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May 28, 2008
Top Stories
FAO MARKET GROWING AT DOUBLE DIGIT PACE...Continued expansion of Finance and Accounting Outsourcing (FAO) service providers, broader acceptance of the value proposition, and existing success stories are driving a strong FAO market that grew 22 percent in 2007 and is predicted to maintain a double-digit growth pace, according to the Everest Research Institute’s annual study of the FAO market. Future growth in the FAO market will also be driven by a combination of expanding supplier capabilities and the expansion of FAO buyer segments.
CSC REPORTS RECORD REVENUES...CSC reported record annual revenues of $16.5 billion for fiscal year 2008, up 11% year over year. Additionally, the company reported record earnings per share for the fiscal year ended March 28, 2008. Net income for the fourth quarter was $181.7 million, or $1.15 per share (diluted), including special charges related to the restructuring program announced in April 2006 of $45.6 million after tax, or 29 cents per share. Diluted earnings per share, excluding the special items, were $1.44 compared to last year’s fourth quarter earnings per share of $1.58, excluding special items. For the year ended March 28, 2008, net earnings were $544.6 million, or $3.20 per share (diluted), including an after-tax net special charge of $108.2 million, or 64 cents per share (diluted), related primarily to the restructuring charge mentioned above. Excluding the special items, the $3.84 of diluted earnings per share for fiscal 2008 compares to $3.67 for fiscal 2007.
EPAM RAISES $50 MILLION IN CAPITAL...EPAM Systems, Inc., a leading software engineering and IT Outsourcing (ITO) provider with delivery centers in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), has completed an oversubscribed US$50 million minority investment round with three global institutional investors. Renaissance Capital, a leading investment banking firm focused on Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), acted as sole advisor on the transaction. Renaissance Investment Management and Da Vinci Capital acted as lead investors (Renaissance Capital and Renaissance Investment Management are part of the Renaissance Group) with additional capital raised through Euroventures Capital.
OPI FOUNDER NAMED FAO SUPERSTAR...Clarence T. Schmitz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, has been named a 2008 Superstar of the finance and accounting outsourcing (FAO) industry. This marks the fourth consecutive year that Schmitz has been selected by FAO Today magazine for this honor. Schmitz is credited by FAO Today magazine as a pioneer who, “proved that OPI could provide the global business model for FAO in both the enterprise and middle markets.” While most providers developed offerings appropriate for larger enterprise companies, OPI built a customized approach that has delivered value to companies both large and small.
Posted by jbowles at 07:19 PM
New Business
Kellwood Company has renewed its long-term information technology (IT) services relationship with EDS. With the seven-year agreement, EDS will continue to provide a full package of leveraged IT services to support the marketer of apparel and consumer soft goods’ future strategy. New to the agreement is a process for innovation in which EDS and Kellwood technical and business team members will collaborate to share, review and prioritize innovative ideas. The ultimate objective is to help Kellwood reduce costs and improve overall business operations.
The U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) contracted with EDS to support the DISA ENCORE II contract by providing net-centric services. EDS is one of 26 companies that may compete for task orders under the $12.22 billion multiple-award, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract. The ENCORE II program will provide global net-centric capabilities, services and solutions to all branches of the U.S. military, the Department of Defense (DoD) and other agencies of the federal government. This contract has a five year base followed by five 1-year option periods.
Unisys has also been awarded a DISA contract to compete for task orders to provide information technology (IT) solutions to military agencies, Department of Defense (DOD) and other federal agencies under the $12.225 billion ENCORE II multiple award indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract.
Posted by jbowles at 07:19 PM
International News
Tata Consultancy Services, a leading IT services, business solutions and outsourcing firm today announced a five year contract to deliver end-to-end global IT applications services to NXP Semiconductors B.V, a top 10 semiconductor company founded by Philips more than 50 years ago. The contract is worth $100 million and TCS will provide high end consulting services as well as application management, development and support services across NXP's supply chain operations.
WNS (Holdings) Limited announced a strategic partnership with Exchange Solutions Inc. (ESI), which creates and hosts interactive sales and marketing solutions designed to allow businesses to engage consumers earlier in their decision-making process to increase share of wallet. Toronto-based ESI has developed a web-based marketing platform that allows businesses to connect directly with customers to offer additional products and services. One feature of the ESI platform includes a real-time, decision-making platform that allows a company’s customers to see how they can get more value by consolidating more of their business with the company. With deep domain knowledge in several industries, such as financial services and travel, WNS will provide customer contact, fulfillment support and other services through its global delivery model.
