September 01, 2010
Top Stories
CAPGEMINI ACUIRES MAJORITY STAKE IN LARGEST BRAZILIAN IT FIRM...Capgemini is acquiring a 55% interest in CPM Braxis, the leading Brazilian IT services company. With a client base of major Brazilian and international companies, particularly in the financial sector, CPM Braxis expects to record 2010 revenues of around BRL 1 billion (450 million pounds). With over 5,500 employees, CPM Braxis boasts a diversified business portfolio focused on Application Outsourcing and Enterprise Application Services, and Infrastructure Integration and Infrastructure Services, the majority of which is delivered through multi-year contracts. CPM Braxis serves over 200 clients, and is especially strong in the financial sector. Its biggest client, major Brazilian bank Bradesco, was also its biggest shareholder prior to the transaction.
Brazil represents 47% of the Latin American IT services market, valued at $23 billion. Driven by a booming economy, the Brazilian IT services market has enjoyed the highest growth rate in the region for the past five years, and yearly growth should exceed 10% until 2014.
ACCENTURE GETS $160 MILLION BPO EXTENSION FROM ETS...Educational Testing Service (ETS), the leading provider of education assessments and psychometric research, has awarded Accenture a seven-year, $160M contract extension to continue managing its end-to-end supply chain, under a business process outsourcing (BPO) agreement. The contract was signed in May 2010. Under the agreement, Accenture will continue to manage all aspects of ETS' supply chain, including the printing, publishing, warehousing, distribution, tracking and shipping of tests and test materials to more than 10 million test takers in 160 countries every year.
UNISYS SELLS UK INSURANCE BUSINESS...Unisys Corporation has sold Unisys Insurance Services Limited (UISL) to Diligenta Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Consultancy Services Limited. UISL, which is headquartered in the UK and has operations in Liverpool and Bournemouth, provides business process outsourcing services to the UK life and pensions industry. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
MARKET RECOGNIZES GENPACT'S SEP METHODOLOGY...Leading industry analyst firm IDC has found Genpact's proprietary Smart Enterprise Processes (SEPsm) methodology--launched in late 2009--to be a unique and valuable way for companies to drive process effectiveness and achieve measurable business impact. SEP leverages best practices and proprietary benchmarking data to deliver proven results across industries and key business processes. The report by Mukesh Dialani, IDC's research manager, Worldwide BPO Services, examines how Genpact's SEP methodology addresses lack of optimal process management in the enterprise environment. "Genpact's unique IP enables it to test effectiveness of the clients' process by measuring performance at each step of the entire business process and applying best-in-class benchmarks from within and across industries," Dialani wrote.
New Business
BancTec, a global provider of advanced, high volume document and payment processing solutions and services, has been selected by Northrop Grumman to provide 13 high-speed, high-volume scanners--and all related scanner control software--for four Internal Revenue Service (IRS) corporate tax processing facilities and two test centers. As part of the multi-year, multi-million dollar contract, BancTec will also provide maintenance on data servers located in the IRS facilities.
The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families has renewed an eight-year, $30 million contract with Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS), A Xerox Company, to process child support payments. ACS will continue operating the state's child support payment processing operation, known as a State Disbursement Unit (SDU). ACS has run the SDU since 1998, providing services that include processing and disbursing payments, performing monthly bank reconciliations and managing a customer service call center. Beginning in 2011, ACS will also administer the state's program that offers child support payments on a debit card, providing recipients faster and more convenient access to their funds on a card accepted at thousands of retailers and ATMs.
International News
Central Bank of India, one of the largest public sector banks in India and Wipro announced a five-year total outsourcing agreement to provide state-of-the-art, technology-driven, core banking solution for seven sponsored Regional Rural banks. One of them Uttar Bihar Gramin Bank is the biggest RRB in India and has a large presence in Bihar. The Centralized Core Banking Project is expected to facilitate efficient internal operations for the seven Regional Rural Banks by integrating 2000 sites which include branches, extension counters, satellite offices, Regional Offices, Head Offices and back offices in a phased manner. The solution would also offer alternate Delivery channels like Internet Banking and Mobile (including SMS Alerts) banking.
WNS (Holdings) Limited, a leading provider of global business process outsourcing services, announced a contract to deliver analytics and customer care services for IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group). Under this multi-year agreement, WNS will deliver customer care services in several languages including German, Italian, French and Spanish to IHG's entities across Europe. WNS is also providing a dedicated analytics team to support IHG's consumer marketing programs.
Diligenta, a leading business process outsourcing (BPO) provider in the UK and a subsidiary of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), announced major business wins with The Phoenix Group and Old Mutual International following the transfer of Unisys Insurance Services Limited's (UISL) UK life and pensions services business to Diligenta. Diligenta's new contract with The Phoenix Group has been extended by an additional six years until 2018, and both contracts will generate £250 million in revenue for the company over that period, reinforcing Diligenta's position as one of the largest BPO providers in the UK.
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August 25, 2010
Top Stories
ADP COMPLETES WORKSCAPE ACQUISITION...ADP has completed its acquisition of privately-held Workscape, Inc., a premier provider of integrated benefits and talent management solutions and services. Based in Marlborough, Massachusetts, with approximately 400 employees, Workscape serves a broad client base, including numerous Fortune 250 companies, and provides solutions to more than 3.5 million users with services deployed in over 180 countries, 48 currencies and 70 languages. Workscape's core products are considered leading technologies for the markets they serve.
MORE SKILLED WORKERS NEEDED...Manpower Inc. advises that unless businesses, governments and trade associations work together to develop long-term strategies to alleviate talent shortages among skilled trades, future economic growth will suffer. Worldwide, skilled trades positions are the hardest to fill, according to Manpower Inc.'s recent global Talent Shortage Survey of 35,000 employers across 36 countries and territories.
GENPACT RECOGNIZED AS TOP SERVICE PROVIDER... Genpact Limited, a global leader in business process and technology management, has been recognized as one of the world's top outsourcing service providers as featured in the 2010 Global Services 100 provider list. This marks the fourth consecutive year that Genpact has been acknowledged as one of the top service providers.
New Business
HP announced a $135 million, eight-year technology services contract with the Alabama Medicaid Agency, enabling the state to contain costs while meeting new HIPAA requirements, and to improve healthcare delivery, provider satisfaction and recipient access to personal healthcare information. The new contract extends HP's 30-year relationship with Alabama's Medicaid agency, which oversees the Medicaid program for more than 900,000 state residents each year. HP processed nearly 32 million Medicaid claims for Alabama healthcare providers in 2009.
Unisys Corporation has won a five-year extension of its contract to provide end-user support services to Flowserve Corporation, a global leader in supplying pumps, valves, seals, automation and services to the power, oil, gas, chemical and other industries. Under the extension, valued at an estimated $37 million, Unisys will provide ongoing and expanded services to support approximately 10,000 of Flowserve's employees in more than 50 countries worldwide for five years beyond the originally contracted 2011 expiration date.
Global Group, one of India's leading business groups in the Network Services and Telecom Tower Infrastructure business, has engaged Infosys BPO, the business process outsourcing subsidiary of Infosys Technologies, to provide services with regard to setting up of its Shared Service Centre (SSC). As part of the deal, Infosys BPO will provide consulting and implementation services across key functions such as finance & accounting, human resources, sourcing & procurement, sales & fulfilment, legal services & IT. The scope includes assessment, design and implementation services coupled with operational support, to be provided for an estimated 20 months.
IBM has signed an agreement with Sunoco, Inc., a leading manufacturer and marketer of petroleum and petrochemical products, to provide managed business process services and application support services. Through this agreement, IBM will help Sunoco drive improvements to a number of its back office processes by leveraging IBM's experience in the oil and gas industry, and deep business and applications process expertise, existing tools, and operational knowledge.
International News
Accenture has signed a three-year application outsourcing (AO) contract with Norsk Hydro ASA, one of the world's leading integrated aluminum companies. The agreement covers support and maintenance of two of Hydro's SAP systems globally. The agreement is designed to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of Hydro's SAP-based business processes through an industrialized approach that offers higher quality and innovation. The services will be provided to Hydro users in multiple countries by Accenture's Global Delivery Network, using centers in Germany and India. The delivery of the outsourced services is scheduled to begin in October 2010.
Patni has been appointed to deliver application management services to the Codan group in Scandinavia. The IT and BPO service provider secured the seven-figure contract over three years for which it will provide managed services for some of the core insurance platforms in Scandinavia. Codan Group, a part of the insurance giant RSA Group had invited five leading outsourcing companies including Patni to bid for the application management contract in September, 2009 out of which it shortlisted three vendors in March, 2010 and finalized to appoint Patni in June this year.
Patni also landed a seven year contract to deliver an information management platform for schools for Serco Learning. The platform, named 'Progresso' is being designed by Serco and developed by Patni. 'Progresso' is a centrally hosted management information platform that provides relevant data, tools and services directly to schools, parents and local authorities. It will be available at the end of 2011
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August 18, 2010
Top Stories
GENPACT CEO: U.S. NOW COMPETITIVE IN CALL CENTER MARKET...Pramod Bhasin, chief executive of Genpact, tells the Financial Times that his company expects to triple its workforce in the US over the next two years, from about 1,500 employees now. High unemployment levels have driven down wages for some low-skilled outsourcing services in some parts of the US, particularly among the Hispanic population, while wages in India’s outsourcing sector have risen by 10 per cent this year and senior outsourcing managers based in the country earn salaries above global averages. "We need to be very aware [of what's available] as people [in the US] are open to working at home and working at lower salaries than they were used to," Bhasin is quoted as saying. "We can hire some seasoned executives with experience in the US for less money."
HP WINS $200 MILLION MEDICARE CONTRACT...HP Enterprise Services has been awarded a contract worth up to $200 million by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide application services that improve Medicare Part B claims processing as well as the delivery of healthcare services to beneficiaries. The Medicare Part B Shared System Maintainer contract is for one base year with seven one-year renewal options. Medicare's Multi-Carrier System (MCS) is utilized by CMS' Carriers and Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) to process approximately 750 million Medicare Part B claims annually.
Under the contract, HP will provide applications support and maintenance services, including full development life cycle support for system maintenance and enhancements. HP services will deliver production and user support for the processing of an ever-increasing volume of Medicare Part B claims, as well as MAC transition support.
CAPGEMINI BUYS BRAZILIAN FIRM...Capgemini and Sonda Procwork, the Brazilian unit of Chilean IT systems integrator Sonda, announced that Capgemini Brazil has acquired Sonda Procwork's facility in Gaspar, in the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil and will now deliver BPO services to global clients in the region who were previously serviced by Sonda Procwork. The acquisition of this facility is in line with Capgemini's Latin America expansion strategy
New Business
NorthgateArinso, has signed a global five year contract with BASF IT Services, a BASF Group company that offers business solutions and managed services to BASF and third party customers. NorthgateArinso will provide technical support for the maintenance of the global SAP HCM applications and functional support for the country-specific HR solutions. It will also provide consulting services to BASF based on a global HR delivery model with country-specific functionalities. NorthgateArinso will also help all BASF offices in several countries to migrate to the global BASF HR platform.
International News
Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Limited has entered into a five year agreement with ArcelorMittal, the world's leading steel company, to consolidate and migrate its messaging systems to the Microsoft Exchange 2010 messaging platform. Wipro will host the new global messaging system on its hardware, hosted at six ArcelorMittal datacenters, spanning across North America, Latin America, East and West Europe and Asia. Wipro will also manage ArcelorMittal’s global messaging systems for the entire period of the contract. This engagement will help transform ArcelorMittal's messaging environment and curtail their global messaging spending.
Barclays Bank PLC has outsourced management and maintenance services for 550 remote and host operated ATMs to NCR Corporation under a two-year contract. NCR will be responsible for delivering a complete managed services solution which includes helpdesk services, incident management, first and second line maintenance and managing cash replenishment services in partnership with Cash-In-Transit management company Loomis.
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August 11, 2010
Top Stories
EXCELLENCE AWARDS DEADLINE EXTENDED: Outsourcing and Sourcing Excellence Awards extension to August 18th! Don't miss out on this prestigious industry recognition and expansion of categories. Click here for more information and nomination forms.
IBM ACQUIRES DATACAP...IBM announced the acquisition of Datacap Inc., a privately-held company based in Tarrytown, NY. Datacap is a leading provider of software that enables organizations to transform the way they capture, manage and automate the flow of business information to improve business processes, reduce paper costs or manual errors and meet compliance mandates. Financial terms were not disclosed. The acquisition strengthens IBM's ability to help organizations digitize, manage and automate their information assets, particularly in paper-intensive industries such as healthcare, insurance, government and finance.
GENPACT WINS 7-YEAR MORTAGE SERVICE CONTRACT FROM MERS...Genpact Limited, a global leader in business process and technology management, will provide mortgage services support and member-facing helpdesk services for MERSCORP, Inc. (MERS), the mortgage finance industry's electronic loan registry system. Under this significant seven-year agreement, Genpact will perform business process services in the United States for MERS, including managing the receipt, identification and delivery of mortgage-related correspondence on behalf of MERS 2,500 members while working to improve the quality and accuracy of the underlying business processes. Genpact, through its Mortgage Services business, delivers specialized mortgage support to a number of leading industry participants, leveraging its unique Smart Enterprise Processes (SEPSM) approach that combines process excellence, technology, analytics, re-engineering and insights into one framework to drive the overall effectiveness of its mortgage clients' critical business processes.
CSC EARNINGS UP FOR FIRST QUARTER...CSC reported first quarter fiscal 2011 revenue of $3.94 billion and fully diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.91 compared to first quarter fiscal 2010 revenue of $3.90 billion and EPS of $0.85.
