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November 26, 2008
Top Stories
EVEREST Q3 REPORT: FSO WILL REGAIN MOMENTUM IN EARLY 2009...Outsourcing in the banking and financial services sector is showing short-term signs of a slowdown for the remainder of the year due to the economic crisis, but the market will likely regain momentum in early 2009, according to the Market Vista: Q3 2008report on global outsourcing and offshoring activity by the Everest Research Institute.
Market Vista is a subscription service with four reports published per year. For information about the Market Vista: Q3 2008 report or other research services, please visit http://www.everestresearchinstitute.com, e-mail info@everestresearchinstitute.com or call +1-214-451-3110.
SARA LEE TAPS HP...HP has been awarded a seven-year infrastructure services contract from Sara Lee Corporation to manage its global technology environment. The deal is part of Sara Lee’s global transformation to increase operational efficiencies and reduce costs across its businesses around the world. HP will extend its current agreement to 2015 and add the management of Sara Lee’s North America infrastructure technology to make this a fully global contract. HP also will transition Sara Lee’s infrastructure technology to HP’s next-generation data center in Atlanta. This automated environment will provide the latest infrastructure management and automation delivered as a service for Sara Lee.
Posted by jbowles at 06:53 PM
New Business
Accenture will provide Xcel Energy with application management services under a multi-year application outsourcing agreement. Terms of the contract were not disclosed. Under the agreement, Accenture will provide application maintenance and software development for Xcel Energy’s customer care, meter systems and human resources/payroll applications. Xcel Energy will leverage Accenture’s deep experience in the utilities sector and in application outsourcing services to increase its operational performance and enhance its customer service.
EDS, an HP company, and Guthy-Renker, one of the world’s largest direct response marketers, announced a four-year, $531 million contract extension and expansion to the companies’ 13-year relationship. The new agreement for consumer direct business process outsourcing (BPO) services supports Guthy-Renker’s growing customer base in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other international territories. Since 1995, EDS has provided Guthy-Renker with consumer direct services that span order and payment processing, warehouse and fulfillment, and call center/customer service to support its global operations and growth.
Centegra Health System and Perot Systems Corporation announced a long-term information technology services agreement in which Perot Systems will support the organization with the implementation of a range of business strategies -- including an advanced clinical system for the Illinois-based health system. Under the agreement, Perot Systems will assume responsibility for Centegra's information technology platform. Additionally, Perot Systems' deep healthcare expertise will enhance Centegra's ability to provide outstanding service for its patients, and increase the efficiency of its IT processes and support services, improving its ability to control costs.
Posted by jbowles at 06:52 PM
International News
Brasil Telecom S.A., one of the largest telecommunications companies in South America, has signed a one-year agreement for Convergys’ Dynamic Decisioning Solution. Brasil Telecom is a leader in converged fixed-mobile solutions as well as a full-service telecommunications operator that has a rich voice, data, Internet, and managed services product portfolio for residential, enterprise, commercial, and government customers. Brasil Telecom has more than 8 million fixed lines in service and the second-largest broadband access base in Latin America (over 1.6 million). It has 4.5 million mobile subscribers.
Australia's BankWest has sold its 49% stake in IT outsourcing joint venture Unisys West to its tech partner. Financial terms were not disclosed. The sell-off follows the $2.1 billion acquisition of BankWest by Commonwealth Bank of Australia. However, the Perth-based regional bank had already begun to move some services back inhouse in 2006, after outsourcing most of its IT infrastructure to Unisys West in 2002. The unit has now become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unisys Australia and will continue to provide IT services to public sector clients, says the company in a statement.
Logica, the leading IT and business services company, has been named number one European vendor of application management (AM) services in Europe. Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) puts Logica at the top of its table of revenues generated from standalone AM in Western Europe during 2007.
Unisys Corporation announced that its Unisys Global Services Center (UGSC) in Shanghai has earned the Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) level 3 rating. This follows the center’s recent attainment of four other key industry certifications: ISO/IEC 20000, ISO/IEC 27001, SAS No. 70 and ISO 9001. The certifications further confirm UGSC as a leader in adopting industry best practices for IT outsourcing in China.
Posted by jbowles at 06:52 PM
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Posted by jbowles at 06:50 PM
November 19, 2008
Top Stories
EVEREST STUDY: ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN DRIVING HR WORK OFFSHORE...In an increasingly slowing economy, offshore providers of human resources services are well positioned to take market share from US-based suppliers as buyer companies are now more focused on early cost savings that can be gained from labor arbitrage, according to a new study by the Everest Research Institute.
