By Mark Atterby – Senior Staff Writer

Dr. David Platt was a delegate at the SSON conference and exhibition last week in Melbourne. We caught up with him during his visit.

Victorian local governments are looking to expand on their use of outsourcing and managed services, so in turn they can offer greater services to their citizens and constituents. Dr.. David Platt, of the Municipal Association of Victoria commented, “Fundamentally, it’s about improving services to our citizens and the communities for which local government serves. It also means giving them better and more flexible access to those services.”

Access is not just via the internet or the contact centre anymore. Plant observes, “Increasingly, people are accessing a vast range of services from their mobile phone and other devices. We want to offer the Victorian citizen a great deal of flexibility in how they access the services.”

Regardless of how they decide to interact with their local council, the citizen will receive a consistent level of service via a one-stop-shop for local government type of environment.
All councils, regardless of their size, have limited resources when it comes to investing in new systems and applications. They need to work together and collaborate to realise the potential benefits, Platt says, “We have very limited resources with which we can do things, so the way we are looking at doing our shared services is that it has to fund itself. One process and project at a time. Once the benefits have been realised in one area we can than move onto another.”

“The benefits that we achieve from moving into an area of shared services have to fund the change and the transformation that we have to go through. And when we start getting into some bigger programmes such as asset management, we want to see the benefits we get through collaboration actually Dr.iving a lot of cash benefits.”

The biggest hurdle local government is facing in instigating these new services involves the various legacy systems and different processes, Platt states, “Every council is different, we have different systems that are configured differently. We work on different business processes. Essentially we do things very differently in each council.”

To overcome these legacy systems, the local councils of Victoria are investigating their cloud options and the feasibility of moving to a single platform.

At present there is no political imperative from the state government for councils to undertake these initiatives. They are taking a ‘let’s experiment and see’ approach. But according to Dr. Platt, once the business case is signed off, things should start to materialise within 9 – 12 months. “Within two to three years we expect to see significant cashable benefits flowing back into councils. It is a long journey, but things in government take time.”

By Michael Alan Hamlin

In recent weeks, the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) has made two important announcements that show the industry continues to impress investors. Last week, the association – which serves as the umbrella association for a range of outsourcing and shared services sectors in the Philippines – confirmed that the industry as a whole grew 26% in 2010 to $8.9 billion in revenue.

Employment grew 25% to 525,000 skilled workers and professionals, an increase of 100,000 jobs. Value-added, non-voice jobs grew fastest at 30%, according to BPAP chairman Alfredo Ayala. “We now employ more than 100,000 professionals in this sub-sector,” he said, “with many of these BPO employees coming from finance and accounting, legal, and medical sciences backgrounds.”

All major IT-BPO sectors reported impressive growth. “We achieved robust growth in all major sectors of the industry: voice-based BPO, non-voice business support and complex services, and information technology,” Mr. Ayala said. “Our contact-center sector grew over 20%, overtaking India and establishing itself as the largest in the world on the back of the Philippines being recognized as the most-preferred destination in the world for these services.”

According to BPAP, smaller outsourcing sectors such as IT, transcription, animation, and game development also grew as recovery from the 2009 global financial crisis took hold.

According to BPAP senior executive director Gillian Joyce Virata, only engineering services failed to post positive growth because the industries it serves – construction and automotive – have yet to fully recover. Nevertheless, these sectors have increased the value and complexity of their services delivered from the Philippines. Mirroring growth in value-added, non-voice jobs overall, software sector jobs grew at a healthy 28% in 2010 according to Nora Terrado, president of the Philippine Software Industry Association. “We earned US$725 million in export revenues last year as our clients renewed their IT spending in anticipation of expansion after a year of hesitation,” she said. Terrado said there are about 45,000 IT professionals employed in the country’s IT outsourcing sector, up 27% from 2009.

The fact that established sectors continue to post robust growth is significant.

“The Philippines now leads the world in voice-based customer service,” said Benedict Hernandez, president of the Contact Center Association of the Philippines. “We have solidified our global leading position with our agents providing the best customer service in the world.” The contact center sector grew 21% to US$6.1 billion last year. Employment jumped 23% to 344,000.

An IT-BPO and shared services industry road map was developed last year under BPAP’s direction by the Everest Group and Outsource2Philippines, with funding provided by the Commission on Information & Communications Technology. It forecasts at a minimum sustained growth of 15% annually for the industry.