New Business
Capgemini has been awarded a five-year application management services contract with super regional property-casualty insurance carrier, The Main Street America Group. Under this new agreement, Capgemini will provide a service-based application management solution for Guidewire ClaimCenter, which aims to increase clients' operational efficiency, predictability and scalability for new application developments.
The University of North Texas System (UNTS) has selected Accenture to assist in developing a plan for implementing IT and HR/payroll shared services for its component institutions. The project is focused on developing a multi-year strategic plan to implement shared services. It will include prioritized campus-level and system-wide strategies for improvement, with a goal to increase efficiency and improve the services provided by IT and the HR/payroll functions across all UNTS campuses and offices. Working with the UNT System Vice Chancellor of Finance and the UNTS Shared Services Council, Accenture will develop a shared services implementation roadmap and five-year plan for IT investment covering capital, operating and personnel expenditures.
CSC announced that the U.S. Army awarded the company a task order to provide technical and engineering support for its Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center (AMRDEC). The task order, which was awarded during CSC's fiscal 2011 first quarter, has a one-year base period, four one-year options and an estimated total value of $104 million. The task order was awarded under the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command's Expedited Professional and Engineering Support Services blanket purchase agreement, which CSC won in 2005.
International News
Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Limited and Citibank N.A. announced that the companies have signed an agreement for Wipro to take over the operation and management of Citi's data center in Meerbusch Germany, a suburb of Dusseldorf. In conjunction with the transaction, Wipro has taken the data center from Citi and intends to use the site to support other outsourcing clients. Citi will lease back office and data center space from Wipro for at least 30 months, and Wipro will provide Citi with facilities management and physical infrastructure management services during the period.
TravelSky, the leading provider of information technology solutions for China's air travel and tourism industry, has renewed its commitment to Unisys services and server technology in a major contract with Unisys China to support the transaction peaks driven by China's growing aviation sector. The US$43 million deal was signed in the first quarter of 2010.
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August 04, 2010
Top Stories
EXCELLENCE AWARDS DEADLINE EXTENDED: Outsourcing and Sourcing Excellence Awards extension to August 18th! Don't miss out on this prestigious industry recognition and expansion of categories. Click here for more information and nomination forms.
CSC SIGNS 10-YEAR CONTRACT EXTENSION WITH SWISS RE...CSC announced a 10-year extension to its business process outsourcing (BPO) services agreement with Swiss Re, one of the world's largest and most diversified reinsurers. Under the extension, CSC will continue to provide administration for Swiss Re's direct life insurance business through July 2020. Building on a relationship that began in 1995, CSC supports Swiss Re's Admin Re business unit in the United States, one of the highest growth areas for Swiss Re's global life and health segment.
COGNIZANT REPORTS RECORD SECOND QUARTER RESULTS...Revenue for the second quarter of 2010 rose to $1.105 billion, up 42% from $776.6 million in the second quarter of 2009. GAAP net income was $172.2 million, or $0.56 per diluted share, compared to $141.3 million, or $0.47 per diluted share, in the second quarter of 2009. Diluted earnings per share on a non-GAAP basis was $0.59. GAAP operating margin for the quarter was 18.6%. Excluding stock-based compensation expense of $14.0 million, non-GAAP operating margin was 19.9%, within the Company's targeted 19-20% range. Earnings for the quarter included $4.6 million, or $0.02 per share, of net non-operating foreign currency exchange losses.
GENPACT SECOND QUARTER REVENUES RISE...Genpact Limited announced financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010. Second quarter 2010 revenues were $307.6 million, up 12.7% from $272.9 million in the second quarter of 2009 and up 6.7% from the first quarter of 2010, driven by business process management growth of 21.1% for global clients and 8.7% for GE. Net income attributable to Genpact Limited shareholders was $27.8 million, down 6.2% from $29.7 million in the second quarter of 2009.
ACS COMPLETES EXCELLERATE ACQUISITION...Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), A Xerox Company announced the completion of its acquisition of ExcellerateHRO, LLP (EHRO), enhancing its end-to-end human resource services capabilities. ACS announced on May 25 a definitive agreement to acquire EHRO. With the addition of EHRO, ACS now offers leading capabilities in the four main HR services disciplines: consulting, benefits administration, HR outsourcing, and learning services.
ICG REVENUES UP FOR QUARTER...ICG's consolidated revenue increased to $27.4 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2010, up from $22.1 million for the second quarter of 2009. Consolidated net income for the quarter ended June 30, 2010 was $15.8 million, or $0.43 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $(8.5) million, or $(0.23) per diluted share, in the comparable 2009 period. Results for the 2010 quarter included net gains, primarily related to sales of Blackboard stock, and results for the 2009 quarter included charges, primarily related to an impairment.
International News
The Singapore Ministry of Health has awarded Accenture a contract to implement the National Electronic Health Record (NEHR) system, a key enabler of Singapore's vision toward a national, integrated health care system. The NEHR is designed to improve the quality of healthcare for citizens, lower the costs of health services, and promote more effective health policies. Under the NEHR, key medical information such as patient demographics, allergies, clinical diagnoses, medication history, radiology reports, laboratory investigations and discharge summaries will be exchangeable among healthcare providers.
Global Group, one of India's leading business groups engaged in the Network Services and Telecom Tower Infrastructure business, has engaged Infosys BPO, the business process outsourcing subsidiary of Infosys Technologies, to provide services with regard to setting up of its Shared Service Centre (SSC). As part of the deal, Infosys BPO will provide consulting and implementation services across key functions such as finance & accounting, human resources, sourcing & procurement, sales & fulfilment, legal services & IT. The scope includes assessment, design and implementation services coupled with operational support, to be provided for an estimated 20 months.
Wizz Air, Central and Eastern Europe's largest low cost airline, has renewed its agreement with Navitaire for its distribution, reservation, and departure control services to support its high-growth business plans over the next 10 years. Terms of the contract were not disclosed. Navitaire, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Accenture, provides technology and business solutions to the airline industry on an outsourced basis.
Aditya Birla Minacs, a global business solutions company (subsidiary of Aditya Birla Nuvo), achieved another milestone in its Connect India expansion plans, announcing the launch of its new delivery centers in Kolkata and Ranchi in Eastern India.
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July 28, 2010
Top Stories
DEADLINE EXTENDED: Outsourcing and Sourcing Excellence Awards extension to August 18th! Don't miss out on this prestigious industry recognition and expansion of categories. Click here for more information and nomination forms.
ACCENTURE WINS MULTI-YEAR IT DEAL FROM EUROPEAN UNION...The Taxation and Customs Union Directorate General (DG TAXUD) has awarded Accenture an IT systems management and development contract to support the European Commission's CUST-DEV2 program, which is designed to introduce a harmonized, centralized and paperless customs system (eCustoms) across the EU by 2013. The three-year contract is valued at approximately EUR 49.3 million, with the option for two one-year extensions. Accenture will manage the existing customs systems at DG TAXUD as well as the specifications of the Trans-European Systems. Additionally, Accenture will work with DG TAXUD on the development and management of new customs applications and systems in the scope of the eCustoms initiative. Accenture will draw on its extensive experience working with customs agencies around the world and its High Performance Customs framework to support the program.
UNISYS NET UP IN SECOND QUARTER...Unisys Corporation reported second-quarter 2010 net income of $120.2 million, or $2.77 per diluted share, compared with net income of $38.1 million, or $1.02 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. The current quarter results include a pre-tax gain of approximately $65 million related to the sale of the company's health information management (HIM) business. Second-quarter 2010 net income from continuing operations increased to $59.4 million, or $1.37 per diluted share, from $33.5 million, or 90 cents per diluted share, in the year-ago period. Operating results of the HIM business, and the gain on the sale, are being reported as a discontinued operation. Revenue in the second quarter of 2010 declined 4 percent (2 percent excluding divested businesses) to $1.06 billion compared with $1.10 billion in the year-ago quarter. Revenue declined 5 percent (3 percent excluding divested businesses) on a constant currency basis.
CERIDIAN NAMES NEW CEO...Ceridian Corporation has named Stuart C. Harvey, Jr. its Chief Executive Officer, effective August 16, 2010. Harvey was most recently the Chief Executive Officer of Elavon, Inc., a global payment solutions organization and subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp. Prior to joining Elavon, he was a managing director with the investment banking firm of Piper Jaffray in Minneapolis. He is also a former practicing attorney having worked previously with two Chicago-based law firms. Harvey joined Elavon (formerly NOVA Information Systems) in April 2003.
New Business
Capgemini, one of the world's leading providers of consulting, technology and outsourcing services, announced the signing of two long-term contract renewals with General Motors Holdings, LLC (GM) to provide application outsourcing services for GM's Global Sales & Marketing and Dealer Systems by Capgemini America Inc. The combined value of the 5-year agreements is approximately $250 million. Capgemini started delivering services to GM under the new agreements from July 2010, one year ahead of the end of the previous contract term. The original contracts between GM and Capgemini were effective June 2006. Under the new contracts, Capgemini will provide global Application Sustain and Development Services as well as Help Desk Support for GM's global Sales & Marketing and Dealer Systems located in 38 countries, as well as Hosting services for Test and Development Servers.
International News
BancTec, Inc., a global provider of advanced, high-volume, document and payment processing solutions and services, announced that British Airways (BA) has selected it for a major engineering record management effort, expected to last initially for three years. In total, BancTec's business process outsourcing (BPO) division will scan approximately 65 million engineering records for BA, providing the airline with significant added business value and cost savings.
ExlService Holdings, Inc.,a leading provider of outsourcing and transformation services, announced the signing of a multi-year contract with Petrogas, the largest independent operator of the Applegreen chain of service stations in Ireland. Under thw agreement, EXL will provide finance and accounting services to Petrogas and manage the entire finance and accounting operations from its service delivery centre in a special economic zone in Noida, India. Petrogas will gain the flexibility and scalability to continue its expansion in Ireland and the UK with a more focused approach and greater force.
Accenture has signed a multi-year application services agreement with Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, a member of the Sun Life Financial group of companies, to develop, implement and manage a variety of applications that support the insurer's operations in Canada. The agreement is designed to help Sun Life Financial improve service for its customers and to enhance overall information technology (IT) and operational efficiencies.
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July 21, 2010
Top Stories
HP WINS $2 BILLION CONTRACT FROM GM...HP Enterprise Services has been awarded a multiyear applications and infrastructure services contract valued at more than $2 billion to manage GM's technology infrastructure with a focus on providing an enhanced and continuously improving world-class end-user experience - from manufacturing plants to the boardroom. HP will provide network, workplace, mainframe management, applications and systems integration services for GM's global operations, including OnStar. The new agreement covers a significant portion of HP's existing work with GM. It also renews the contract one year early and extends the two companies' 25-year relationship.
IBM PROFITS UP 13% FOR SECOND QUARTER...IBM announced second-quarter 2010 diluted earnings of $2.61 per share compared with diluted earnings of $2.32 per share in the second quarter of 2009, an increase of 13 percent. Second-quarter net income was $3.4 billion compared with $3.1 billion in the second quarter of 2009, an increase of 9 percent. Total revenues for the second quarter of 2010 of $23.7 billion increased 2 percent (2 percent, adjusting for currency) from the second quarter of 2009. The impact of changes in currency rates since IBM's first-quarter earnings report in April reduced revenue by approximately $500 million in the second quarter.
TATA CONSULTANCY EARNINGS, REVENUES UP FOR QUARTER...Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest outsourcer, posted strong revenue and profit growth in U.S. dollar and rupee in the quarter ended June 30, as demand for offshore outsourcing services rebounds. Revenues grew in dollars by 21 percent to US$1.8 billion, while profits were up 29 percent to $403 million from last year. The results are in accordance with U.S. GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles).
HEWITT ASSOCIATES ACQUIRES ENNISKNUPP...Hewitt Associates, a global human resources consulting and outsourcing company, will acquire EnnisKnupp, which provides a wide range of investment consulting services to corporations, public funds, endowments, foundations, non-for-profits and Taft-Hartley plans. Once this transaction is complete, Hewitt will be one of the largest providers of investment consulting services in the U.S.and in the world, with nearly $3 trillion in assets under advisement.
New Business
3M, which produces thousands of innovative products for dozens of diverse markets, has signed a multimillion dollar, three-year applications services agreement with HP Enterprise Services to help improve productivity, enabling the company to get innovative products into the market more quickly. Under the agreement, HP will develop and manage a large portion of 3M's applications portfolio, including mission-critical software used in engineering, demand planning, sourcing, manufacturing, human resources and finance.
International News
Desjardins Group, the largest cooperative financial group in Canada with 5.8 million members and customers,has selected IBM to help assist its infrastructure operations transformation. The agreement includes outsourcing of its centralized IT infrastructure operations and hosting services under a five-year contract.
CGI Group Inc., a leading provider of information technology and business processing services, announced that it has entered into a 6-year, $50 million IT outsourcing contract with Rexel Group, a global leader in the distribution of electrical supplies, headquartered in Paris, France.
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July 14, 2010
Top Stories
AON BUYS HEWITT ASSOCIATES FOR $4.9 BILLION...Aon Corporation and Hewitt Associates, Inc. announced today that the boards of directors of both companies have approved a definitive agreement under which Hewitt will merge with a subsidiary of Aon. The aggregate consideration is valued at $50 per Hewitt share, which represents a 41% premium to Hewitt's closing stock price on July 9, 2010, the last trading day prior to the announcement of the agreement. The aggregate fully diluted equity value of the transaction is approximately $4.9 billion, consisting of 50% cash and 50% Aon stock (based on the closing price of Aon common stock on July 9, 2010).