The Institute study, Human Resources Outsourcing (HRO) Annual Report, provides comprehensive coverage of the global 2008 HRO market, including detailed analyses on market size and buyer adoption, transaction characteristics, and supplier landscape. Study scope includes focus on North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America; suppliers having signed at least one HRO transaction; and all industries.
To read an extract, purchase the report, or inquire about other research services, please visit www.everestresearchinstitute.com, email info@everestresearchinstitute.com or call +1-214-451-3110.
MITSUBISHI MOTORS EXTENDS IBM OUTSOURCING CONTRACT...Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) has extended its strategic outsourcing contract with IBM Japan for an additional five years. The entire operation and maintenance of the company's information system will be entrusted to IBM Japan. The agreement was signed in September 2008 and will be in effect until September 2013. In addition to the management of existing IT infrastructure, application operation and maintenance, and end-user support services, the new contract will include assistance of application planning.
CSC REVENUES UP FOR SECOND QUARTER...CSC reported revenues of $4.24 billion for the second 2009 fiscal quarter, up 5.5% year over year, and earnings per share for the quarter of $2.95. Net income for the second quarter was $451.7 million, or $2.95 per share (diluted), compared to last year’s second quarter earnings per share of 43 cents.
PEROT SYSTEMS ACQUIRES TELLURIAN...Perot Systems Corporation has acquired substantially all of the assets of Tellurian Networks, Inc., a leading managed services hosting provider of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Practice Management (PM) applications to physician groups. Tellurian is based in Newton, NJ and has operations in New Jersey and California. Financial terms were not disclosed.
UNISYS OUTSOURCING CENTERS GET ISO CERTIFICATION...Unisys Corporation announced that five of its worldwide outsourcing centers have received the prestigious ISO/IEC 20000 certification for delivering information technology (IT) services based on best-practice global management standards. The certification is the first – and prevailing – worldwide standard for benchmarking delivery of IT services that advance clients’ enterprise business goals
Posted by jbowles at 06:40 PM
New Business
IBM has signed a three-year, approximately $130 million contract extension with Fluor Corporation (NYSE: FLR) for information technology (IT) outsourcing services. As part of the agreement, IBM will continue providing help desk, data center and server services, network management, desk side support, SAP hosting, IT security and disaster recovery services. IBM's global delivery network and resources will provide services to Fluor's 74 country locations around the world with centers in Canada, the United States, India and Poland providing primary support
American Greetings has selected Capgemini as its systems integrator for a multi-year technology implementation initiative designed to strengthen the company's market leadership. American Greetings, the creator, manufacturer and distributor of social expression products, selected Capgemini for this project to help the company fully utilize its investment in an enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite and standardize many areas of operations.
Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. has signed a five-year, $48 million contract renewal with the Wyoming Department of Health to provide fiscal agent services for the state's Medicaid and Dental program. This contract, which continues fiscal agent services for the operation of Wyoming's Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS) through June 2013, further extends ACS' 15-year relationship with the state and is the third consecutive award for ACS in Wyoming.
Posted by jbowles at 06:40 PM
International News
Brasil Telecom S.A., one of the largest telecommunications companies in South America, has signed a one-year agreement for Convergys’ Dynamic Decisioning Solution. Brasil Telecom is a leader in converged fixed-mobile solutions as well as a full-service telecommunications operator that has a rich voice, data, Internet, and managed services product portfolio for residential, enterprise, commercial, and government customers. Brasil Telecom has more than 8 million fixed lines in service and the second-largest broadband access base in Latin America (over 1.6 million). It has 4.5 million mobile subscribers.
Atos Worldline, an Atos Origin Company, has signed a 5-year contract with leading German health Insurance Company, Gmünder ErsatzKasse (GEK), to implement and operate the issuing and management of the new German electronic health card (eHC). In 2009, GEK plans to issue 30,000 cards per day in order to provide its 1.7 million members in Germany with the new card. One of the German public authorities’ most important IT projects, the eHealth card is an important step in the modernization of European health systems. It is designed to guarantee the simple and secure exchange of data between insured parties, doctors, pharmacists and health insurance companies.