Accenture has expanded its Global Delivery Network with the opening of a delivery center in Monterrey, Mexico, strengthening the systems integration and outsourcing capabilities it provides to clients in North America. The delivery center in Monterrey supports a variety of technologies and technology platforms, including JAVA/J2EE, Microsoft.Net, mainframe, SAP and Oracle. It is Accenture’s second delivery center in Mexico, joining one in Mexico City, which opened in 2004.
Atos Origin has been awarded an SAP Global Pinnacle Award in the area Outsourcing Hosting. SAP Pinnacle Awards were granted to leading SAP partners that have excelled in enhancing the customer experience by teaming with SAP to help customers address critical issues such as accelerating innovation and improving return on investment. Winners were selected based on nominations received from partners and SAP employees. Atos Origin received the award at a special awards ceremony held on the eve of SAPPHIRE Berlin, SAP’s international customer conference May 19 – 21.
Posted by jbowles at 07:18 PM
Advertising Information
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Posted by jbowles at 07:17 PM
May 21, 2008
Top Stories
OUTSOURCING CENTER NAMES 2008 OUTSOURCING EXCELLENCE WINNERS...Outsourcing Center, one of the leading sources of information about outsourcing, has announced the winners of the 2008 Outsourcing Excellence Awards:
Best Partnership Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare and Perot Systems Corp.
Best EU Universal Music Group and buyingTeam
Best ITO Touro Infirmary and Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc.
Best BPO ENMAX Energy Corporation and Cognera Corp.
Best Financial Services Royal Bank of Canada (RBC Financial Group) and iGATE Global Solutions
Best First Steps National Life Group and Perot Systems Corp.
Most Strategic Microsoft Corporation and Accenture
Most Flexible Lloyds TSB Bank plc and Firstsource Solutions Ltd.
An independent panel of industry experts evaluated numerous nominated relationships worldwide. The August issue of the Outsourcing Journal will feature in-depth articles on each award-winning relationship. Forbes magazine will highlight the winners in its June 2 issue.
ACCENTURE ACQUIRES BRAZILIAN FIRM...Accenture has agreed to acquire ATAN, a privately held provider of industrial information technology (IT) and automation solutions based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The acquisition is designed to accelerate Accenture’s expansion into automation and industrial IT services globally and further enhances the company’s capabilities in management consulting, systems integration and technology consulting within the global metals and mining, energy and utilities industries.
HP REVENUES UP IN SECOND QUARTER...HP announced financial results for its second fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2008, with net revenue of $28.3 billion, up 11% from a year earlier and up 5% when adjusted for the effects of currency. GAAP operating profit was $2.6 billion and GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) was $0.80, up from $0.65 in the prior-year period.
CONVERGYS EXPANDS IN PHILIPPINES...Convergys Corporation will expand operations in the Philippines by nearly 50 percent with the addition of five new integrated contact centers throughout the country. The five new sites will bring the total number of Convergys contact centers in the Philippines to 14. At capacity, the new state-of-the-art facilities will employ up to an additional 7,000 talented individuals, bringing Convergys’ total employment in-country to approximately 20,000.
ORACLE SIGNS PARTNERS FOR BPO INITIATIVE...More than 15 business process outsourcing providers have signed on to provide BPO services through the new "BPO Powered by Oracle" global program. Oracle Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a sell-through partner program that makes the complete Oracle stack of applications, database and middleware products available to service providers.
Posted by jbowles at 03:15 PM
New Business
The State of Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has awarded Unisys a $179 million, seven-year, firm-fixed-price contract to provide a new Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) to manage Maine’s current and future Medicaid program.
Computer Sciences Corporation announced that The Phoenix Companies, Inc. has licensed CSC’s Customer Service Accelerator software to improve customer service for its 650,000 life insurance and annuity policyholders and the financial advisors who distribute its products.
The U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) has awarded Unisys a contract to compete for task orders to provide information technology (IT) solutions to the Department of Defense (DOD) and other federal agencies under the $12.25 billion ENCORE II multiple award indefinite delivery indefinite quantity contract.
Posted by jbowles at 03:15 PM
International News
Satyam Computer Services Ltd., a leading global consulting and information technology services provider, and GE Healthcare, announced a comprehensive agreement to support customers deploying healthcare IT solutions based on GE Centricity Enterprise software. The companies will join forces to plan, design, and implement infrastructures for global healthcare providers of all sizes -- from the smallest polyclinics to the largest hospitals. They will also perform application integration and tailor solutions for providers, as needed.