Following the close of the transaction, Aon intends to integrate Hewitt with its existing consulting and outsourcing operations (Aon Consulting) and operate the segment globally under the newly created Aon Hewitt brand. In addition, Russ Fradin, chairman and chief executive officer of Hewitt, will serve as chairman and chief executive officer of Aon Hewitt, reporting to Greg Case, chief executive officer, Aon Corporation.
SENIOR EXECUTIVE JOINS EXL FROM TRAVELERS...Bill Bloom has joine EXL in the newly created role of Executive Vice President, Global Client Services. His appointment marks a landmark addition to EXL's senior management and is designed to facilitate the next phase of rapid growth by focusing on industry leading customer satisfaction and centricity. He will join EXL's Executive Committee and will lead all client-facing functions in a unified fashion including sales and marketing, strategic account management, and Transformation services.
Before joining EXL, Bloom was with Travelers, where he was Executive Vice President, Insurance Operations and Information Technology, responsible for policyholder and agency services as well as technology across the enterprise. He joined Travelers from Accenture, where he was a Partner in their Financial Services Practice, focusing on large insurance and banking clients. He has also served as a Vice President at Hartford Life. Bill has a broad range of consulting, operations, and technology experience and deep expertise in the insurance industry.
ACCENTURE ACQUIRES FRENCH CONSULTING FIRM...- Accenture has acquired Acceria, a privately held company based in France that specializes in providing business processes and methodologies dedicated to the after-sales operations of industrial companies. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The acquisition is designed to complement Accenture's strength in providing services to the automotive and industrial manufacturing marketplace globally and further enhances Accenture's capabilities in management consulting.
HP ENTERPRISE SERVICES SIGNS $3 BILLION DEAL WITH NAVY...HP Enterprise Services today signed a Continuity of Services Contract (CoSC) with the U.S. Department of the Navy, valued in excess of $3 billion if all options are exercised. The CoSC enables the Navy to transition the comprehensive IT services presently provided under the Navy Marine Corps Intranet (NMCI) contract to the Next Generation Enterprise Network (NGEN) contract in a manner that minimizes the possible risks to the Navy's IT operations and security. This new agreement continues the relationship between HP and the Navy and ensures the continued IT support for more than 700,000 sailors, Marines and civilians in the continental United States, Hawaii and Japan.
New Business
Post University has selected Oracle CRM On Demand to transform outdated admissions, financial aid and student services processes to improve efficiency and the student experience as the university continues to meet the demand for high quality higher education. Founded in 1890 and located in Waterbury, Connecticut, Post University is a student-focused, career-driven university that offers a wide array of degree programs to its more than 5,000 on-campus and online students of all ages.
MBDA, a world-leading missile systems company, has extended its information technology (IT) outsourcing contract with CSC. The new contract extends the companies' long standing relationship, which began in the U.K. in 1994, until December 2014 if all options are exercised. This contract was awarded to CSC during the company's fiscal 2011 first quarter that ended July 2, 2010. Under the new agreement, CSC will continue to provide MBDA with a comprehensive range of IT services, including infrastructure and applications management.
International News
IBM and Danske Bank, one of the largest banks in the Nordic region, announced a seven-year, billion DKK contract extension of IBM's management of Danske Bank's global information technology (IT) infrastructure. The new agreement, signed in June 2010, extends the original 10-year contract between the two companies, which began in 2004.
Saudi Development and Training Company (SDT), one of the leading providers of Human Resource solutions across the Middle East has awarded a two year outsourcing contract to Xchanging. Xchanging will manage procurement of a diverse portfolio of Learning and Development (L&D) courses in the UK and Saudi Arabia on behalf of SDT.
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July 07, 2010
Top Stories
EVEREST: BALANCED LOCATION PORTFOLIO, STANDARDIZATION AND GLOBAL TALENT MANAGEMENT KEY IMPERATIVES FOR OUTSOURCING SERVICE PROVIDERS...The maturing global sourcing market presents service providers with evolving buyer needs and preferences including increased geographic and services scopes, sophisticated delivery requirements, and a more thoughtful approach towards a global sourcing portfolio centered around value maximization and risk management, according to a new Everest study, Global Sourcing 2.0 - Evolving Global Delivery Imperatives for Outsourcing Service Providers.
ADP TO ACQUIRE WORKSCAPE...ADP has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately-held Workscape, Inc., a leading provider of integrated benefits and compensation solutions and services. Based in Marlborough, Mass., Workscape serves a broad client base, including numerous Fortune 250 companies, and provides solutions to more than 3.5 million users with services deployed in over 180 countries, 48 currencies and 70 languages. As such, the acquisition will significantly expand ADP's presence within the benefits marketplace for large, complex organizations. Closing of the acquisition is expected in the third quarter of calendar 2010 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. The transaction is not subject to financing. Terms of the proposed agreement were not disclosed.
HP ENTERPRISE SERVICES SIGNS 7-YEAR F&A DEAL...Smith & Nephew has signed a 7-year Finance & Administration business process outsourcing (BPO) services agreement with HP Enterprise Services that will support the finance transformation in one of the leading healthcare companies in Europe by improving productivity, enhancing quality and providing increased operating flexibility. With this agreement, HP will provide multinational finance and administration services to Smith & Nephew's operations in Europe, enabling continued business expansion and increased focus on core activities. HP will provide BPO services from the HP Best Shore delivery centers in Poland and India.
New Business
The U.S. Navy awarded CSC a contract to provide information technology (IT) support services. The contract has a one-year base period and four one-year options, bringing the estimated total contract value to $220 million. This contract was awarded to CSC during the company's fiscal 2010 fourth quarter that ended April 2, 2010. Under the terms of the agreement, CSC will provide a broad range of IT support, including network operations, real-time processing, enterprise data center, system development and maintenance, and hardware and software integration.
CGI Group Inc. has entered into a 7 year, multi-million dollar IT outsourcing contract with The Beer Store (TBS), the primary distribution and sales channel for beer in Ontario, headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario. This new agreement establishes CGI as the infrastructure IT supplier for The Beer Store, and also encompasses infrastructure services for Brewers Distributor Ltd. (BDL), a wholesale distributor of beer and the collector of returnable, refillable and recyclable beer containers within the four Western Canadian Provinces, as well as Northwest Territories and the Yukon.
International News
CSC has signed a contract with UBS for the provision of voice and data network, security and telecommunication services. The total contract value of the five-year master service agreement is estimated to be up to $580 million, assuming provision of the full scope of services over the five-year term. All of the agreements are subject to regulatory and other approvals and notifications, including consultation of relevant workers councils.
Accenture has signed a five-year business process outsourcing (BPO) contract with Statoil, an international energy company with operations in 40 countries, to manage the company's Accounts Payables processes. Financial details of the contract were not disclosed. The agreement is designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Statoil's Accounts Payable function by reengineering processes and increasing automation supported through Accenture's Global Delivery Network using centers in Norway, the Czech Republic and India. The delivery of the outsourced services is scheduled to begin in September 2010.
HP Enterprise Services has signed a 10-year contract with the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China, to help the Hong Kong Public Libraries (HKPL) deliver public library services in Hong Kong. Under the terms of the agreement, which was signed by Hewlett-Packard HK SAR Limited, HP will implement and provide ongoing support for a new Integrated Library System (ILS) that is designed to maintain efficiency and support new library offerings to meet the increasing demand for HKPL's services.
IBM has signed a four-year collaboration agreement with Sol Melia, one of the world's largest hotel chains. IBM will manage Sol Melia's central IT platform and the equipment used daily by 4,500 users. IBM will also manage the technology infrastructure that runs the company's business applications, including Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management, e-mail and the hotel's reservation system, as well as host and manage Sol Melia's Web site where guests access the reservation system online. The agreement, signed in February 2010, also includes providing help desk services to Sol Melia's users in Spain, Europe and 19 hotels in Latin America.
Fujitsu has entered into a six-year global delivery agreement with Norsk Hydro ASA, one of the world's leading integrated aluminium companies. The agreement covers full outsourcing and development of Hydro's IT infrastructure services systems in Norway and abroad. The six-year global delivery agreement is based on a one-year transition period followed by a five-year outsourcing agreement. The agreement goes into effect in September 2010 and includes IT systems in 40 countries.
Kofax plc will provide a comprehensive document capture solution to RWE npower, a leading integrated energy provider based in the United Kingdom and part of the RWE Group, one of Europe's leading electricity and gas companies.
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June 23, 2010
Top Stories
COGNIZANT ACQUIRES GALILEO PERFORMANCE...Cognizant, a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourcing services, has acquired Galileo Performance, a Paris-based provider of information technology (IT) testing consulting services. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Galileo helps leading companies in France optimize and extend business performance through IT system measurement, management and testing. Galileo will expand and complement Cognizant's fast-growing global testing practice, currently among the world’s largest with more than 10,000 testing professionals, while strengthening Cognizant's existing business presence in France.
GENPACT WINS FRENCH HONOR...Genpact has received a prestigious recognition from the Greater Paris Investment Agency (Paris-Ile de France Capitale Economique) for its growth and investment in France. The award, "le prix de l'investisseur," was presented to Genpact Europe's CEO Patrick Cogny at an event in Paris. As one of four companies to receive this honor, Genpact first established operations in France in 2006 upon winning its first client project there.
INFOSYS WINS AUSTRALASIA, N.A. SHARED SERVICES AWARDS...NAB (National Australia Bank) and Infosys have won the 2010 Australasian Shared Services Excellence Award for Best New Services Delivery. The award recognizes the ongoing collaboration between NAB's People Services Group and Infosys, which delivers key HR and Payroll support services to 30,000 bank employees in Australia. A panel of independent industry experts, convened by the globally respected Shared Services Outsourcing Network, assessed the NAB-Infosys engagement on strategy; people and culture management; innovation and automation; customer relationship management and service; quality and control; maturity and future direction.
Infosys BPO earlier received two awards at SSON's (Shared Services & Outsourcing Network) 2010 North American Shared Services Excellence Awards. Infosys BPO along with its clients McClatchy and P&G were adjudged winner and runner-up respectively under the category 'Best New Outsourced Services Delivery (under 3 years)' at the award ceremony held at Orlando, Florida.
New Business
Keane, Inc. announced a three-year contract renewal with Pegasus Solutions, the world's leading provider of central reservation systems and support, electronic hotel distribution, hotel representation and agency commission processing. The extension continues an original engagement from 2007 and includes the maintenance of reservation, rate and content data for Pegasus' nearly 100,000 global customers.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) awarded CSC a task order to conduct scanning, indexing and file management operations at a records digitization facility. The task order has a one-year performance period and a contract value of $25 million. This contract was awarded to CSC during the company’s fiscal 2010 fourth quarter that ended April 2, 2010.
International News
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), the largest of the police services that operate in greater London, has extended its contract until December 2015 with its prime information and communications technology (ICT) partner, Capgemini UK plc. The new deal maintains focus on value for money, ensuring the MPS and the public receive the best ICT services at the best price. The contract is expected to provide an estimated GB43m savings in supporting the day-to-day work of London’s 55,000 police officers, staff and community support officers. The contract extension covers the three-year period 2012-2015 and renews the existing seven-year IT support contract between the two organisations, signed in 2005.
NorthgateArinso has contracted and delivered to JYSK, a leading European retailer in home articles, a SAP HR Human Capital Management system. The new HR system enables each JYSK store decentralised management of their HR processes in recruiting, personnel administration and reporting, suited to the fast moving world of the retail industry. At the same time, the system enables JYSK to retain a company-wide overview of HR data to enable a truly efficient HR service, where decentralised operations and central management and overview go hand-in-hand.
TechTeam Global, Inc. has won a three-year contract to provide service desk support to Europcar, the European leader in passenger car and light utility vehicle rentals. Under the agreement, TechTeam will help Europcar standardize and optimize its existing IT service desk operations and will also provide incident overflow and night-hour support to augment Europcar's service desk. TechTeam's service desk will deliver support in English and French and will extend Europcar's service desk coverage to 24x7. In addition to improving service levels and enabling late-hour support for European end-users.
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June 16, 2010
Top Stories
IBM BUYS COREMETRICS...IBM announced a definitive agreement to acquire Coremetrics, a leader in web analytics software. Coremetrics, a privately held company based in San Mateo, CA, will expand IBM's business analytics capabilities by enabling organizations to use a cloud-based delivery model to gain real-time insight into consumer interactions internally and through social media networks to develop faster, more targeted marketing campaigns. Financial terms were not disclosed.
CAPGEMINI SIGNS $650 MILLION RENEWAL WITH HYDRO ONE NETWORKS...Capgemini announced that its subsidiary, Capgemini Canada has signed a $650 million CDN (CD500 million) contract extension to 2015 with Hydro One Networks Inc., a large North American transmission and distribution electric utility. Capgemini will provide Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) and Core Systems Support services to Hydro One in order to support their evolving business needs. The original contract between Hydro One and Capgemini was effective December 2001.
IRS TAPS ACCENTURE FOR RETURN PREPARER PROGRAM...The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has awarded Accenture a five-year contract to design, implement and operate the Return Preparer Registration (RPR) program. Under the contract, which includes a one-year base period and four one-year options, Accenture will work with the IRS to develop and maintain a new, secure system for on-line registration and renewal, user fee collection and issuance of a unique identification number for all paid tax return preparers. The RPR program is designed to allow the IRS to regulate and improve the quality of the paid tax return preparer community by requiring registration and mandating competency level testing and annual continuing education requirements.
PINSTRIPE SPONSORS ONLINE SOCIAL COMMUNITY...Pinstripe, Inc., one of the nation's largest recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), has become the exclusive sponsor of Human Capital League, an online group blog/social community for HR and other workplace professionals.
