001 to 2007, around 70 percent of investments were in information and communication technology (ICT).

Among the challenges faced by the industry was, the supply of the right quality of human resources. As it requires high quality workers able to work in a global work environment, communicate with international clients and colleagues, technically competent in their fields and computer literate. Outsourcing companies have to compete with other industries in attracting qualified workers. As a new industry, many people are still not familiar with outsourcing and the many career opportunities that it offers.
                   
Potential workers, particularly high school students who are still deciding on what career path to take, need to be informed about career opportunities in the outsourcing industry, especially in higher valued BPO, ITO and ESO services.

 Cebu gave a good response to the initial challenges of the development of the outsourcing talent pool by upgrading the skills of workers and through the development of training programs in higher education institutions. As a result of which the challenge is generating more interest and attracting more people to invest in a career in the outsourcing industry.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Excellent opportunity for outsourcing market expected in INDIA

India and other low Cost Countries (LCC s) are expected to tap the multi-billion dollar global component. According to Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA), the number of car models up soared from 503 models in 2007 to an estimated 644 in 2015, Experts find huge opportunity for outsourcing market in India.

“ As a result of cost competitiveness that India and BRIC nations like China and Brazil offer, the automobile industry has undergone two big changes. Firstly there has been relocation of manufacturing facilities to LCCs as they manufacture more value-added products at lower rates as compared to developed countries, secondly even R&D is gradually shifting to these countries.” says John Hadley, partner, Price Waterhouse Coopers–Automotive Practice, he further expects the emerging markets to contribute 49% to the total global auto component industry which is pegged at $25 billion.

Sontosh Mohan Dev, minister for heavy industries, finds full potential in India to be the global R&D center with twin advantage of having one of the largest pool of talented engineers and scientists

But according to RC Bhargava, chairman, Maruti Suzuki India, “India has still not reached the stage where we can design products on our own without assistance from our foreign counterparts due to lack of strong design capabilities. This is largely due to low expenditure of just 1.65% of the total revenue that goes into R&D vis-à-vis 7% in Japan,”

He further adds to his statement , “Since engineering resources are very expensive in Europe and other developed countries and are not available at short notice, it is an opportunity for India to develop design capabilities that will reduce the time cycle in an economy where the product life cycle is shrinking,”

While Sanjay Labroo, president, ACMA, finds the slump in industry due to high interest rates. According to him 'high inflation has given us an opportunity to invest in improving efficiency and developing design capabilities.'

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Indian Engineering Services Outsourcing to treble

A recent CRISIL Research study on the Outsourcing industry has concluded that Engineering Services Outsourcing ESO, an area that encompasses outsourcing of engineering services largely involved with operations linked to the pre manufacturing stage designing, prototyping etc. and analysing data points for process improvement, is poised to be the next big opportunity in the Indian outsourcing services industry.


The Indian IT and ITeS sectors which are currently beset with challenges in the form of global economic uncertainty, rupee volatility, wage inflation, high attrition and commoditisation of services , all resulting in lower margins - need to move towards knowledge driven, value-added services such as ESO and analytics offering better billing rates and protecting margins.

Mr. Manoj Mohta, Head, CRISIL Research, explained, Indias strength in the engineering domain, adaptability to new emerging opportunities, and the advantage of Indias vast skilled talent pool considered on par with other competing nations such as China, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Israel and Eastern Europe, augur well for Engineering Services which we estimate will grow at a compounded rate of 26 per cent and post revenues aggregating about USD 7.5 billion by 2012 2013. As a result, Indias share of the global offshore engineering spend is expected to increase to 25 per cent from the current 19 per cent.

With the IT ITeS sectors witnessing a focus towards convergence and clients increasingly preferring to outsource multiple processes to a single vendor, Tier 1 Indian IT service players are now offering to be a single stop service provider of services ranging from IT services to ITeS and more recently, engineering services.

Commenting on the profitability of ESO, Mr. Mohta observed, ESO is an attractive investment proposition as margins are significantly higher than those in traditional IT outsourcing services. This is despite the high cost associated with experienced engineering personnel possessing intricate knowledge of the domain and clients processes. The complexities involved in the ESO business are an entry barrier for new entities ensuring higher client stickiness and ability to extract value pricing.

With cost economics playing a major role in outsourcing of product designs and upgrades, and Indian ESO players favourably placed to take advantage of the same, CRISIL Research has concluded that the Indian ESO industry will be a highly cost effective, compelling reason for multinational companies to outsource their engineering services operations, making India the design services hub of the world.

Source : www.offshoringtimes.com

Future of the Indian outsourcing industry

FOR THE past decade or so the Indian IT sector has emerged as one of the largest outsourcing center’s on the globe. The firms in to outsourcing have employed thousands of professionals for handsome five figure wages. In fact, today, almost every technical student dreams of securing such a placement.

All the major outsourcing projects that we undertake hail from the west. That to 60 percent of the projects is from U.S.A. The sole purpose of the outsourcing policy of the west is to extract the work at the least price possible.