Harman International Industries, Incorporated has signed an agreement with Wipro Technologies to transfer responsibility for Harman’s Information Technology infrastructure to the solutions provider. Phased implementation of the initiative is expected within six months. The agreement will impact Harman information technology operations in ten countries across the Americas, Europe and Asia. Wipro’s initial scope of supply will include help desk operations plus administration of desktop systems, servers and networking.
India's largest private telecom operator Bharti Airtel has signed a three-year outsourcing deal with BPO firm Firstsource Solutions to offer voice and back office operations to its 66 million mobile customers. , Firstsource will provide BPO services covering both voice and back office in areas such as customer accounting, VAS provisioning, fraud and credit monitoring, customer service, collections, customer retention and from its centres in Chennai and Mumbai.
Posted by jbowles at 03:14 PM
Advertising Information
Outsourcing Alert reaches 50,000 key decision-makers a week. For advertising information and rates, contact Peter Bowes. Tel: (508)668-6908 or send an email.
Posted by jbowles at 03:13 PM
May 14, 2008
Top Stories
HP TO ACQUIRE EDS FOR $13.9 BILLION...HP and EDS have signed a definitive agreement under which HP will purchase EDS at a price of $25.00 per share, or an enterprise value of approximately $13.9 billion. The terms of the transaction have been unanimously approved by the HP and EDS boards of directors.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of calendar year 2008 and to more than double HP's services revenue, which amounted to $16.6 billion in fiscal 2007. The companies' collective services businesses, as of the end of each company's 2007 fiscal year, had annual revenues of more than $38 billion and 210,000 employees, doing business in more than 80 countries.
HP intends to establish a new business group, to be branded EDS - an HP company, which will be headquartered at EDS's existing executive offices in Plano, Texas. HP plans that EDS will continue to be led after the deal closes by EDS Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Ronald A. Rittenmeyer, who will join HP's executive council and report to Mark Hurd, HP's chairman and chief executive officer.
PEROTSYSTEMS BUYS ORIGINAL SOLUTIONS...Perot Systems Corporation has acquired Original Solutions Limited (Original Solutions), a professional IT services firm providing applications development and management services to clients in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Original Solutions' competencies include web applications and client server development, enterprise integration and legacy systems re-engineering, as well as significant expertise in IT Service Management and IT Infrastructure Library process management. Based in Limerick and Dublin, Ireland, Original Solutions employs approximately 90 people and reported revenues of euro 9 million in 2007.
Posted by jbowles at 08:03 PM
New Business
The Hertz Corporation has expanded its relationship with IBM, signing a five-year contract for global information technology to support Hertz's overall reengineering and efficiency improvement efforts. Under the contract, IBM will expand its services to provide application maintenance and development services and management for the Company's rent a car technology systems, support and operations for mid-range hardware and software and will establish operations for a global help desk for internal Hertz support. In addition, IBM will continue to provide Hertz with application maintenance and development services for the Company's equipment rental and claims management divisions and will continue to provide technical support and operations of the IBM mainframe system.
Accenture has been selected by Continental Casualty Company, a principal insurance company subsidiary of CNA Financial Corporation to administer, under a five-year business process outsourcing (BPO) agreement, certain annuity and retirement-related products that CNA no longer underwrites, markets or promotes. The administration of these products includes the handling of customer inquiries, requests and payments on a number of policy administration platforms, including the Accenture Life Insurance Platform.
Convergys Corporation announced that a leading U.S. communications company with millions of subscribers has extended and expanded its agreement with Convergys for its state-of-the-art Relationship Management Solutions. The expanded contract includes a 12-month extension of Infinys license support and maintenance and an agreement for consulting services.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has selected EDS to provide outbound calling services
and inbound callback support to facilitate the Combat Veteran Call Center outreach and education campaign to make combat veterans more aware of health care services and benefits available from the VA. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. The Combat Veteran Call Center will increase awareness of the extension of health care and benefits eligibility for veterans of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is the first task order awarded under the General Services
Administration's $2.5 billion USA Contact contract vehicle.
Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. announced a renewed contract with Weld County, Colo., to provide information technology (IT) services. The contract has a length of up to 15 years and a total value of $60 million if all options are exercised.
Posted by jbowles at 08:03 PM
International News
Computer Sciences Corporation has signed a new, seven-year information technology (IT) applications outsourcing agreement with TDC, the largest telecommunications company in Denmark. The contract is valued at approximately $413 million. CSC has supported TDC since 2003. The new agreement follows last year’s $330 million, seven-year award, which expanded the scope of infrastructure services CSC was providing. Under the new contract, which substantially expands CSC’s application services support, CSC will manage TDC’s legacy application portfolio, providing application development and maintenance services for more than 500 applications and supporting approximately 17,000 users.