New Business
Genpact Limited announced the signing of a three-year contract with Federal-Mogul Corporation, a leading global automotive supplier, to provide IT help desk services and support-related solutions. Under this contract, Genpact will provide a single-point-of-contact help desk, supporting the markets of North America, Europe, South America and Asia for Federal-Mogul. The help desk will operate 24 x 7 and in multiple languages including Japanese, Mandarin, German, French, Italian, Polish and Portuguese. Federal-Mogul Corporation is a $5.3 billion leading global supplier of powertrain and safety technologies for original equipment and aftermarket applications in the automotive, small engine, heavy-duty, marine, railroad, aerospace and industrial markets.
The U.S. Navy has awarded CSC a task order to provide services to support Program Executive Officer (PEO) Aircraft Carriers. The task order has a one-year base period and four one-year options, bringing the estimated total five-year value to $135 million. Under the terms of the agreement, CSC will provide program, lifecycle, business and financial management, as well as operations support for PEO Aircraft Carriers, which is responsible for managing the design, development, construction, modernization and lifecycle management of aircraft carriers for the Navy.
International News
Accenture will deliver application management services to the North American operations of Henkel, a Fortune Global 500 company that markets well-known brands such as Dial soap, Purex laundry detergent, Loctite adhesives and got2b styling products under a six-year application outsourcing contract. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed. Under the terms of the agreement Accenture will provide management services for the local applications and related project services of Henkel's North American business.
Tata Consultancy Services has signed a multi-year outsourcing contract with Telenor Norway. The contract comprises application maintenance and development services and will involve a modernization of Telenor's Norway application portfolio across its OSS, Fixed, Mobile, Data warehouse and Accounting system domains.
Unisys Corporation announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Unisys Payment Services Limited, has won a five-year extension of its cheque processing contract with The Co-operative Bank. The extension, signed in the first quarter of 2010, has an estimated value in excess of UK30 million ($US43million). Under the extension, Unisys will continue providing outsourced cheque processing and image archiving services to The Co-operative Bank until 2015. The Co-operative Bank is part of The Co-operative Group, the UK's largest consumer co-operative.
Singapore Exchange and HCL Technologies (HCL), a leading global IT services provider, have signed a five-year IT infrastructure outsourcing agreement worth S$110 million. Under the agreement, HCL will provide SGX with infrastructure support and management services including the exchange's Reach initiative. The S$250 million Reach initiative announced on 3 June aims to create the world's fastest trading engine, establish a state-of-the-art data centre offering co-location facilities and seamlessly connect trading communities in global financial hubs to Singapore.
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June 09, 2010
Update
CAPGEMINI SIGNS $650 MILLION RENEWAL WITH HYDRO ONE NETWORKS...Capgemini announced that its subsidiary, Capgemini Canada has signed a $650 million CDN (CD500 million) contract extension to 2015 with Hydro One Networks Inc., a large North American transmission and distribution electric utility. Capgemini will provide Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) and Core Systems Support services to Hydro One in order to support their evolving business needs. The original contract between Hydro One and Capgemini was effective December 2001.
Top Stories
EVEREST GROUP REPORTS PROJECT FAO GROWTH OF 20% OR MORE...Large buyers signed the majority of IT outsourcing deals during 2009, according to Everest Group, a global sourcing consulting and research firm. Based on the Finance & Accounting Outsourcing (FAO)Annual Report 2010, the FAO market in 2010 is expected to resume a growth trajectory more similar to pre-recessionary levels, moving towards 20 percent and reach nearly US$3.7 billion in annual contract volume (ACV). Everest's Procurement Outsourcing (PO) Annual Report 2010 projects the PO market to grow in excess of 20 percent in 2010 and reach nearly US$1.3 billion in ACV.
The report which analyzes suppliers of FAO and PO services comprises of supplier evaluations and relative market positions, and draws comparisons between relative market success and capability developments thereby sharing details about the changes in the global supplier landscape in 2009.
TECHTEAM SELLS GOVERNMENT SOLUTIONS UNIT...TechTeam Global, Inc., a worldwide provider of information technology outsourcing and business process outsourcing services, has signed a definitive agreement to sell its government solutions subsidiary, TechTeam Government Solutions, Inc., to Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., one of the world's largest and most diverse providers of technical, professional, and construction services.
New Business
HP Enterprise Services has signed a seven-year agreement with Atlanta-based National Account Service Company LLC (NASCO) to enable the health insurance claims processor to expand its membership while lowering costs. Under the agreement, HP will enhance and maintain NASCO's custom version of MetaVance, HP's fully integrated enterprise system that enables healthcare organizations to administer program benefits. MetaVance offers NASCO a more flexible membership and billing solution with faster time to market for innovative new products and services that support its growing membership.
International News
The Hong Kong Housing Authority has awarded Accenture an eight-year, USD$30 million contract to design, develop and maintain a new enterprise resource management (ERP) system for the agency. The new system will replace more than 20 legacy systems and is designed to improve the efficiency of the Authority's processes for financial management, procurement and works management. Under the contract Accenture will deploy a new, fully integrated system in two phases over a three-year period, followed by an application maintenance period of five years.
BlueScope Steel, the leading steel company in Australia and New Zealand, has extended its existing business support services contract with Capgemini Australia until December 2016. Capgemini will continue to manage and deliver human resources administration, payroll, accounting and procurement support services to BlueScope Steel for its Australian and New Zealand business.
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June 02, 2010
Top Stories
HP TO INVEST $1 BILLION IN SERVICES TRANSFORMATION, SHED 9000 JOBS...Saying that its integration of EDS is nearly complete, HP announced that it would invest $1 billion in the next generation of its Enterprise Services business. The company said it will invest in fully automated, standardized, state-of-the-art commercial data centers built on its Converged Infrastructure and operated by its management software. To fund this investment, HP will take a charge of approximately $1 billion over a multiyear period that will be included in its GAAP financial results. Once completed, this transformation is expected to generate annualized gross savings of approximately $1 billion and net savings after reinvestment in a range between $500 million and $700 million.
NORTHGATEARINSO CLOSES ACQUSITION OF CONVERGYS HRM DIVISION...NIS Holdings SARL (Northgate) has completed its acquisition of the HR Management division of Convergys, a publicly-held company headquartered in Cincinnati and a global leader in relationship management.
This business will be integrated into NorthgateArinso, the Northgate division that is a world leader in Human Resources (HR) software and services. Funding for the acquisition has been provided by additional equity funding from funds managed by KKR, the majority shareholder in Northgate.
NorthgateArinso announced its intention to acquire the HRM division of Convergys on March 4, 2010. The acquisition supports the company’s growth strategy and goal to be the number one focused provider of HR software and services globally, and substantially boosts its North American operations. The division now employs 8,000 people in 35 countries worldwide, of which a third are based in North America. Total Northgate Group employees now exceed 12,000.
CAPGEMINI NAMES WATTS HEAD OF AMERICAS OUTSOURCING...Capgemini announced that Sue Watts has been appointed head of the company's Americas Outsourcing Services business unit. In this position, Watts will be responsible for leading the company's Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) business in North America. Watts bring more than 25 years of leadership experience in the IT sector to Capgemini, with a majority of her time spent in global roles. She most recently worked with Orange Business Services as the Head of Global Services for the Americas region.
New Business
Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS), A Xerox Company signed a five-year extension of its information technology (IT) agreement to provide infrastructure services to Hallmark Cards, the privately held personal expressions and greeting card giant, celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Financial details of the contract were not disclosed. As part of the contract extension, ACS will continue to provide information technology infrastructure and associated support for Hallmark's global operations
The University of Michigan has selected Accenture to conduct its first-ever comprehensive assessment of information technology at the unit and campus levels. The assessment is part of the first phase of NextGen Michigan, a multi-year university-wide IT transformation effort. The primary objective of the assessment is to develop an authoritative view of how IT is distributed and provided across the university. All of the university’s schools, colleges, major research and administrative centers and institutes, and the central IT group Information and Technology Services (ITS) are participating.
International News
SulAmerica, one of the biggest conglomerates in Brazil, has signed a new agreement with IBM Brazil to manage its business processes for the company's Life and Pension Insurance unit. IBM will be responsible for the back office activities of both areas, including issuing policies, registration updates, document transfers and claim management. The 12-year agreement signed in April 2010 is valued at more than $200 million. The agreement also covers information technology (IT) infrastructure services, maintenance of legacy applications, construction of a dedicated service center in the city of Barueri and the hiring of professionals currently allocated to the insurance company's Life and Pension operations.
Xchanging plc has been awarded a multi-year claims processing contract renewal with one of the largest rental car companies in North America. Xchanging has been providing claims administration services to this customer for eleven years. These services will be provided from Xchanging's processing centre in Solon, Ohio. This processing center has managed well over 1,000,000 commercial vehicle related claims, making it a leading claims center in the United States.
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May 26, 2010
International News
SICREDI, one of Brazil's leading credit unions, has engaged Accenture to provide information technology (IT) support and systems development services under a strategic outsourcing contract. SICREDI comprises 128 credit cooperatives, with 12,000 employees, 1.6 million members, and more than 1,000 service centers distributed in 10 Brazilian states. It also offers a full portfolio of financial products and services. In February 2010, total assets and shareholders' equity amounted, respectively, R$17 billion and R$2.2 billion.
HP Enterprise Services announced that RTC Real-Time Center AG (RTC), a Switzerland-based financial services technology provider, has signed an applications and infrastructure services contract enabling RTC to focus on customer service and maintaining costs. As part of the contract, Hewlett-Packard (Schweiz) GmbH will establish a Banking Service Center in Bern, Switzerland, to support RTC's financial services customers. The Cantonal Bank of Bern (BEKB | BCBE), RTC's primary shareholder and customer, will initially be the main bank served from this center.
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May 19, 2010
Top Stories
INTEGREON NAILS BIGGEST LEGAL OUTSOURCING DEAL EVER...CMS Cameron McKenna LLP, UK member firm of CMS, the leading European provider of legal and tax services, has signed a 10-year agreement with Integreon for outsourced Middle Office services. This includes substantial portions of accounting and finance, human resources and training, marketing and communications, learning and development, library and information services, research, information technology, facilities and other services. The total value of services addressed by this agreement is £583 million ($852 million), the legal industry's largest outsourcing agreement ever.
HP REPORTS STRONG SECOND QUARTER...HP announced financial results for its second fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2010, with net revenue of $30.8 billion, up 13% from a year earlier including a favorable currency benefit of four percentage points. In the second quarter, GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) was $0.91, up from $0.71 in the prior-year period. Non-GAAP diluted EPS was $1.09, up from $0.86 in the prior-year period. Non-GAAP financial information excludes after-tax costs of approximately $0.18 per share and $0.15 per share in the second quarter of fiscal 2010 and 2009, respectively, related primarily to the amortization of purchased intangibles, restructuring charges and acquisition-related charges.
AEGIS BUYS SALLIE MAE CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTER...Aegis Limited, a leading global business process outsourcing (BPO) provider and part of the Essar Group, a multi-national conglomerate with approximately $15 billion in annual revenues, has signed an agreement with US-based education finance service provider Sallie Mae to acquire its customer service center in Killeen, Texas, and transfer 350 Sallie Mae employees to Aegis' global delivery platform consisting of approximately 40,000 professionals located in 43 locations worldwide. This agreement is effective June 4, 2010.
IBM HIRING 800 IN MISSOURI...IBM will open a new technology service delivery center in Columbia, Missouri, creating up to 800 technical professional jobs. The new center will join two other North American service delivery facilities opened recently in Dubuque, IA and Lansing, MI, making it the third new facility IBM has opened in the United States in the last 18 months. The new center is part of an extensive network of IBM service delivery centers in more than 20 countries, with multiple sites in many of those countries, that provide information technology (IT) services and business process outsourcing capabilities to IBM clients around the world.
New Business
Xerox Corporation will manage Huntington National Bank's print infrastructure, delivering significant cost savings to the Midwestern regional bank. Using a managed print services (MPS) strategy, Xerox will help Huntington better control the way documents are printed, shared and updated at the bank's headquarters and across more than 600 branch locations. The five-year Enterprise Print Services (EPS) contract will bring multiple print budgets and output devices, like printers, copiers and fax machines under Xerox management.
International News
Ness Technologies, Inc. has been selected by Perform, a firm engaged in broadcasting and commercializing sport in digital media, to extend its software product engineering capability. Over the three-year engagement, Perform will utilize Ness Software Product Labs' global development center in Kosice, Slovakia. The Ness team will focus on core software platform development for video-on-demand, conditional access, and multi-media distribution and streaming.
Evolving a Sourcing Strategy Driven by M&A Events
The merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines promises to have far-reaching effects on the travel industry and its stakeholders. It also highlights how M&A events can fundamentally affect the sourcing strategies of buyers and service providers alike. While the new United will face some unique challenges and opportunities, a broad set of principles the combined enterprise should consider provide a backdrop for all companies sorting through the turbulence associated with mergers and acquisitions. To access the full Executive Perspective, click here.
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May 12, 2010
Top Stories
CGI TO BUY STANLEY FOR $1 BILLION...CGI Group, the biggest information-technology outsourcing operator in Canada, agreed to purchase Stanley for $1.07 billion. Stanley is an information technology provider to U.S. defense, intelligence and civilian agencies. The deal comes to $37.50 per share, which represents a 38.3% premium over the 60-day average. The transaction is expected to close in the fall of this year, but will need to undergo extensive national security review. Headquartered in Arlington, Va., Stanley has roughly 5,000 employees and two-thirds of them have national security clearance.
COGNIZANT ACQUIRES GLOBAL CONSULTING FIRM...Cognizant has acquired The PIPC Group, a global program management consulting firm based in London. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. PIPC has more than 200 employees worldwide, primarily in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. The firm provides program management services, methods and tools. New Jersey-based Cognizant had more than 50 global delivery centers and more than 85,500 employees.
