THE BUSINESS Processing Association of the Philippines (BPA/P) will propose to the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) the inclusion of a service management core subject in college.

The proposal comes as BPA/P and CHEd signed a memorandum of cooperation yesterday at Eastwood City, Libis to start a five-year partnership to revise college curricula, develop a training program for teachers and an assessment tool to determine a graduate’s readiness to enter the information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) industries.

Noting the difficulty in finding qualified individuals to fill job openings in the industry, the group underscored human resource development as key to achieving the IT-BPO medium-term road map goals of generating $25 billion in annual export sales and creating 4.5 million jobs — 1.3 million directly and 3.2 million indirectly — by 2016.

“We believe that our partnership with CHEd will give a big boost to our efforts to tackle our number one challenge of improving the quantity and quality of our talent supply,” BPA/P Chairman Alfredo I. Ayala said on the sidelines of the memorandum signing.

“We do need help in developing human capital in the Philippines. At first, I was uneasy about pushing our college graduates to work in the BPO industry. But when I was introduced by the association to the broad nature of the BPO industry, I began to learn about opportunities the industry presents to our graduates in various fields,” CHEd Chairperson Patricia B. Licuanan told reporters.

“CHEd is throwing its full support behind the IT-BPO industry because we see this as a key long-term solution toward job creation and poverty alleviation. We are expecting that, through this collaboration, we can now give significantly more options to our future graduates so that they do not have to leave the country in order to win high-paying jobs where they can learn world-class skills.”

Under BPA/P’s proposal, colleges can incorporate a “BPO 101” in their core curriculum for all students, regardless of their specialization.

On top of this introductory subject, students can also make service management their minor course, said Martin Antonio S. Crisostomo, BPA/P external affairs executive director. Such students will be schooled in BPO culture, problem solving and other analytical skills, he added.

Source: BWorld Online

GlobalConnect changes name to AGC Networks. GlobalConnect was bought last August by Aegis Australia and over the past 12 months it has been integrated into the company.

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The Philippines is the most cost-effective outsourcing destination in Asia, according to real estate advisory firm CB Richard Ellis. In a recent study by CBRE comparing 15 central business districts in Asia, the Philippines was ranked the second cheapest with lease rates at $19.1 price per square foot/annum, next to Jakarta’s $16.3. This despite an increase in office lease rates in Metro Manila and a decline in vacancy rates this year. The Philippines also ranked second in terms of office rental yields in Asia, at 10% in the third quarter of 2011, following India’s 11%.

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Unisys Corporation announced that its Australian and New Zealand subsidiaries have signed agreements with McDonald’s to provide end-user IT support services to McDonald’s restaurants across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. The five-year contracts have an estimated combined value of approximately AU$30 million (US$30.5 million) and represent new business for Unisys.Under the terms of the contracts, Unisys will provide service desk, on-site and remote support services to McDonald’s chain of more than 1,000 company-owned and franchised restaurants across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific region, including New Caledonia, Fiji, Tahiti, American Samoa and Samoa.

A précis of an article that appeared in the Straits Times in Singapore.

The year 2020 may have once sounded more like the stuff of science fiction novels. But it is only eight and bit years away now. In a new report “Imagining Asia 2020” a team of researchers and analysts from DBS Bank look into their crystal balls to see what 2020 might hold for Asia

1. GDP growth: Asia will surpass the US in economic size.

Asia has long been the fastest growing region in the world. And last year it overtook the United States as the main driver of global growth.

Mr. David Carbon, managing director of economic and currency research at DBS said “This is the biggest structural change going on in the global economy today. Asia has been getting a little bigger and bigger, and is now at the point where it is big enough where it matters. 5 years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, it was not big enough to matter, not big enough to drive its own recovery, but today it is.”

By 2016, Asia will catch up in size with the US. By 2020, it will be 17% larger than the US economy.

The speed of growth has been simply breathtaking. In 2000, Asia was only 40% of the size of the US. By 2010 it was 80%.

China will contribute 64% of this growth over the next eight years, and India 17%, making them the two most important drivers of growth by far.

2. People power: Asia will add another US to its population.

We have just had the 7 billionth person born and by 2020 Asia will have added another 220 million people, almost the entire population of the US. “That is 10 times more than the US population is going to grow by. For every single new person we have in the US by 2020 we are going to have 10 new people in Asia,” said Carbon

Mr. Bhaskaran Manu the chief executive of Centennial Asia advisors and vice president of economic Society of Singapore, said: “if the population growth occurs in countries with endemic political and economic problems, these problems could perhaps get even worse. But if the growth is in rapidly growing economies, which can provide good jobs for the additions to the workforce, then the impact is likely to be positive.”

3. Urbanized nation: China will have over 100 cities with more than 1 million people each.

China will have seven megacities by 2020. There will be more than ½ a dozen mega cities with a population of over 8 million each. However China will also have a whopping 130 other cities with populations of more than 1 million people each.