“But with greater collaboration from all stakeholders, including government and the academe, we have the potential to grow at 25% a year. This would create 1.3 million direct jobs and $25 billion in export revenues,” Mr. Ayala said.

(Disclosure: I am president of Outsource2Philippines and BPAP is a client of TeamAsia, where I am managing director.)

An earlier announcement provided a backdrop for the industry’s 2010 results and demonstrated another emerging industry role for the Philippines: thought leadership. Ms. Virata announced that the third annual International Outsourcing Summit will take place in the Philippines October 11-12. “This year’s Summit will feature presentations and panel discussions with more than 60 top executives and analysts from leading organizations,” Raymond Lacdao, BPAP executive director for industry affairs said.

“The theme of the Summit – Global Market Leaders Addressing Global Issues – will focus on innovation and value creation. The industry is moving up the value chain rapidly, and clients expect services providers to be their partners in enhancing value for their customers,” Mr. Lacdao explained. “We will hear first-hand from industry clients what they expect. And top executives from industry will describe how they are responding.

Approximately 400 executives in the IT-BPO and shared services industry from 20 countries are expected to attend the three-day Summit and related events, which include an exhibit, gala dinners, and business matching, according to Mr. Lacdao. A website, www.internationaloutsourcingsummit.com, provides a detailed agenda, including invited and confirmed speakers.

“This year’s Summit will also review the IT-BPO Road Map 2011-2016 and the implications of recent developments on the Philippines’ position as the new leader in voice – and how it affects the even faster-growing non-voice segment for all locators,” Ms. Virata said. “With more than 20 verticals and 525,000 knowledge workers, the Philippines is the place to meet top influential executives from the industry and the industries is serves,” Mr. Lacdao said.

Source: MB.com.ph

Shared Services & Outsourcing Week Australasia 2011 Announces G6 Visionaries

The Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON), the largest and most established community of shared services and outsourcing professionals, announced the results of its community’s selection of the “G6”. This group of industry thought leaders will be featured at SSON’s upcoming 14th Annual Australasian Shared Services & Outsourcing Week conference, which will be held at the Palladium at Crown in Melbourne, Australia from April 11 – 14, 2011.

The panel, moderated by Dr. Martin Fahy, Practice Leader APAC, The Hackett Group, will feature the viewpoints of several of the industry’s top sell-side authorities:

•   Asheesh Mehra, Head of BPO, Infosys BPO
•   Donal Graham, Partner, Deloitte
•   Arno Franz, Partner and President, TPI
•   Ray Slayford, National Lead Partner of Procurement and Shared Services,
KPMG
•   Peter Barta, Principal – Consulting, Deloitte
•   Raja Venkateswar, Head – Sales, Marketing & M&A, Xchanging

“The G6 panel is a substantive platform to challenge conventional thinking through the kind of hard hitting, no hold barred conversations we need to have as an industry. No sugar coating, no half truths – just facts, insights and perspectives on issues and challenges that define our business,” stated Asheesh Mehra, Head of BPO for Infosys BPO.

“The G6 debate is poised to move from ‘shared services vs. outsourcing’ to ‘shared services’ value capture through strategic sourcing’. Recent advances in technology and operating disciplines have enabled the convergence of a number of value-capture options for shared services operations,” remarked Peter Barta, Principal – Consulting for Deloitte. “
Technology evolutions such as open systems, interoperability and cloud; standardised processes and quality disciplines for business processes; and greater commercial and operational control of outsourcing models are all forces that combine to create a new wave of innovation and improvement options. These choices will allow Shared Services leaders in Australia to optimise quality, cost and risks in order to create significant competitive value for their user organisations.”

Sarah Clayton, Head of Strategy at SSON, stated, “With the Australasian market gaining a deeper understanding for the true value of shared services and refined business processes, we look forward to hosting an event that provides significant educational and networking opportunities to all attendees.”

The premier shared services and outsourcing event will take place at the Palladium at Crown in Melbourne, Australia from April 11 – 14, 2011. Over the course of four days, the event will engage more than 450 shared services and outsourcing professionals with more than 35 presentations by industry experts.

The 2011 Australasian Shared Services & Outsourcing Week is set to emphasise one-on-one networking and personal development, as well as featuring the 2011 SSON Excellence Awards – which includes “The People’s Choice” for Personal Contribution to the Industry Award. The Awards Ceremony will be take place on April 12.