CONTRACT VALUE OF OUTSOURCING SURGES 43% IN Q1...North America recorded its best quarter of activity in the outsourcing market since the fourth quarter of 2008, and the global sourcing market continues to give signals of a recovering global economy, according to Everest, a global consulting and research firm. Transaction volumes for the first quarter of this year, valued at US$3.9 billion in annual contract value (ACV), maintained a steady, even pace for the third consecutive quarter. A one-hour Webinar will be held May 13, 9 a.m. CDT, to present study findings and insights.
Everest's Market Vista: Q1 2010, a quarterly report on global outsourcing and offshoring activity, reports North American transaction activity in the first quarter 2010 increased 18 percent and ACV was up 36 percent over the fourth quarter of 2009. In the global outsourcing market, ACV remained similar compared to fourth quarter 2009 but increased 31 percent when compared to first quarter 2009.
The Webinar will be held May 13 at 9 a.m. CDT; 2 p.m. GMT Standard Time. To register, click here.
New Business
Capgemini Government Solutions LLC has been awarded a three-year, $27.9 million contract to deliver an Unemployment Insurance Modernization (UIM) solution to Nevada's Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (DETR), which will replace existing systems and technologies to better serve the citizens of Nevada. The solution includes Oracle's Enterprise Taxation Management software that can enable revenue management authorities to improve the revenue collection and billing processes, while quickly responding to federal regulatory changes.
International News
Ness Technologies, Inc. has been awarded a contract from Bank Discount to deploy an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and speech recognition system at Israel's Bank Discount. The project will last 18 months. The communications division of Ness Technologies' Technologies and Systems Group (Ness TSG) will provide the bank with an advanced, interactive voice response solution based on the Genesys Voice Platform (GVP), a software-based voice portal developed by Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, an Alcatel-Lucent company. GVP enables businesses to provide cost-effective customer interactions.
Manpower Vietnam, the first 100 percent foreign-invested workforce solutions firm in the country, announced an expansion of its agreement with Techcombank to provide innovative end-to-end Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) services to help the company achieve its growth and expansion strategy and increasing need for high-quality talent.
Accenture has been selected to license, implement and maintain the Accenture Claim Components Solution, its claims management application, at Anadolu Sigorta (ISE: ANSGR), the leading Turkish property and casualty (P&C) insurer. The system will be designed to help Anadolu Sigorta accelerate claims processing and improve customer service, while reducing the cost of its claims operation. The new claims solution is part of a broader program initiated by Anadolu Sigorta in 2008 to transform its business processes and establish an operating model focused on customer satisfaction and growth.
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May 10, 2010
Update
CGI TO BUY STANLEY FOR $1 BILLION...CGI Group, the biggest information-technology outsourcing operator in Canada, agreed to purchase Stanley for $1.07 billion. Stanley is an information technology provider to U.S. defense, intelligence and civilian agencies. The deal comes to $37.50 per share, which represents a 38.3% premium over the 60-day average. The transaction is expected to close in the fall of this year, but will need to undergo extensive national security review. Headquartered in Arlington, Va., Stanley has roughly 5,000 employees and two-thirds of them have national security clearance.
May 07, 2010
Update
CONTRACT VALUE OF OUTSOURCING SURGES 43% IN Q1...North America recorded its best quarter of activity in the outsourcing market since the fourth quarter of 2008, and the global sourcing market continues to give signals of a recovering global economy, according to Everest, a global consulting and research firm. Transaction volumes for the first quarter of this year, valued at US$3.9 billion in annual contract value (ACV), maintained a steady, even pace for the third consecutive quarter. A one-hour Webinar will be held May 13, 9 a.m. CDT, to present study findings and insights.
“Outsourcing market activity during the last quarter was largely led by renewals and restructuring of existing contracts”
Everest's Market Vista: Q1 2010, a quarterly report on global outsourcing and offshoring activity, reports North American transaction activity in the first quarter 2010 increased 18 percent and ACV was up 36 percent over the fourth quarter of 2009. In the global outsourcing market, ACV remained similar compared to fourth quarter 2009 but increased 31 percent when compared to first quarter 2009.
The Webinar will be held May 13 at 9 a.m. CDT; 2 p.m. GMT Standard Time. To register, click here.
May 05, 2010
Top Stories
HP BUYS PALM...HP will purchase Palm, a provider of smartphones powered by the Palm webOS mobile operating system, at a price of $5.70 per share of Palm common stock in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $1.2 billion. The transaction has been approved by the HP and Palm boards of directors. The combination of HP's global scale and financial strength with Palm's unparalleled webOS platform will enhance HP's ability to participate more aggressively in the fast-growing, highly profitable smartphone and connected mobile device markets. Palm's unique webOS will allow HP to take advantage of features such as true multitasking and always up-to-date information sharing across applications.
UNISYS COMPLETES SALE OF HEALTH INFORMATION BUSINESS...Unisys Corporation has completed the previously announced sale of its health information management (HIM) business to Molina Healthcare, Inc. for $135 million in cash, subject to adjustment. The HIM business, which provides system solutions and business process outsourcing services to state governments for administering Medicaid and other state health care entitlement programs, represented approximately $110 million in revenue for Unisys in 2009.
CSC WINS DOD MENTOR-PROTEGE AWARD...The Department of Defense (DoD) awarded the CSC the Nunn-Perry Award for its mentor-protégé agreement with Occam Solutions, Inc., of McLean, Va. This marks the fourth year CSC has earned the honor since it was first awarded in 1995. The Nunn-Perry Award, named in honor of former Senator Sam Nunn and former Secretary of Defense William Perry, recognizes outstanding mentor-protégé teams from the Department of Defense Mentor-Protégé Program.
ADP NAMED HRO MARKET STAR PERFORMER...ADP has been recognized as an HRO Market Star Performer in the Human Resources Outsourcing Annual Report 2010 by Everest Group, a global consulting and research firm. Thes 2010 report will assist key stakeholders (buyers, suppliers, technology providers) understand the changing dynamics of the Multi-Process HRO market and help them identify the trends and outlook for 2010. The report includes ADP in the PEAK (Performance, Experience, Ability, Knowledge) matrix, which Everest utilizes as a framework to assess the market success, capabilities and strengths of more than 15 HRO suppliers.
New Business
Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. (ACS), A Xerox Company, signed a ten-year, $1.6 billion contract to manage California's Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS). ACS will assume operations of the current MMIS and implement enhancements to improve operational efficiency and allow for greater control across Medi-Cal, the state's Medicaid program. The program will then transition to the ACS Health Enterprise, a system giving the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) additional flexibility to better serve and support providers and beneficiaries, to precisely and quickly pay claims, and to help prevent fraud and abuse within the program. The ACS Health Enterprise is Web-based, real-time, and aligned with the new Medicaid Information Technology Architecture (MITA) standards.
HCL Technologies Ltd. has signed a five-year, $500 million strategic engagement with MSD (also known as Merck & Co., Inc. with headquarters in Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA), a global research-driven pharmaceutical company. HCL will extend its existing relationship with MSD, dating back to 2004, to become an integral business & technology services partner and provide a multitude of services including software-led IT solutions, remote infrastructure management, engineering and business and knowledge process services.
International News
Capgemini announced that one of its Dutch subsidiaries, Capgemini Outsourcing B.V. has signed a two-year contract extension worth €44 million with Maxeda to run until 2015. Maxeda is the largest Dutch non-food retailer in the Netherlands.
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May 04, 2010
Update
HCL Technologies Ltd. has signed a five-year, $500 million strategic engagement with MSD (also known as Merck & Co., Inc. with headquarters in Whitehouse Station, NJ, USA), a global research-driven pharmaceutical company. HCL will extend its existing relationship with MSD, dating back to 2004, to become an integral business & technology services partner and provide a multitude of services including software-led IT solutions, remote infrastructure management, engineering and business and knowledge process services.
April 30, 2010
Update
ADP NAMED HRO MARKET STAR PERFORMER...ADP has been recognized as an HRO Market Star Performer in the Human Resources Outsourcing Annual Report 2010 by Everest Group, a global consulting and research firm. Thes 2010 report will assist key stakeholders (buyers, suppliers, technology providers) understand the changing dynamics of the Multi-Process HRO market and help them identify the trends and outlook for 2010. The report includes ADP in the PEAK (Performance, Experience, Ability, Knowledge) matrix, which Everest utilizes as a framework to assess the market success, capabilities and strengths of more than 15 HRO suppliers.
April 28, 2010
Top Stories
UNISYS REPORTS FIRST QUARTER LOSS...Unisys Corporation reported a first-quarter 2010 net loss of $11.6 million, or a loss of 27 cents per diluted share. The results included approximately $35 million of pre-tax foreign exchange losses in Other Income/Expense, including $20 million relating to the January 2010 currency devaluation in Venezuela. In the first quarter of 2009, the company reported a net loss of $24.4 million, or 66 cents per diluted share, which included approximately $7 million of foreign exchange losses in Other Income/Expense. The company's operating profit nearly quadrupled to $58.9 million in the first quarter of 2010 compared with operating profit of $15.0 million in the first quarter of 2009.
IBM ANNOUNCES DIVIDEND, STOCK REPURCHASE...The IBM board of directors declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $0.65 per common share, payable June 10, 2010 to stockholders of record May 10, 2010. The dividend declaration represents an increase of $0.10, or 18 percent higher than the prior quarterly dividend of $0.55 per common share. IBM has increased its quarterly dividend over 330 percent since 2003. This is the 15thyear in a row that IBM has increased its quarterly cash dividend, and 7th year in a row of double-digit percent increases. IBM has paid consecutive quarterly dividends every year since 1916. The board also authorized $8 billion in additional funds for use in the company's stock repurchase program.
WIPRO TOPS ESTIMATES...Wipro Ltd. posted a better-than-expected 20.7% increase in fourth quarter net profit and forecast a rise in revenue, as the improving global economy continued to revive demand for the software exporter's products and services. India's third-largest software exporter by revenue said net profit in January-March rose to INR12.14 billion from INR10.06 billion a year earlier, while revenue--including information technology services and products, consumer care and lighting--grew 6.9% to INR69.77 billion from INR65.28 billion. The figures are according to International Financial Reporting Standards.
KPMG JOINS HP AGILITY ALLIANCE... KPMG LLP, the audit, tax and advisory firm, has joined the HP Agility Alliance. The combination of KPMG's advisory capabilities with HP's technology experience is designed to help clients transform their organizations by streamlining business processes, improving regulatory compliance processes and managing risk more effectively, enabling them to manage business uncertainties better while accelerating returns on technology investments.
New Business
Patni Computer Systems Ltd. announced a multi-million dollar, five-year agreement for providing end-to-end policy administration services for Universal American Corp. a leading senior health insurance company in the U.S. In addition, Patni has signed a definitive agreement to acquire CHCS Services, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal American. The acquisition creates a new hub for Patni in Pensacola, Fla. and establishes a new line of business for Patni as a Third-Party Administrator (TPA) in the Insurance and Healthcare sector, significantly enhancing its existing BPO capabilities to deliver end-to-end platform based solutions and TPA services to insurance providers' back-office transactions.
Kofax plc announced it will provide a document capture solution to the Hawaii Child Support Enforcement Agency, a division of the state's Department of the Attorney General. The agency will implement Kofax Capture and Kofax Transformation Modules to scan and extract data from approximately six million administrative and case related documents it receives annually. The resulting images and data will then be routed to its IBM Content Manager repository.
International News
Singapore's Ministry of Education has awarded Accenture a contract to provide application maintenance and enhancement for the Ministry's School Cockpit system for three years. Work on the project began in January 2010. Accenture will deliver a major enhancement to the School Cockpit system that will introduce new flexibility to existing business processes to better support the changing landscape of Singapore education. The enhancement will provide schools with more flexibility in tailoring the curriculum and assessment framework for students while responding more swiftly to diverse needs in the education system. In addition, an enhanced user interface will help improve teacher productivity and experience.
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April 21, 2010
Top Stories
OUTSOURCING CENTER NAMES 2010 EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS...Outsourcing Center, one of the leading sources of information about outsourcing, announced winners of the 2010 Outsourcing Excellence Awards in seven distinct categories. These worldwide best outsourcing partnerships represent a full range of business solutions that enabled the buyers to enter new markets, create new products, improve customer satisfaction, and have immediate resources to support their strategic growth initiatives. Winners from both the buyer and service provider companies will be honored at a black-tie event in Dallas on June 8.
IBM FIRST QUARTER EARNINGS UP...IBM announced first-quarter 2010 diluted earnings of $1.97 per share compared with diluted earnings of $1.70 per share in the first quarter of 2009, an increase of 16 percent. First-quarter net income was $2.6 billion compared with $2.3 billion in the first quarter of 2009, an increase of 13 percent. Total revenues for the first quarter of 2010 of $22.9 billion increased 5 percent (flat, adjusting for currency) from the first quarter of 2009.
UNISYS NAMES NEW HEAD OF GLOBAL OUTSOURCING...Unisys Corporation has named Ron Frankenfield president of the Unisys Global Outsourcing and Infrastructure Services (GOIS) business. In that job, he will have overall management responsibility for the GOIS business, which provides outsourcing and infrastructure services to clients worldwide. He replaces Tony Doye, who is leaving the company to pursue an opportunity with another company
New Business
HP Enterprise Services announced a $119 million two-year technology services contract extension that includes two one-year options with the Kansas Health Policy Authority (KHPA. The contract extends HP's eight-year relationship with KHPA, the state agency that oversees the Medicaid and HealthWave programs for more than 300,000 Kansans. HP will continue to manage the KHPA customer service call center in Topeka, which annually processes an average of 250,000 calls primarily related to billing and payments.