The statement by Mr. Obama the other day seems to be a real threat for the Indian outsourcing industry. He was clearly against encouraging outsourcing. The main reason behind this policy is to meet the increasing unemployment problem faced by natives in U.S.A.

Though the wages paid to the professionals working in this field is good, in the long run these professionals may run into a crisis. Firstly, these companies are vulnerable to fluctuations in the western markets. Due to high inflation, the western market today seems to have been quitened to a considerable extent. At this juncture of time, a decrease in the number of projects allotted to Indian companies has been noticed. One is not an economist though; one feels that the wages may not be the same for the future.

As a student, one has already noticed that the recruitments in these firms has cone down drastically. In fact there are students who have been placed in several top companies last year who are yet to be given a posting. These outsourcing industries today are hiring seven people instead of ten earlier, for the same amount of work. This increases work burden on individuals. One has to work overtime, now, to complete the assignment given. This increased work pressure disturbs both physical and mental health of the individual.

Sitting for hours together in front of computers can lead to spinal cord problems. This kind of passive work can also lead to obesity problems.

So, outsourcing jobs can be lethal in long run. Indian software industry should reduce its dependence on outsourcing projects in spite of the fact that they provide instant money. In fact, it would be more appropriate to say that professionals should stop depending more on outsourcing companies. They have many other promising career options. It is worthy to mention that, adequate steps must be taken in order to check the working hours of the professionals. After all results fetched in the long run are equally important as instant yields are.

Source : www.merinews.com

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

New offshore development centers by Yash Tech

Yash Technologies, a global leader in enterprise business and technology solutions, announced today the expansion of three new offshore development centers in Mumbai, Bangalore, and Pune, India. Yash is positioning for rapid growth in these strategic locations, along with two other existing offshore development centers in Hyderabad and Indore, India.

Offshore development and services have become a strategic necessity for companies looking for cost savings or streamlined processes for its core businesses. The right partner is critical to a successful offshore experience. Yash has provided flexible offshore models for global customers for years. A key differentiator is our approach to the offshore model, which is to develop core client teams that are true extensions of customer teams. These teams understand a customers business initiatives, the systems that support these initiatives, and recognize that their performance has direct impact on success.

Besides our technology and business expertise, innovation in being customer focused has been a key factor in our growth, comments Manoj Baheti, CEO of Yash Technologies. Our clients know that working with Yash means that they are getting 100 percent commitment in ensuring absolute success. The new offshore development centers in India will enhance our contribution to the India IT industry and will also assist us in maintaining excellence in the services provided to our customers globally.

This infrastructure investment is in line with global growth plans in India to gain domestic business and mindshare. The offshore development centers will be another hub for Yash to grow its delivery footprint in the Enterprise Solutions space, centered on its SAP service offerings.

The new offshore development centers are designed with state of the art technology and are fully operational to support new customers. Yash is expected to add several hundred more employees by the end of this year to support its growth.


Yash Technologies focuses on customer success. As a leading enterprise solutions and outsourcing partner for medium and large global customers, Yash is a SEI CMMI Level 3 and an ISO 9001:2000 certified company with US and India headquarters and regional sales and development offices spread across 3 continents.

Source : www.offshoringtimes.com

Monday, September 01, 2008

MNYL signs outsourcing deal

IBM India has entered into USD450 million IT outsourcing contract with private insurance player Max New York Life MNYL. The technology services behemoth, which has already showcased the advantage of total IT outsourcing with the telecom major Bharti, is expecting this deal to pan out in the similar manner. The deal, spread over ten years, will see IBM India providing complete end to end back end IT infrastructure to MNYL. IBM India global technology services vice president Nipun Mehrotra said, This life insurance is a growing market and the work we have done has the potential to change the sector.it is likely to change in similar lines to what happened in telecom sector.

According to IRDA, the market for insurance both life and non-life in 2006 2007 stood at USD41.74 billion, with the life insurance market growing at 47.38 percent while the non life business rose by 21.51 percent. It is estimated that life insurance market alone is expected to touch USD80 billion in the next couple of years.

Life insurance premium collections including single premium, first year and renewal in 2006 20007 stood at Rs 1.56 lakh crore representing a year on year growth of 47.38 percent. IRDA statistics indicates that the Indian insurance market accounts for a paltry 1.12 percent of the global insurance market estimated to be at USD3,723 billion.

Mr Mehrotra said as part of the agreement, MNYL will see them getting revenue for every insurance policy sold. This, in fact, reaffirms the commitment of IBM as it would also making substantial investments in setting up the IT infrastructure as part of the deal.

The key aspect of the deal will be to extend the reach of the insurance player and focus on the semi urban and rural areas. IBM India said that they will be bringing in technology process which will enable MNYL provide life insurance policies with minimum documentation.

Mr Mehrotra said their focus would be on delivering high efficiency at lower costs. As the alliance is still in its early phase, there is a sharp focus on bringing the best of the breed IT applications and services.

Source : www.offshoringtimes.com