More information about the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) can be found at www.ssonetwork.com. Stay up to date with SSON’s latest twitter posts at twitter.com/ssonetwork, connect with global practitioners, providers and advisors on the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network (SSON) LinkedIn group and Sign up to receive SSON’s weekly updates today

Asia CEO Forum Event – Manila Philippines March 16th- 7:45am at the Tower Club of Manila, 33rd floor, PhilamLife Tower, 8767 Paseo de Roxas at the corner of Ayala Avenue, Makati City, Manila).

The corporate HR function has reached a tipping point for dramatic progress because of the phenomenon known as Cloud Computing. Today’s systems offer employees immediate and 24-hour accessibility to their sensitive personal career data. For managers, detailed reporting tools that they can create on-the-fly provide fast, valuable information to radically improve their businesses. CEO’s are happiest of all because significant savings of time and money are involved ˆ the cost to run payroll can drop by 50% alone.

www.asia-ceo.org/events/NGA-Darcy_Lalonde.htm

The conversation about the realities of cloud computing took an interesting turn last week as technology vendors, customers, analysts and service providers came together at Fox Studios in Sydney to debate just how quickly the game is changing in the local market.

Developed to offer a frank and fearless environment for the honest exchange of ideas and opinions, ‘theCircle LIVE’ attracted chiefs, integrators, customers and experts from across the business spectrum. The audience included industry heavyweights such as EMC, Cisco, VMware, SAP and CSC, with the conversation moderated by respected IT journalist Mr. Mark Jones.

“Consumer-oriented cloud services have promised a lot and opened our minds to stretch what can be achieved. All our data and computer services live in the cloud and just like a utility we flick a switch and everything just works. Yet there is still much debate around how this will actually be delivered – even the very definition of ‘cloud’ is disputed,” explains Clive Gold Marketing CTO of EMC Australia and New Zealand, the world’s leading provider of information infrastructure solutions. “So theCircle LIVE presented a rare opportunity to bring some brilliant minds from the industry together with customers, in order to get a genuine conversation started.”

The big issues of the day were covered in a broad ranging debate, with experts from the health, legal and security fraternities weighing in to argue the relative merits of private vs. public cloud models. Security, privacy and compliance concerns were recurrent themes amongst the audience, with members of the health, legal and security communities weighing in.

The future of Cloud BPO was tabled by legal firm Truman Hoyle in relation to new Australian Privacy Principle 8, which will – if adopted in 2011 – require organisations storing information about Australian citizens in offshore data centres to ensure they select providers that meet Australian privacy standards in the absence of informed consent by each “affected individual.” That informed consent will have to be obtained after advising customers (or “affected individuals”) that there will be no obligation on the Australian company to take reasonable measures to ensure that the overseas provider will meet equivalent standards of privacy protection.

Absent this informed consent: “There is a specific issue for organisations using offshore operators because if an Australian company puts its consumer data – its private data – into the cloud, it has to make sure that the service provider can be shown to have an equivalent number of safeguards in place as required under the new Australian Privacy Principles,” Mark Vincent, Partner at Truman Hoyle said. “Organisations that suffer a breach can also be held strictly liable for that breach even where proper due diligence was conducted to ensure their offshore cloud provider was compliant to the required level, something that is currently not the case under the existing Privacy Principles.”

“The legal intricacies of utilising public cloud service offerings that are based offshore is just one of the many complex and important conversations that theCircle LIVE is facilitating in the market,” said EMC’s Clive Gold.

“What is clear is that when something this disruptive hits, it is vital that industry engage in open and rigorous critical thinking and debate. It is good for the industry and it’s valuable for the many customers in the market that are looking to vendors and integrators for honest answers.”

Outsourcing Malaysia (OM) will focus on an export promotion strategy that includes regional cross border partnerships to spur the local outsourcing industry and help it to achieve its targeted 15% growth. The Malaysian outsourcing industry generated revenue of USD1.1 billion last year.

Malaysia’s strong talent pool and other advantages have placed it among the top three Shared Services Outsourcing (SSO) destinations in the world.

Quoting this from a study by global management consulting firm AT Kearney, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said, “Thanks to Malaysia’s multi-cultural environment, the ranking enables the country to offer multiple language skills and a high-value workforce capable of interacting as well as meeting the needs of customers across the globe.”