It’s not just all about China and India, in Southeast Asia, over 20 secondary cities across Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia also behind the growth of people by 2020, said the DBS report

The demand for infrastructure development and urban makeovers is therefore immense. “Urban centers offer economies of scale and make it more efficient to provide services such as education, healthcare, clean water and safe sanitation,” said the DBS report

“A skilled labor force attracts investments that generate more employment and prosperity, setting off a virtuous circle of economic gain.”

4. Hey big spenders: Asia will be the next big consumer.

Americans are not the only big spenders. Asia is expected to at least double its current level of consumption and will consume 80% as much food as the US.

It will more than triple the growth rate of private consumption of the US over the next 10 years said the DBS report.

Food will be a large part of that spending. One out of every four dollars spent by each household will be on food.

5. Wealth creation: Asian incomes have lots of room to rise

Between the mid-1960s and today, income levels in most Asian nations have grown by 5 to 8 times. But most of Asia is still far behind developed Western nations such as the US and Europe in terms of household income levels.

So while income levels have grown rapidly in Asia, there is still a lot of catching up to be done and it means “fast growth in Asia should be able to continue for a long time”, noted the DBS reports.

Datacom has announced plans to build a new tier 3 data centre in Hamilton following the success of its bid to be a preferred supplier of cloud and data centre services to the New Zealand Government.

The contract, signed yesterday, is for a period of 10 years with an optional 5 year extension. This initiative is part of a cross-government ICT programme led by the Department of Internal Affairs to reduce costs and improve the effectiveness of government.

Sydney-based Datacom Group CEO Jonathan Ladd said Datacom is continuing to invest in new cloud infrastructure right across the region.

“With Australia and particularly New Zealand recognised as high growth markets for cloud services, Datacom is continuing to invest significantly in infrastructure across the region, including expanding its Sydney cloud platform and establishing nodes in Melbourne and Brisbane to meet demand,” Jonathan Ladd said.

“Datacom applauds the NZ Government’s progressive initiative in establishing the provision of infrastructure as a service to its agencies, which we believe is a world-first on this all-of-government scale for a national administration,” Jonathan Ladd said.

Technology to operate Datacom’s cloud services is sourced from Cisco, EMC, HP, IBM, Microsoft, NetApp, Symantec and VMware.

Datacom’s New Zealand CEO Greg Davidson said a standalone cloud computing platform, Datacom Cloud Services for Government, will be available within 90 days.

Storage and computer services will be provided in a range of price, performance, and availability tiers to meet varying agency requirements. An online portal will provide agencies with ‘a single pane of glass’ to view, provision and manage the services provided. The portal will be secured using the NZ Government’s igovt identity verification service.

The Datacom Cloud Services for Government computing platform is based on the expertise gained by Datacom’s operation of its established commercial cloud platform in New Zealand, running across three of its data centres in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

This commercial platform now provides cloud services to more than 100 clients via 1,500 machines, with over one petabyte of storage under management. These numbers are growing at 15 per cent per month.

To ensure ongoing data centre capacity Datacom will build a new tier-3 data centre in Hamilton on the North Island and extend existing cloud and data centre infrastructure in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Work on the new data centre has commenced and it will open in early 2013.

Datacom expects the very low earthquake risk profile of Hamilton to make that location an attractive site for both NZ government and commercial organisations to house IT systems.

Design consultants for the new data centre in Hamilton will be Beca Carter with construction services being provided by Fletcher Building, forming the same team that delivered Datacom’s successful Auckland tier-3+ facility, commissioned 2 years ago as NZ’s most energy-efficient data centre.

“Datacom’s commitment to providing the benefits of technology advances to its clients through its early and proven investment in cloud computing now enables us to offer infrastructure as a service to all NZ Government agencies,” Greg Davidson said.

“Our selection is highly significant for Datacom and will allow us to bring the benefits of efficient cloud computing to many public sector organisations. The NZ Government’s embrace of this innovative technology paradigm will further spur its adoption across the country, which can only be good for productivity and the economy.”

Datacom is a New Zealand owned IT infrastructure, software and outsourcing services company employing over 3,500 staff across New Zealand, Australia and Asia. Revenues in the last financial year ended 31/3/11 exceeded NZ$725m.

The Innovation Group is pleased to report two important new contracts in Australia — Contracts involve both the Group’s Software and BPO capabilities -

The Innovation Group plc (LSE: TIG.L), is pleased to announce that it has signed two new contracts in Australia, utilising the Group’s Business Process Outsourcing (“BPO”) and Software capabilities.

The first contract is a three-year software license agreement with one of Australia’s best known mid tier Property and Casualty Insurers. Under the terms of the agreement, the insurer will utilise the Group’s Innovation Insurer Suite software to implement multiple new lines of business and will also migrate a number of existing legacy systems on to the Insurer platform. This contract is the Group’s first sale of its entire Insurer Suite offering, which includes Claims, Analytics and Policy, also making it the first sale of the new Insurer Policy product. The agreement is expected to generate approximately AU$7.0m (£4.4m) in revenue over its three year period.