Global information technology services provider Birlasoft has been awarded an SAP implementation contract by a global Fortune 5 client for its healthcare business in Europe. The multi-module deployment is part of the long-term strategy of the client to migrate from legacy ERP systems to a single integrated instance of SAP, globally.
Posted by jbowles at 06:40 PM
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Posted by jbowles at 06:38 PM
November 13, 2008
Top Stories
EBIX TO ACQUIRE CONFIRMNET...Ebix, Inc. has signed an agreement to acquire San Diego-based ConfirmNet Corporation effective November 1, 2008. The closing is expected on November 22 and is subject to the merger being ratified by the ConfirmNet shareholders. Founded in 1999, ConfirmNet offers ASP software on an SAAS (software-as-a service) basis for issuing and tracking certificates of insurance (COI). Over the years, ConfirmNet has emerged as the leader in the COI issuance industry in the United States. Before being acquired by Ebix, ConfirmNet had the second largest market share in the certificate tracking industry, in the United States. Ebix's existing BPO division, EBIXBPO has the largest market share in the certificate tracking industry, in the United States, with this acquisition strengthening its position even further. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to Ebix earnings per share (“EPS”) in the near- and long-term future.
PEROT SYSTEMS CHANGES NAME OF JJWILD...Perot Systems Corporation announced that JJWild, a company it acquired in August 2007, will fully transition its name to Perot Systems, completing an important milestone toward full integration. Perot Systems will now refer to the group as the MEDITECH Solutions Group, which reflects its ability to access the global information technology provider's deep healthcare solutions expertise to benefit hospitals utilizing MEDITECH products.
Posted by jbowles at 07:11 PM
New Business
Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. has signed a new five-year, $44 million contract with Florida's Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA) to administer a Third Party Liability program for Florida Medicaid. With many state governments facing severe budget crises, ACS' Third Party Liability (TPL) solutions deliver potential cost savings. As part of the new contract with Florida, ACS will deploy its industry-leading business process and Web-based technologies in pursuit of Third Party recovery sources such as commercial health insurance plans, Medicare, Casualty, Estate, Trust and Annuity plans which provide opportunities to save money by assisting state Medicaid programs in proactively identifying alternate insurance sources prior to Medicaid claims payment.
FireSky, a new video game publisher dedicated to improving how gamers play together online, has signed a new contract for Convergys’ Relationship Management Solutions. Convergys will provide online-gaming consumers of the soon-to-be-released Stargate Worlds massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) with state-of-the-art inbound customer support services. Convergys' dedicated contact center agents will initially provide customer support to English, French, and German-speaking customers for general game playing questions as well as technical, account management, or subscription-related questions.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service has awarded Unisys a contract to migrate the agency's data center to the USDA's new consolidated Enterprise Data Centers (EDCs). The firm fixed price contract, valued at approximately $5.5 million over a two-year period, is part of a USDA initiative to streamline IT management, reduce costs and address IT security vulnerabilities by consolidating the department's data centers into four EDC locations.
Posted by jbowles at 07:10 PM
International News
Stora Enso has signed an agreement to outsource most of its financial transaction processing to Capgemini. This is a step in the restructuring of the Group's finance function that was announced on 25 October 2007 together with Stora Enso's other restructuring plans in response to increasing costs and to safeguard long-term profitability. Stora Enso's restructuring of its financial administration will be one of the most comprehensive restructurings of financial administration in the Nordic countries. It will significantly reduce the costs of the finance function and improve the quality of financial operations.
IBM and Sapa have signed an extension to an existing seven-year services contract. Sapa is the largest provider of aluminium profiles in the world, and part of the Norwegian industrial conglomerate Orkla. In terms of the new agreement, signed in October 2008, IBM will provide infrastructure services and application maintenance services for an additional 2,500 PC users in the Sapa system, double the number of users as stated in the original contract which was signed in 2007.
CSC has signed an alliance agreement with KT Corporation, the leading Korean telecommunications and networking services provider. The companies will collaborate on marketing and delivering a managed services offering called Total Corporate Data Centre (CDC) Outsourcing Service in South Korea. The offering includes IT consulting, network services, systems integration and applications development and maintenance. By combining their individual areas of expertise, the companies can help lower clients' total operating costs while increasing the scalability and efficiency of their business operations. The alliance also enhances CSC and KT's value proposition in the IT services market.