Cognizant has entered a multiyear, multimillion-dollar strategic engagement with Harris Corporation, an international communications and information technology company, to provide software development services for the Harris portfolio of media management software products for advertising agencies, television stations, and broadcast and cable networks. Cognizant will work closely with Harris on leading-edge research and development (R&D) for new products to serve these markets.
International News
Accenture will provide Electrolux IT Solutions AB, a subsidiary of Electrolux, with application development and management services in a global multi-year outsourcing agreement. Financial terms were not disclosed. Under the terms of the agreement Accenture will develop and manage a portion of Electrolux's existing portfolio of enterprise applications including JD Edwards, Cognos, and Lotus Notes through a centralized global delivery model to help accelerate its current information technology (IT) transformation program. The services will be delivered to Electrolux in 22 countries through Accenture’s Global Delivery Network.
Rolls-Royce and Tata Consultancy have announced a global engineering services partnership. TCS will provide Rolls-Royce with a range of engineering services across the entire product life-cycle. TCS will support and enable the Rolls-Royce strategy to expand its engineering services footprint in India. TCS will set up an engineering centre to cater to Rolls-Royce design and engineering requirements in Bangalore. Rolls-Royce chose to partner with TCS for their technical and project management capabilities, following a comprehensive and competitive evaluation process.
KellyOCG, the outsourcing and consulting Group of Kelly Services, Inc., has been awarded a multi-year Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) contract by Novartis Pharma France, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical groups. KellyOCG will assist Novartis Pharma in recruiting top external talent, including temporary staff and interns, in addition to managing internal job mobility. KellyOCG is also the outsourced managed service provider (MSP) of the organization's contingent workforce for the pharmaceutical group.
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April 14, 2010
Top Stories
MICROSOFT CONSOLIDATES OUTSOURCED TECH SUPPORT WITH INFOSYS...Infosys will take over all of Microsoft's internal IT services that are currently outsourced to multiple vendors under a three-year agreement. Infosys will manage Microsoft's internal IT services for applications, devices, and databases in 450 locations across 104 countries. The Bangalore-based company will open a service center specifically dedicated to serving Microsoft employees and deploy Microsoft's own technologies on behalf of the software maker. To provide global desk-side support and service, Infosys has partnere with Unisys based on its strong capabilities, commitment to innovation and customer service. Unisys' multi-language service desk integrated with desk side support will enable enhanced end-user productivity. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
SYNTEL FORMS NEW ALLIANCES...Syntel, a global information technology services and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) firm, announced two new partnerships. The company has teamed up with MEGA, a leading solutions provider in the governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) market, to provide MEGA's enterprise and operational risk
management, internal audit and compliance solutions to its customers worldwide. Syntel also signed an agreement with Jaspersoft to jointly deliver high-performance data warehousing and business
intelligence solutions.
New Business
Capgemini America Inc. has entered into a new agreement with Kraft Foods to support the food's company's procurement operations in North America. Under the terms of the multi-year agreement, Capgemini will assume responsibility for the strategic sourcing and spend management of various purchasing categories. Capgemini will deploy its new global service delivery model, which leverages technology from its recent acquisition of IBX, an on-demand purchasing solutions provider, for Kraft Foods' operations. For Kraft Foods, the IBX technology has been integrated with Capgemini's BPO platform to create an industry's leading on-demand e-procurement solution.
IBM will host and manage the technology platforms that support Hilton Worldwide's ten brands, including data center management and monitoring, global email services, web hosting and the central guest reservation system. While the agreement with IBM will be launched immediately, Hilton Worldwide's overall technology transition process, known as the Hilton Worldwide Innovation Collaborative, is expected to occur in phases over the next several months. IBM will host Hilton Worldwide's technology infrastructure at its newest Smarter Data Center in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina.
Hewitt Associates has renewed its long-standing contract to provide HR business process outsourcing (BPO) services to International Paper Company, a global paper and packaging company. Hewitt and International Paper inked their initial HR BPO deal in 2001. Under the terms of the contract, Hewitt will continue to provide a full range of HR BPO services, including payroll, workforce administration, health and welfare administration, recruiting support activities, application support and help desk services. The agreement covers more than 40,000 International Paper employees.
NorthgateArinso, a leading global Human Resources (HR) software & services provider, has signed a five-year, multi-million dollar contract with BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a global medical technology company. Under the contract, NorthgateArinso will provide payroll services to BD's approximately 29,000 employees worldwide.
International News
IBM and Nordea, the leading bank in the Nordic region, announced a new six-year IT services agreement that runs through 2015. The new agreement succeeds a 10-year contract signed in 2003. The agreement covers -- with updates to the original agreement -- IT infrastructure and operations services for Nordea in the Nordic countries.
Argentina's Telefonica inaugurated a new center built by Accenture to serve the applications and development needs of Telefónica Group’s Latin American and European operations. The center was delivered under contracts with Accenture signed in 2007 and 2009. Financial details were not disclosed. Under the terms of the contracts, Accenture is managing the development and maintenance of applications related to consumer systems, billing and collections, across 17 markets in Latin America and Europe.
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April 07, 2010
Top Stories
BANK OF AMERICA ADOPTS INNOVATIVE HR DELIVERY MODEL...Bank of America announced it would enter into key human resources partnerships with Hewitt Associates and Plateau Systems with service starting in 2011 and narrow its relationship with Fidelity in a strategic move to deliver the next generation of human resources capabilities. The bank's new service delivery model uses multiple HR service providers, with one primary provider delivering the core human resources technology platform and operational integration with the other specialists. As part of a new 5 1/2 year ongoing service contract, Hewitt will support human resources administration, payroll, and health and life management administration; provide enabling technology for timekeeping, recruiting applicant tracking; global talent and performance management and offer core service center support for all U.S. BofA associates. The global learning management system, provided by Plateau Systems, will be integrated into the Hewitt platform to manage the administration, delivery and tracking of learning and training across the enterprise.
EVEREST GROUP ADDS SEASONED MANAGEMENT TALENT...To address growing client demand for insight, knowledge and flexible approaches on how to reap maximum value from the design, implementation and delivery of outsourcing, offshoring and shared services models, Everest Group has added depth to its team with the appointments of Carl Esposti, principal, Americas; Nick Andrews, principal, EMEA; and Hank Satterthwaite, senior vice president.
PATNI NAMED 'INDUSTRY STAR'...Patni Computer Systems announced the receipt of distinguished "Stars of the Industry - BPO Excellence Awards" in three categories: "BPO Organization of the Year," "Operational Excellence and Quality," and "Social Change Agent." The prestigious BPO Excellence Awards are given out each year in India by the business group "Stars of the Industry," recognizing outstanding performance and contribution of BPO players to the industry.
New Business
Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. announced an information technology (IT) services agreement whereby IBM will provide Broadridge data center and information processing services. In addition to the IT services agreement, Broadridge and IBM have signed a business alliance agreement. Under the 10-year IT services agreement, IBM will provide all infrastructure services to Broadridge including data center, IT operations and network support. Broadridge expects the migration of its data center processing to IBM to take approximately 18-24 months to complete.
Integreon announced that Microsoft Corp. is utilizing Integreon to provide legal support services, including contract review and offshore document review. In January 2009, Microsoft engaged Integreon for e-discovery and document review services. Now Integreon is Microsoft’s exclusive provider of offshore managed document review. Microsoft has also expanded the relationship to include contract review, engaging a full-time team of eight Fargo-based Integreon contract specialists and attorneys dedicated exclusively to Microsoft.
PFSweb, Inc. has have signed a three-year web commerce services agreement with Carter's, Inc., the largest brand marketer in the United States of apparel exclusively for babies and young children.
International News
Accenture has signed a five-year application outsourcing contract with Nordea, a leading financial services group in the Nordic and Baltic Sea region, to develop and maintain applications that will support the bank's customer websites. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. The agreement is designed to help Nordea improve customer service and increase cost efficiencies. With 30 websites and more than 7 million monthly visitors, Nordea's online channel is one of the most important access points for its customers and an increasingly vital channel for sales and service.
CHEP, a global leader in pallet and container pooling services has awarded a five-year procurement outsourcing contract to Xchanging. CHEP operates in 45 countries, serving customers in diverse sectors. Its global partners include Procter & Gamble, SYSCO, Kraft, Nestle, Ford and GM. The company has more than 7,500 employees. As part of the contract, Xchanging will manage GBP 75 million of spend per annum (GBP 375 million of spend over five years) on behalf of CHEP Europe and help integrate and standardise procurement processes for CHEP's business across the UK, France, Germany and Spain for its non-core categories.
CGI Group Inc. announced a 3-year agreement with Telekomunikacja Polska Group (TP Group), Poland's leading telecommunications provider, for application support and services. CGI frameworks will be deployed to help TP Group consolidate its current multi application, multi vendor environment to improve overall time to market and total cost of ownership. TP Group is the leading telecom provider in Poland for fixed line and mobile, and is partly owned by the France Telecom group.
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March 31, 2010
Top Stories
ACCENTURE SECOND QUARTER NET DOWN...Accenture reported financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2010, ended Feb. 28, 2010, with net revenues of $5.18 billion, a decrease of 2 percent in U.S. dollars and 8 percent in local currency from the same period last year and within the company's guided range. Diluted earnings per share were $0.60. Operating income was $651 million and operating margin was 12.6 percent, compared with operating income of $677 million and operating margin of 12.9 percent in the second quarter last year. Operating margin of 12.9 percent in the second quarter last year included a 30-basis-point benefit resulting from a reduction in reorganization liabilities in that quarter.
New bookings for the quarter were $6.52 billion, with consulting bookings of $3.39 billion and outsourcing bookings of $3.13 billion, bringing total new bookings for the first half of fiscal 2010 to more than $12 billion.
TWO SENIOR EXECS DEPART WNS...WNS (Holdings) Limited announced the departure of two senior members of its management team, Ramesh Shah and Anup Gupta, each of whom has decided to seek opportunities outside WNS. Ramesh Shah, who had stepped down as Chairman of the Board in December 2009, has left WNS as of March 29, 2010. He has also resigned as a director of WNS (Holdings) Ltd. with effect from the same date. Gupta, formerly the Group Chief Operating Officer, has left WNS as of March 26, 2010.
BOEING, HCL LAUNCH EXCELLENCE CENTER...The Boeing Company and HCL Technologies Ltd. [HCL] have inaugurated a new Center of Excellence to support test and evaluation operations at Boeing. The facility will provide engineering applications design, development and support for applications that the Boeing Test & Evaluation (BT&E) organization uses on various products. BT&E provides effective and efficient test and evaluation services that support business programs across Boeing.
OUTSOURCING BUZZ BLOG HAS A NEW LOOK...The Outsourcing Center's blog--Outsourcing Buzz--has a new, freshened-up look and logo. The blog was created as a central location for conversations about outsourcing and how it is evolving. How do leading companies make use of outsourcing? How do they succeed in creating value? How do they avoid failure? Outsourcing Buzz Blog is a forum for bringing readers perspectives on trends in outsourcing and also best practices you can use in your organization. Be sure to add your voice to the discussion.
New Business
Xerox Corporation announced a global contract to manage Fiat Group's print operations. The five-year managed print services (MPS) agreement will help the auto-focused industrial group reduce operational costs by an estimated 30 percent, and support its growing sustainability agenda.
International News
SELEX Galileo, a leader in the defence electronics market has signed a three year contract with Xchanging plc, one of the largest and fastest growing global business processors. The contract will see Xchanging manage an annual spend of circa £17 million on behalf of SELEX Galileo's UK business. As part of the contract Xchanging will be responsible for sourcing a number of spend categories including resourcing, learning and development, travel, protective clothing, office supplies, furniture, couriers and freight.
TelstraClear, a voice and data company in New Zealand, and IBM announced a multi-million dollar, three-year agreement in which IBM will manage critical maintenance and support services for TelstraClear's Next IP Network. IBM will also provide TelstraClear with architectural leadership, regression testing capabilities and quality assurance around implementations of new services and equipment.
In addition, Carlsberg, the world-renowned brewing group announced an extended agreement under which IBM will continue to deliver information technology (IT) services across 10 Carlsberg subsidiaries in Europe. IBM will build a new SAP infrastructure for Carlsberg, leveraging the advantages of IBM POWER7 hardware, XIV storage and IBM System x servers.
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March 24, 2010
Top Stories
CSC SIGNS $1.5 BILLION EXTENSION WITH UNITED TECHNOLOGIES...CSC announced a five-year extension to its global information technology (IT) outsourcing agreement with United Technologies Corporation. The extension adds over $1.5 billion in value to the existing contract, which now runs until December 2019. The extension also provides CSC with the immediate opportunity to expand into new geographies with a potential new business value of an additional $300 million. Under the extension, CSC will continue to provide IT infrastructure support for UTC in 22 countries, supporting 110,000 desktops as well as UTC's server and mainframe requirements.
WIPRO TO PRESENT ON OUTSOURCING SMART GRID...Wipro Technologies, a provider of integrated business, technology and process solutions on a global delivery platform, has signed on to sponsor and present at the CIO Utilities Summit, to be held at the InterContinental Montelucia Resort in Scottsdale, AZ on April 18-21. Wipro's presentation will be held in front of an audience of CIOs and IT executives on Monday, April 19 at 12:25p.m.
February 24, 2010
New Business
BancTec Inc., a global provider of advanced, high-volume, document and payment processing solutions and services, has gone into production with a major rollout of its CenterVision solution for Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC). CenterVision, which is BancTec's global platform for processing and managing multiple streams of in-bound information, will improve the agency's efficiency and speed of service as it processes approximately 6 million paper, fax and electronic documents per year for the country's federal employee pension plan, Superannuation Pension Transition and Client Services.