The second contract is a three-year software license and BPO agreement with the Australian arm of a global insurance company headquartered in the United States. As part of its agreement with this insurer, the Group will provide its Innovation Insurer Policy software to the insurer’s Australian arm via Software as a Service (“SaaS”) model, as well as hosting the software and providing application support. The Group will also provide the insurer’s Australian arm with outsourced services to support the administration of certain policy types sold through the insurer’s Australian distribution network. This contract, the first to combine Innovation’s software and BPO capabilities, is expected to generate between AU$2.0m and AU$4.8m (£1.25m and £3.0m) in Group revenue over its term, dependent on the volume of policies sold.

Welcoming both deals Andy Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of The Innovation Group added:

“This is excellent progress for us in Australia and for our Group as a whole. These successes validate our investment in the Insurer software platform, which is winning over new customers with its flexibility, capacity and speed of implementation. I am also pleased to unveil further evidence of our ability to win business that involves both of our key service lines. It is this combination of sophisticated software and highly capable service teams which, I believe, sets The Innovation Group squarely apart from its peers.”

Source: 4-Traders.com

T2 snags top influencer

Mary Sue Rogers routinely appears on lists of the Top Consultants in the World. Ms. Rogers has worked in HR for over 25 years, in a variety of roles focused on transforming the role of HR in organisations through consulting and outsourcing. She has experience with a variety of industries including financial services, industrial and consumer packaged goods. T2 announced the appointment of Mary Sue Rogers as the new Global Managing Director of HR Managed Services. Mary Sue’s remit will be to lead Talent2’s Payroll, HR Advisory and Learning businesses

International Business Leaders Meet for Outsourcing Summit in China

Last week, a large number of international political and business leaders converged on Ma’anshan, China, for the fourth annual Global Outsourcing Summit. The conference focused on how outsourcing, including call center development, can help develop industries throughout the world, with a particular focus on China. Brazil, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates have also all been developing vibrant BPO markets that are helping to create jobs and economic growth. Worldwide the business process outsourcing market expanded by 25 percent during the first quarter of this year, according to a report from the Everest Group.

Oracle to buy RightNow Technologies

IT giant Oracle will buy cloud-based CRM specialist RightNow Technologies to boost its customer service offering. RightNow customers in the region include Telecom NZ and Virgin Mobile, while the US-based company has around 1000 employees worldwide, including a branch in Australia. “Oracle is moving aggressively to offer customers a full range of cloud solutions including sales force automation, human resources, talent management, social networking, databases and Java as part of the Oracle Public Cloud,” said Oracle’s Thomas Kurian. “RightNow’s leading customer service cloud is a very important addition.”

By Bibhu Ranjan Mishra

UK-based Serco Group, which earlier bought Mumbai-based back office services provider Intelenet Global Services, has further expanded its global BPO capabilities by acquiring Excelior, the contact centre business of Australian firm Skilled Group.

According to an announcement made by Skilled Group to Australian Stock Exchange, the company has entered into an unconditional agreement to sell Excelior to Serco for a total consideration of A$13.2 million. This includes an earn-out payment of up to A$5 million payable over the next two years upon achieving certain revenue targets. The agreement was signed with Serco Pty, the Australian subsidiary of Serco.

Skilled Group also said the sale of Excelior was in line with the company’s strategy to focus on its core business after divesting the non-core assets. Skilled Group, which provides labour hires and workforce services in Australia and New Zealand, has over 160 offices with revenues of around A$1.9 billion.

According to industry sources, the process to acquire Excelior was initiated by Intelenet Global Services much before Serco acquired it. However, in the new scheme of things, Intelenet Global is expected to drive the post the merger integration of Excelior with Serco.

Serco, a global services company, had acquired Intelenet in June this year for £385 million (about Rs. 2,770 crore). Before acquiring Intelenet, Serco had about 8,000 people located in India as a part of its BPO practice.

With the addition of about 32,000 people from Intelenet, Serco BPO has now a headcount of about 40,000.

Excelior was established in 1999. The company employs about 2,000 people in Australia across four centres including Box Hill in Melbourne, Bendigo in Victoria, Burnie in Tasmania and Robina in Queensland.

Source: Indian Business Standard

2,300 employees from the UK, the US, China, Finland and India transferring from Nokia to Accenture.

IT consulting company Accenture and Finnish mobile maker Nokia have closed the agreement for Nokia to outsource Symbian software development and support activities to Accenture.

The agreement was originally announced on 22 June 2011, after Nokia announced that it will outsource its Symbian OS development along with some emplyees to Accenture.

With the closure of the agreemet, Accenture will provide Symbian-based software development and support services to Nokia until 2016 and also become the preferred supplier for Nokia in its transition to Windows Phone, said Accenture.

Accenture said under the agreement, approximately 2,300 employees from China, Finland, India, the United Kingdom and the United States are transferring from Nokia to Accenture.

Accenture Communications, Media & Technology operating group chief executive Marty Cole said Accenture is focused on growing their business in mobility and embedded software.

“We look forward to supporting Nokia in the execution of its strategy,” said Cole.

Accenture said it works with Avanade, a technology service company and focuses on Microsoft technologies, to provide further services to Nokia.

Source: Outsourcing BPO