TAM Airlines has signed a contract with IBM for the management of its service desk. The solution includes installation, help desk and field support of TAM's information technology (IT) infrastructure. IBM has mobilized a team of 90 onsite professionals to support many of TAM's departments and back office. IBM's Hortolândia Service Center, located in São Paulo, will also have a team dedicated to help desk services for TAM's IT users.
Posted by jbowles at 07:10 PM
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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 07:09 PM
November 05, 2008
Top Stories
UNISYS REPORTS NET LOSS FOR QUARTER...Unisys Corporation reported a net loss of $34.7 million, or 10 cents a share, on revenue of $1.31 billion for the third quarter of 2008. In the year-ago quarter, the company reported a net loss of $31.0 million, or 9 cents a share, on revenue of $1.39 billion. Revenue in the United States declined 8 percent in the quarter to $560 million. Revenue in international markets declined 4 percent to $752 million.
WIPRO SETS UP SHARED SERVICES CENTER IN BRAZIL...Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Limited, announced that its Business Process Outsourcing division, Wipro BPO, is setting up in Curitiba, Brazil a Shared Services centre for AmBev, the largest brewery company in Latin America with leading brands like Brahma, Becks, Stella and Antarctica. The Shared Services Centre will provide services to AmBev across Latin America in the areas of Finance and Accounting, Order Management, Customer Services and HR Services.
PEROT SYSTEMS THIRD QUARTER REVENUES UP...Perot Systems Corp. reported third-quarter net income of $30 million or $0.25 per share, compared to $25 million or $0.20 per share in the comparable quarter last year. Revenue for the quarter increased 9% to $711 million from $655 million in the prior year quarter.
ATOS ORIGIN NAMES ERP VP...Atos Origin, an international IT services company, has appointed Michael van der Breggen as its new vice president responsible for the Company’s ERP Services in North America. He reports directly to Paul Stewart, Executive Vice President and CEO of Atos Origin North America. Stewart joined the company in 1997 as a senior SAP consultant. Throughout his career with Atos Origin, Steward has held many positions ranging from consultant, program manager to operations director.
CXO EXPANDS SERVICES...CXO Global Solutions, LLC, an Overland Park‐based strategic business advisory firm specializing in customer experience management today announced its expansion into complete customer lifecycle management and managed call center services. The company focuses on helping service‐oriented businesses – such as consumer products/services, financial services, direct response marketing and others – acquire, support and retain their customers.
Posted by jbowles at 06:56 PM
New Business
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) has awarded Unisys a $1.4 million task order under the Department of Homeland Security Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge Solutions (EAGLE) contract to provide secure email and identity management services supporting the agency’s 18,000 employees.
Posted by jbowles at 06:54 PM
International News
HP has signed a 10-year strategic IT transformation services contract with Godrej, India’s largest engineering and consumer products company. Under the terms of the agreement, HP will lead a comprehensive infrastructure outsourcing and transformation project that will provide Godrej with a scalable and reliable service delivery structure based on Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) standards. HP will deliver infrastructure solutions, along with consulting and outsourced services, which include management for SAP, PeopleSoft and other critical business applications. Godrej’s operational team also will transition to HP, providing those employees with enhanced career opportunities.
Maersk Line, a division of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, and IBM announced a new agreement for IBM to provide IT services from India and Denmark. Maersk Line is one of the leading liner shipping companies in the world, serving customers all over the globe with a fleet of more than 470 container vessels and nearly 2 million containers. This new agreement covers infrastructure platform services implementing new servers, consolidating and updating of existing server platforms and upgrading of middleware software to new releases.
International IT services provider, Steria, has selected recruitment outsourcing specialist Ochre House to manage all permanent recruitment for its divisions and companies within the UK. Under the three year contract, Ochre House will be responsible for sourcing around 300 roles per year in a wide range of professional services areas from SAP consultants, project managers and practice heads to technical architects and analysts to legal and finance staff and new graduates. Ochre House will also provide consultancy services aimed at maximising the effectiveness of all Steria’s ‘talent management’ processes.
Ki Work, the marketplace for Virtual BPO, is to supply teams of data entry experts to work on a vital contract for the international shipping market. The project involves interpreting and entering information from tens of thousands of bills of lading. artnering with ki work are world-leading business process management experts PeopleForce. The project's participants will all be ki work certified professionals and experts.
Posted by jbowles at 06:53 PM
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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 06:52 PM