CSC has extended its business process outsourcing (BPO) services agreement for six-years with Sunshine State Insurance Company to support its personal and commercial property business. Under the agreement, CSC will provide an enhanced technology platform that automates underwriting process enabling agents to conduct business with Sunshine State.
International News
Accenture will provide ITV plc, the UK's leading advertiser-funded, free-to-air broadcaster, with core IT service management, infrastructure. and application management services under a five-year agreement ITV plans to transition its desktop services, help desk, and data center management to Accenture later this year. Financial terms of the five-year agreement were not disclosed. Accenture demonstrated its industry vision and capabilities to ITV at the Accenture Innovation Center for Broadband, a specialized facility based in Rome that serves clients who seek innovative video solutions that can be quickly transformed from ideas to reality. At the Center, a team of specialists design and deploy complex solutions for leading media organizations across Europe.
NII Holdings, Inc., a leading provider of mobile communication services operating under the Nextel brand in Latin America, has selected HP Enterprise Services to manage its applications and technology infrastructure support services throughout Latin America. The agreement covers the management of NII's IT applications and infrastructure across its operations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru and headquarters in the United States.
Unisys Corporation announced that its Australian subsidiary has been awarded a five-year contract by the West Australian Public Trustee to provide support and enhancements for its Management Accounting Trust Environment (MATE) application. The contract for an initial three-year period, with the option of two one-year extensions, commenced December 2009 and was awarded following a competitive bid process. It builds on an eight year-relationship during which Unisys has built, supported and modernised the core Public Trustee application that underpins the organisation.
Wipro Ltd, and leading public sector bank Punjab and Sind Bank (PSB) today announced that they have signed a 10-year contract for comprehensive IT outsourcing services for PSB. Wipro will be responsible for System Integration, provisioning and management of Finacle core banking solution and enterprise applications. This would include 24*7 management of the entire underlying IT infrastructure covering computing platforms and networking. As part of the program, Wipro will also undertake commissioning and management of the Data Centre and the Disaster Recovery centre, and Service and Support for the Bank. The solution is expected to completely transform the bank's IT landscape in terms of improved agility for offering innovative banking services.
Intelenet, one of the world's largest business process outsourcers, has been recognised by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) as a Leader in its 2010 Global Outsourcing 100 list. This marks the second year in a row Intelenet has been placed in the Leader's category. The Global Outsourcing 100 is an annual ranking of the world's best outsourcing service providers and advisors.
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February 17, 2010
Top Stories
WIPRO WINS GLOBAL IMPACT AWARD IN ATLANTA...Wipro Technologies, the global IT Services business of Wipro Limited has received the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce Global Impact award. Global Impact Awards are presented annually by the chamber, honoring companies that helped attract, retain or expand international business in the metro area each year. Wipro won in the category of Economic Development - Foreign Direct Investment - for success in job creation and positive impact on Atlanta's economy in 2009.
CHAIRMAN & CEO OF ARIBA TO ADDRESS ENABLING AGILITY AT SIG GLOBAL SUMMIT...At SIG's Global Sourcing Summit, March 30 - April 1, Robert Calderoni, Ariba Chairman and CEO, will discuss with SIG President and CEO Dawn Tiura Evans today's age of perpetual volatility and how sourcing organizations can improve agility, weather the current downturn, and compete as conditions improve. Corporate users who are first-time attendees may participate in the Summit to sample the benefits of SIG membership. The Summit brings together senior-level outsourcing executives to share proven best practices in a no-selling, non-commercial environment. Review the Summit agenda, including 40 breakout sessions, here.
EVEREST Q4 REPORT: OUTSOURCING MARKET CONTINUES TO SIGNAL GLOBAL RECOVERY...The outsourcing and offshoring market witnessed continued trends of global recovery as evidenced by sustained global transaction activity led by buyers in the United States and Europe, continued captive growth, increased hiring by leading Indian suppliers, and other indicators, according to the Market Vista: Q4 2009 report by Everest, a global consulting and research firm. Everest's quarterly study on global outsourcing and offshoring activity reports transaction volume in the fourth quarter was similar to the third quarter, but a few mega-deals pushed annual contract value (ACV) up 72 percent to about US $4 billion.
New Business
CSC announced a six-year extension to its business process outsourcing (BPO) services agreement with Sunshine State Insurance Company, St. Augustine, Fla. Under the extension, CSC will support Sunshine State's personal and commercial property business through January 2016 from an upgraded technology platform that automates more of the underwriting process, making it easier for agents to conduct business with the company. This contract was awarded to CSC during the company's fiscal 2010 second quarter.
Kofax plc will provide a leading and fast growing international airline based in the Middle East with a distributed invoice capture solution. The value of the contract to Kofax is approximately $200,000. The airline will use Kofax software to capture, classify and extract data from approximately 2 million paper and electronic invoices it receives annually at more than 55 global locations. The resulting data will then be sent to its central invoice processing center for validation before being exported into a Microsoft SharePoint based repository and workflow for further processing and payment.
International News
IBM has signed an agreement with Daehan Steel Co., Ltd., one of Korea's leading steel makers, to embark on the second phase of the company's enterprise-wide business transformation project. The business transformation project is part of Daehan Steel's enterprise-wide innovation strategy to support the future growth of the company as "a total steel solution provider" focused on the fast-growing rebar manufacturing business.
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February 10, 2010
Top Stories
CONVERGYS NAMES NEW CEO...Convergys Corporation announced that Jeff Fox, 47, has been named President and Chief Executive Officer. Fox has agreed to serve in this position for at least one year and will also remain on the Convergys Board. Fox, who has been a Convergys Board member since February 2009, and was previously Chief Operating Officer of Alltel Corporation, succeeds David F. Dougherty, 53. Dougherty will serve as a consultant to help facilitate a smooth transition.
XEROX COMPLETES ACS ACQUISITION...Xerox Corporation completed its acquisition of Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., transforming Xerox into the world's leader in business process and document management. ACS is the largest diversified business process outsourcing (BPO) firm in the world. Its expertise is in automating work processes and providing BPO and IT outsourcing services that range from processing over 1 million credit card applications and 12 million student loans each year to providing HR services for more than 4.4 million employees and retirees annually.
UNISYS REPORTS FOURTH QUARTER, FULL YEAR RESULTS...Unisys Corporation reported fourth-quarter 2009 net income of $114.5 million, or $2.64 per diluted share. This compared with a fourth-quarter 2008 net loss of $58.0 million, or a loss of $1.59 per diluted share, which included a $99.0 million pretax cost-reduction charge. Revenue in the quarter declined 5 percent to $1.21 billion compared with revenue of $1.28 billion in the year-ago quarter.
For the full year of 2009, Unisys reported net income of $189.3 million, or $4.75 per diluted share. This compared with a full-year 2008 net loss of $130.1 million, or a loss of $3.62 per diluted share, which included $103.1 million of pretax cost-reduction charges. Revenue in 2009 declined 12 percent to $4.60 billion compared with revenue of $5.23 billion in 2008. Foreign currency fluctuations had an approximately 4 percentage-point negative impact on revenue for the full year.
CSC BEATS ANALYST EXPECTATIONS...Computer Sciences Corp. reported that its third-quarter profit rose to $211 million, or $1.36 a share, from $161 million, or $1.06 a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue remained flat at $3.95 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research expected a quarterly profit of $1.23 a share on revenue of $4.03 billion. The company said it expects to report fiscal 2010 earnings at the higher end of $4.80 to $5 a share, compared to analysts' consensus estimate of $4.97.
TATA CONSULTANCY TO ADD 30,000 EMPLOYEES IN 2011...Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, India's top outsourcer, will hire 30,000 staff in 2010/11 on hopes of increase in demand for services from its overseas clients, a senior official said. The company, part of the Tata Group that spans commodities autos and services businesses, employs more than 130,000 people.
New Business
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs awarded CSC a task order to provide healthcare claims processing system and services. Under the terms of the agreement, CSC and its subcontractor, Plexis Healthcare Systems, will provide the Department of Veterans Affairs Financial Services Center (FSC) with software for a healthcare claims processing system. The FSC will use the system to perform medical claims processing for a variety of programs.
International News
IBM announced that it has signed a five-year remote managed services agreement with Sandhar Technologies, an auto ancillary group based in New Delhi. The deal will enable the company to align its information technology (IT) initiatives with business priorities, thereby ensuring risk mitigation and substantial cost savings. As part of the agreement signed in December 2009, IBM will manage IT infrastructure for Sandhar Technologies, helping the company focus on its core business while reducing capital expenditure. The scope of managed services includes server management and network & security management, which will be remotely carried out from IBM's Global Management Center in Bangalore.
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February 03, 2010
Top Stories
GENPACT ACQUIRES SYMPHONY MARKETING SOLUTIONS...Genpact Limited, a leader in managing business processes for companies around the world, announced the acquisition of Symphony Marketing Solutions, Inc. (SMS), a leading provider of analytics and data management services with expertise in the retail, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods industries. SMS has more than 1,200 employees in India and the United States. Concurrently with the closing of the SMS acquisition, Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), one of the world's leading providers of enterprise market information solutions and services and a strategic client of SMS, has executed an eight-year contract under which SMS will provide end-to-end data management and analytics services to IRI.
CAPGEMINI BUYS IBX...Capgemini Group has acquired on-demand purchasing solutions provider IBX and with it, the availability of the industry's first global end-to-end, Procurement-as-a-Service offering. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Having collaborated together since summer 2009, Capgemini and IBX decided to join forces in order to drive development of a new global procurement service offering and further expand the addressable market for IBX's best-in-class technology. The deal adds IBX's strength in software-as-a-service purchasing technology to Capgemini's global sourcing, business process outsourcing (BPO) and transformation expertise.
SYNTEL APPOINTS PRASHANT RANADE CEO...Syntel, a global information technology services and Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) firm, has appointed Prashant Ranade to the positions of Chief Executive Officer and President, effective immediately. Prashant has more than 30 years of leadership experience in large global corporations coupled with deep domain knowledge in healthcare and life sciences, high-tech engineering and manufacturing, and supply chain and logistics automation. He has been a member of Syntel's Board of Directors since June 2007 and formerly served as President and CEO of Siemens Logistics & Assembly Systems, Inc.
WNS NAMES MURUGESH CEO...WNS (Holdings) Limited, a leading provider of global business process outsourcing (BPO) services, announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Keshav Murugesh to the position of Chief Executive Officer and elected him to the Board. Murugesh, 46, most recently served in the same role at Nasdaq listed Syntel Inc, a global provider of custom outsourcing solutions in a broad spectrum of information technology and information technology-related services. He is expected to assume his new responsibilities effective February 19, 2010.
New Business
The U.S. Army Materiel Command (AMC) issued CSC two contract modifications to continue providing information technology and logistics services under the Army's Logistics Modernization Program (LMP) contract. Both modifications have two-year periods of performance and an estimated combined total value of $261 million. These contracts were won during CSC's third quarter ending January 1, 2010.
The U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO) has awarded Unisys Corporation a contract to provide IT managed services for DISA's Unisys ClearPath mainframe environment. The contract, awarded in the fourth quarter of 2009, is worth an estimated $187 million over its five-year term. Under the contract, Unisys will provide additional mainframe processing capacity and support services for the agency's ClearPath systems that support Air Force logistics, Defense Finance and Accounting Service financial activities, and other Department of Defense applications.
International News
ABB, the leading power and automation technology group and IBM have signed a new agreement that will transform ABB's Information Systems (IS) infrastructure across 17 countries in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. IBM will provide server and network management, as well as end user and help desk services for the majority of ABB's IS infrastructure operations. The new IS infrastructure agreement will also improve ABB's IS energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions by 9,000 tons annually - equivalent to taking more than 1,600 cars off the road - through consolidation and virtualization of ABB's servers and storage.
Ness Technologies, Inc. announced that it would provide outsourcing services to Thomson Reuters Israel for an additional four years. The company, which has worked with Thomson Reuters for the past five years, will continue to provide technical and IT infrastructure services, including installations and IT support for Thomson Reuters Israel's clients. Ness Technologies' outsourcing experts provide continuing on-site support and maintenance services to Thomson Reuters' clients across Israel, including all dealing rooms, brokers, assets management companies, leading corporations and leading Israeli websites. In addition to the ongoing systems maintenance, Ness will install Thomson Reuters' systems in banks, conduct upgrades, handle satellite
BancTec, Inc., a global provider of advanced, high-volume, document and payment processing solutions and services, has been awarded a place on the Software Application Solutions framework agreement for the supply of document and records management solutions to the UK public sector. Buying Solutions, the national procurement partner for UK public services, made the award, which BancTec has now received twice.
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January 27, 2010
Top Stories
BSKYB AWARDED $323 MILLION IN COURT BATTLE WITH EDS...British Sky Broadcasting expects to be awarded upwards of £200m ($323m) of damages after winning a High Court battle with EDS over a sales pitch for a multi-million-pound contract to build a customer service system. EDS, now a unit of Hewlett-Packard Co., made a deal in 2000 to provide customer-service technology for BSkyB's help centers. Two years later, BSkyB terminated the contract, eventually completing the project itself using in-house staff. In one of the largest commercial cases seen in London's Technology and Construction Court, Justice Ramsey ruled there was liability on the part of EDS to BSkyB for "fraudulent mispresentation giving rise to damages."
WIPRO WINS MULTI-YEAR BAT DEAL...Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Limited has entered into a multi-year outsourcing engagement with British American Tobacco, to help the company improve the effectiveness and efficiency of application support services for its global business operations. More specifically, the agreement will provide an enterprise-wide global application support delivery model and capability, reduce the total cost of ownership and allow more opportunities for value added services to business users of British American Tobacco. Wipro will be delivering this global program across over 130 countries in which British American Tobacco operates.