BT has signed an agreement with Thomson Reuters to manage the WAN (wide area network) element of its internal IT infrastructure in an eight year outsourcing deal. BT will transform Thomson Reuters’ existing WAN into a high-speed, IP based global infrastructure that will encompass 323 locations across 100 countries including six applications hosting data centres. This win follows a 10 year plus deal BT reached with Reuters in 2005 to transform and manage the global network Thomson Reuters uses to deliver services to more than 330,000 financial market professionals across the world.
Posted by jbowles at 08:02 PM
Advertising Information
Outsourcing Alert reaches 50,000 key decision-makers a week. For advertising information and rates, contact Peter Bowes. Tel: (508)668-6908 or send an email.
Posted by jbowles at 08:00 PM
May 07, 2008
Top Stories
ZURICH FINANCIAL EXTENDS CSC CONTRACT...Computer Sciences Corporation has signed an information technology (IT) desktop services outsourcing contract expanding the scope of services CSC provides to Zurich Financial Services Group (Zurich), a world-leading, insurance-based financial services provider. The new agreement has a six-year base period at an estimated value of $399 million with a two-year extension option. Under the contract, CSC will assume responsibility for the provision of Zurich’s electronic Workplace (eWP) desktop services to its businesses in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Spain.
ACCENTURE ACQUIRES FREIGHT-MANAGEMENT COMPANY...Accenture will acquire the business of AddVal Technology Inc. (AddVal), a privately owned provider of end-to-end shipment-management products and services to global freight-management and airline-cargo companies. Based in Cupertino, Calif., AddVal has a software development center in Chennai, India. The acquisition would provide Accenture with AddVal’s industry-leading technology platform for freight order management and strengthen Accenture’s Freight and Logistics practice, which provides a wide variety of services to the global freight-management industry.
DARWINSUZSOFT REBRANDS AS DEXTRYS...Dextrys, a US-based China outsourcing firm delivering Product Engineering and Application Services, formally unveiled its new corporate identity. The rebranding evolution from DarwinSuzsoft to Dextrys is a reflection of the company's new ownership, new management, and refined business strategy.
Posted by jbowles at 07:21 PM
New Business
Computer Sciences Corporation has signed an amendment to extend its information technology (IT) outsourcing agreement with Nortel by two years. The amendment extends the contract through November 2011. CSC will continue to provide applications support and IT call center services to Nortel’s global user community. These services leverage CSC’s World Sourcing delivery centers from around the globe to provide Nortel with a high-quality, low-cost solution.
Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. announced a renewed contract with Weld County, Colo., to provide information technology (IT) services. The contract has a length of up to 15 years and a total value of $60 million if all options are exercised. The contract provides technology services including application support, help desk, personal computers, Geographic Information Systems, web development and network support. This contract renewal was reflected in ACS' third quarter fiscal year 2008 results.
Posted by jbowles at 07:21 PM
International News
C. Hoare & Co, England's oldest privately owned bank, has signed a five -year outsourcing deal with Capgemini to host its IT infrastructure. The deal will begin in June following a short transition, where the bank's main IT hardware will be moved from its headquarters in Fleet Street to a UK-based Capgemini data centre.
Unisys Corporation announced that its Hong Kong subsidiary has signed an IT outsourcing services contract with Hong Kong Judiciary, the institution responsible for the administration of justice in Hong Kong. Unisys was awarded the five-year contract, with an additional two-year option. The new contract, signed during end of 2007, replaces an earlier contract between Unisys and the Judiciary, which had been in place since 2001. Under this new contract, Unisys will deliver IT outsourcing services, including ongoing application support and maintenance, network infrastructure, office automation and other IT services.
WNS and Advanced Contact Solutions, (ACS) Inc. have formed a joint venture company - WNS Philippines, Inc. offering contact center services to global clients across industries. The Philippines is the third largest English-speaking nation in the world and produces 350,000 college graduates each year, thereby providing a highly-educated talent pool for the delivery of BPO services. The country's business-friendly environment and its time zone advantages make the Philippines a natural choice for providing 24x7 service to global companies, particularly those based in United States. The WNS delivery center is located in the capital city of Manila and intends to initially scale to 200 seats.
Posted by jbowles at 07:20 PM
Advertising Information
Outsourcing Alert reaches 50,000 key decision-makers a week. For advertising information and rates, contact Peter Bowes. Tel: (508)668-6908 or send an email.
Posted by jbowles at 07:19 PM