ACS LAUNCHES OUTPLACEMENT SERVICES...Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. now provides outplacement services for transitioning employees. ACS Transition Services - Powered by RiseSmart is the newest addition to its suite of human resources outsourcing solutions. The offering provides companies experiencing job reductions a Web-based service that focuses on helping transitioned employees quickly attain their next job and proposes to reduce employer outplacement costs by up to 50 percent compared to traditional services.
New Business
BancTec, a global provider of advanced, high volume document and payment processing solutions and services, announced that BMO Capital Markets, the investment and corporate banking arm of BMO Financial Group has signed a long-term business process outsourcing (BPO) agreement continuing retail remittance processing services. In the United States, BMO Capital Markets provides its U.S. corporate and commercial clients banking and operating services through Harris N.A., part of BMO Financial Group. Under the agreement, BancTec will handle tens of millions of payments per year. BancTec previously provided lockbox services to BMO Capital Markets through a contract with another service provider.
Affiliated Computer Services, Inc. announced a five-year, information technology (IT) contract extension with McDonald's Corporation. This extension furthers ACS' existing six-year relationship with the company. ACS will continue to provide a full portfolio of managed IT services including service desk, user access, executive support and security administration; desktop support and engineering; messaging services; mainframe/ midrange server support and engineering; networking operations and engineering; andatacenter facilities management. ACS also will provide McDonald's with an end-to-end application performance monitoring service. This solution will enhance the diagnosis of performance issues across the core technology stacks, and support planning and infrastructure readiness. Additionally, it will support the development, testing and quality assurance processes as well as production operational performance
International News
IBM announced a new five-year, multi-million dollar outsourcing deal with Chile's LAN Airlines, one of the largest Airlines in Latin America. Under the new contract, information technology (IT) services will span management, operation and control of LAN's core IT platform by IBM, and will also include security services and the execution of an innovation center. With direct communication to IBM's global development centers, the innovation center will serve as a hub for developing new ideas and enable LAN to stay current with the latest advances in technology in the aviation and travel industry.
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January 20, 2010
Top Stories
IBM EARNINGS UP IN FOURTH QUARTER...IBM announced fourth-quarter 2009 diluted earnings of $3.59 per share compared with diluted earnings of $3.27 per share in the fourth quarter of 2008, an increase of 10 percent. Fourth-quarter net income was $4.8 billion compared with $4.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, an increase of 9 percent. Total revenues for the fourth quarter of 2009 of $27.2 billion increased 1 percent (down 5 percent, adjusting for currency) from the fourth quarter of 2008. The company said it expects full-year 2010 diluted earnings-per-share expectations of at least $11.00.
WIPRO REPORTS STRONG QUARTER...Wipro Ltd. reported that its fiscal third-quarter profit rose 19% to 12.03 billion rupees ($263 million) from 10.10 billion rupees in the year-earlier quarter, under international accounting standards. Earnings per share rose to 8.19 rupees from 6.91 rupees in October-December of 2008. Under Indian accounting standards, consolidated net profit totaled 12.17 billion rupees, for a rise of 21%.
UNISYS SELLS HEALTH INFORMATION BUSINESS...Unisys Corporation has signed an agreement to sell its health information management (HIM) business to Molina Healthcare, Inc. for approximately $135 million in cash. The Unisys HIM business provides system solutions and business process outsourcing services to state governments for administration of their Medicaid and other state health care entitlement programs. The business currently has contracts with the states of Louisiana, New Jersey, West Virginia, Idaho and Maine. It also provides drug rebate administration services for the Florida Medicaid program.
WNS OPENS DELIVERY CENTER IN PHILIPPINES...WNS, a leading provider of global business process outsourcing (BPO) services, has launched a new delivery center in Manila, The Philippines. With a growth to over 1100 employees in just 18 months of operations in the country, the center will accommodate WNS's rapid expansion in the region.
BANCTEC SIGNS DISTRIBUTION DEAL WITH SEESAM SOLUTIONS...BancTec, Inc., a global provider of advanced, high-volume, document and payment processing solutions and services, has signed a distribution agreement with Pakistan-based SeeSam Solutions, a leading enterprise solutions provider and the key player in the country's document management industry. The agreement covers the distribution in Pakistan of BancTec's highly acclaimed IntelliScan and E-Series high-speed document scanning and sorting transports, as well as the eFIRST family of software products.
New Business
IBM has signed a new five-and-a-half-year contract with Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q) for management of the company's information technology (IT) operations. This is an extension of an existing IT operations contract that was signed in 2003. As part of the agreement, IBM will continue to manage Qwest's data centers, mainframe and midrange servers, storage, back-up and recovery services.
CSC announced that a major intelligence community agency awarded the company a task order to provide cyber services. The task order has a one-year base period and four one-year options, bringing the estimated total five-year value to $27 million. This contract was awarded to CSC during the company's fiscal 2010 second quarter that ended Oct. 2, 2009.
International News
Unisys Corporation announced that its Australian subsidiary has won a new three-year IT outsourcing services contract with the Queensland Department of Education and Training. Under the agreement, Unisys will continue providing IT outsourcing services to all Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutes across the state. The win builds on a 12-year outsourcing relationship between Unisys and TAFE Queensland. The contract commenced 1 November 2009 and provides for two optional one-year renewals following the initial three-year term. The contract value is estimated at approximately AUD$41 million (USD$38 million) during the initial three-year term.
Centroid has renewed a 5-year application and infrastructure outsourcing services contract with Verigy, a global semiconductor test solutions company, with more than 1700 employees in Asia, Europe and North America. Centroid will manage the development and operation of Verigy's applications and infrastructure, including all Oracle EBS applications, business intelligence solutions, customer relationship management programs, Web applications, Databases, among others to provide Verigy with a more proactive information technology function, enabling the company to reduce technology costs, improve customer service levels, and better anticipate and meet future business demands
Infosys BPO Ltd. has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the 'Leaders Quadrant' in the 2009 Magic Quadrant for Comprehensive Finance and Accounting (F&A) BPO report1. According to the research firm's report, "Leaders are performing well today, both with a clear vision of market direction and by actively building competencies to sustain their leadership position in the market. They generally share superior market understanding, have a global client base, an extensive network of well-distributed and highly populated global delivery centers catering for multiple languages, a good balance of transactional and high-end F&A delivery and innovative sales offerings."
See Into the Future of Outsourcing
Valuable industry insights, commentary, and advice to help ensure success in your outsourcing decisions and approach over the next five years. 14 articles and dozens of critical decision-making nuggets of information in the January Forecast Issue of Outsourcing Journal.
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January 13, 2010
Top Stories
ACCENTURE, NETHOPE LAUNCH HELP DESK FOR NGOS...Accenture and NetHope, with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, have launched the first global information technology (IT) help desk for international non-government organizations (NGOs). The help desk, currently staffed by NGO employees and Accenture employees working with Accenture Development Partnerships, is available to NetHope members and represents the first time such a cross-agency service has been attempted for the development sector.
EVEREST: IT OUTSOURCING SUPPLIERS' CONSULTING STRATEGIES YIELDING MINIMAL RETURNS...Although IT consulting services often lead client companies toward outsourcing, there is little evidence that outsourcing suppliers with consulting practices perform better than suppliers without consulting units, according to Everest, a global consulting and research firm. Read an extract of the IT Consulting as a Catalyst of ITO - The Pursuit of a Vague Synergy study.
WILLIAMS LEA NAMES CEO FOR AMERICAS...Williams Lea has named Tim Rodber as the new CEO of Williams Lea, Americas, effective January 4, 2010. As CEO of International Operations for the past two years, Rodber led the business strategy for operations in Germany, India and Asia Pacific. During his time in this role, he drove the reorganization and growth of the German business and integrated both the Indian and Asia Pacific operating businesses into the global Williams Lea platform.
Previously, he held the role Chief Operating Officer of the Americas from 2005 to 2007.
WALGREENS OUTSOURCES ACCOUNTING PROCESSES TO GENPACT...Walgreens, the largest drugstore chain in the United States with over 7,000 stores and revenues of USD 63 Billion, has signed an agreement with Genpact to provide Walgreens with accounting services as part of Walgreens' Rewiring for Growth initiative. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Under the 10-year agreement, Genpact will assume several accounting processes currently managed by Walgreens, as the retailer implements a new structure for its accounting division. The agreement will impact accounting staff at its offices in Deerfield, Illinois and surrounding areas, including Danville, Illinois and nine smaller accounting locations across the U.S.
WIPRO WINS OUTSTANDING PARTNER AWARD...Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Limited, has been awarded the Most Outstanding Alliance Partner of the Year Award from the Software and Solutions group at HP during HP's annual Asia-Pacific & Japan Partners @World Cup, held recently in Guangzhou City, China.
International News
House of Fraser, the UK and Ireland's premium department store, will outsource its IT support to Capgemini UK plc in a comprehensive seven-year contract that takes effect this month. The contract covers management of data centre services, applications support and development, service desk, desktop support and third party services. It also includes network services, which will be provided by Capgemini under a sub contract agreement.
The Royal Victoria Hospital, located in fast-growing Ontario city of Barrie, about 45 minutes from Toronto, has launched a state-of-the-art resource system in partnership with TELUS Sourcing Solutions technology to manage the hospital's human resource functions and disability management services which will allow the hospital to focus on hiring 1,000 employees. The TELUS system will also allow the hospital to automate a new HR processes through a quick and simple web-site for the current 2,200 employees.
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January 06, 2010
Top Stories
ADP TO ACQUIRE E-INVOICING FIRM...ADP , a leading provider of outsourced HR, payroll, and benefits administration services, has entered into an agreement to acquire DO2 Technologies Inc., of Calgary, Alberta, a leading provider of electronic-invoicing solutions. The technology acquired from DO2 simplifies the procure-to-pay function, from purchase order integration and transaction processing to discount management, price compliance, approvals workflow, and payment. The solution is delivered through a SaaS (software-as-a-service) model, enabling fast ramp-up and a lower cost of ownership.
INFOSYS NAMES NEW CEO OF BPO UNIT... Infosys Technologies Ltd. has named D. Swaminathan as the new chief executive of its business process outsourcing unit, Infosys BPO Ltd. The company also named Ritesh Idnani as the unit's chief operating officer. The appointments are effective Jan. 15. Swaminathan, who is currently a senior vice president at Infosys BPO, has been with the company for the past four years. He succeeds Amitabh Chaudhry, who resigned in November. Idnani is currently a vice president and head of worldwide sales and marketing at Infosys BPO.
TATA CONSULTANCY NAMES TWO NEW DIRECTORS...The Board of Directors of Tata Consultancy Services has appointed Vijay Kelkar, former Finance Secretary to the Government of India and Ishaat Hussain, Finance Director of Tata Sons to the Board of Directors of the company, effective January 5, 2010. With the addition of these two new directors, the total Board strength of the company increases to twelve directors which include six independent directors, including Kelkar, the most recent addition.
New Business
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the world's largest publisher of educational materials for pre-K-12 schools, has selected Cognizant as a business technology services partner. As part of the five-year agreement, Cognizant will provide a range of IT services to drive operational efficiencies in digital publishing technology to support Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's continuing expansion from print products to digital channels for its industry-leading content.
The U.S. Army awarded CSC a task order to continue providing a full range of Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Information Management (C4IM) support and services at U.S. Army Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG), Md. The task order, which was awarded under the Information Technology Enterprise Solutions -- 2 Services indefinite-delivery/ indefinite-quantity contract, has a one-year base period, four one-year options and an estimated total five-year contract value of $79 million.
Unisys was awarded a task order to help the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) develop technology solutions for secure data storage, retrieval and sharing. The project will test and evaluate the Unisys Stealth Solution, a family of innovative secure infrastructure sharing, and network and storage data protection solutions for government and commercial organizations. Under the one-year, firm fixed price task order, awarded through the Defense Information Systems Agency's Encore II contract, Unisys will provide support for USSOCOM in Tampa, Fla.
International News
Genpact Limited has been awarded a three year contract from Max New York Life Insurance Company Ltd. Under this arrangement, Genpact will provide Max New York Life with customer service related solutions in select geographies, employing multiple regional languages and sophisticated technology. Max New York Life Insurance Co. Ltd. is a joint venture between Max India Ltd., a leading multi business corporation, and New York Life, a Fortune 100 company. The company is one of India's leading private life insurance companies and offers both individual and group life insurance solutions.
Capgemini UK plc, a subsidiary of the Capgemini Group extended and renewed its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) contract with Syngenta, the world's leading crop protection and seeds producer for the agricultural industry. The new seven-year contract extends the scope of finance and accounting services and adds procurement services, delivering to the worldwide Syngenta business unit portfolio in over 50 countries. These services are expected to significantly contribute to Syngenta achieving worldwide process standardization and improving operational performance.
IBM has signed a 10-year information technology (IT) services agreement with Sardar Bhiladwala Pardi People's Co-operative Bank Ltd. (SBPPCB), one of the leading co-operative banks in Gujarat, India. The engagement, a complete operational expenditure (pay-as-you-go) model, will enable the bank to save up to 50 percent in its capital expenditure on IT infrastructure. As part of the agreement, IBM will provide Managed Continuity Services encompassing server management, network and security management, backup and database management.
WNS (Holdings) Limited has renewed its contract with Sabre Holdings, the world's largest travel distribution and technology company. WNS will continue to provide comprehensive front, middle and back office services to Sabre Holdings and its affiliates including Travelocity. The contract renewal extends the strategic relationship between Sabre and WNS through December 2015.
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