He said there were almost 140 foreign and 60 local companies in the country now performing various SSO activities, ranging from IT and business process outsourcing to knowledge process outsourcing.
OM’s export strategy is in line to increase the competitiveness of Malaysian outsourcing companies and to tap the industry’s enormous untapped potential.

Its Chairman David Wong told reporters at a media briefing that OM believes that cross border collaboration is a key driver to elevate local players’ competencies and to help them become global service providers. OM had recently organised a successful business mission to Australia to facilitate partnerships between Malaysian and Australian IT and business solutions providers where over US$100 million worth of collaboration opportunities were identified.

It was the first business mission to Australia for OM. Response towards the seminars, round-table discussions and B2B meetings in Sydney and Melbourne revealed the genuine willingness and openness of Australian companies to explore partnership opportunities with industry counterparts in Malaysia.

According to Mr Wong, among the factors which contributed to the success of its Australian mission were Malaysia’s strengths in specific industry verticals and the country’s proximity to the Middle East countries.“ Australian companies recognise our competitive edge in the areas of Contact Centre Operation & Services, Enterprise Resource Planning, HR and Finance & Accounting Outsourcing and our close location to the growing Middle East markets is also a strong plus point.

“Our positioning of Malaysia as a gateway to the larger ASEAN region is also another compelling reason for Australian companies to consider partnering us, while for Malaysian companies, we can leverage Australia’s respected global brand. Together, we will be able to collectively target markets beyond the two countries,” Mr Wong said, adding that collaboration is crucial to create appealing solutions in today’s commodity marketplace.

He added, “OM plans to organise follow-up visits to Sydney and Melbourne within the next year and is also targeting similar missions to other countries such as America, Singapore, Japan, Korea and Dubai over the next 24 months following the encouraging results achieved from the ‘smart partnership model’ concept initiated for Australia.”

OM also recently launched its newly revamped website (www.outsourcingmalaysia.org.my) as part of its strategy to make it easier for the global market to access the local shared services and outsourcing capabilities that are available in the country.

Outsourcing Malaysia is organising the Smart Sourcing Summit 2010 (SSS2010) in December 8 -10 under the theme “Uncertainty in a post- crisis world – doing more with less”.

About Outsourcing Malaysia
Outsourcing Malaysia is an initiative of the Malaysian outsourcing industry and a chapter of PIKOM (the National ICT Association of Malaysia). With the support from its partners such as the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and senior leaders from the global services industry, the outsourcing consortium aims to promote the capabilities and competencies of the Malaysian outsourcing industry.

At the Annual Customer Contact Asia Pacific summit recently held in Manila, Frost and Sullivan indicated that The Asia Pacific Contact Center Outsourcing Market in 2010 was valued at US$13.7 billion. The majority of this revenue came from India, the Philippines, Malaysia, and China markets. These four markets contribute more than 54% of the total market revenue. Categorised as a growth market, the Philippines is a major contributor to Asia’s status as a major global outsourcing hub.

Shivanu Shukla, Associate Director for the ICT practice at Frost & Sullivan commented, “Opportunity for outsourcing services are expected to pick up as the global economy revives. BPO operators in the Philippines need to focus on going deeper into the process i.e. going beyond voice outsourcing to more data and knowledge-based processes, and expanding into new territories beyond North America. The market for outsourcing services within Asia Pacific is also picking up, and Philippines is well-positioned to capitalise on these growth opportunities. With the changing nature of customer experience, BPOs also need to revisit their service strategy to include self-service, social media and analytics as an integral part of the service delivery process.”

The IT Enabled Services Secretariat (ITES) of Ghana is hosting its first major regional business process outsourcing summit, to be held at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra.

The event is called Ghana Outsourcing Leadership Summit 2010, and it is scheduled for the 20th to the 21st of September. It is the first conference on outsourcing in the country and throughout the West African region.

With the theme, “Optimising Business Processes Through Outsourcing,” the conference will focus on recognising and how to realise objectives and goals to improve business operations with the help of outsourcing.

The summit will cover several topics such as current engagement models, global trends, best business outsourcing practices, the benefits of outsourcing, and emerging standards and capabilities.

Among the delegates will be top management and business leaders from different industries like banking, finance, telecommunications, oil and mining, airlines and international travel, and healthcare. Senior government sector officers throughout the region will also be in attendance.

An additional feature of the summit is an exhibition of outsourcing solutions, where BPO service providers, call centre and telecoms operators, and software developers and resellers will participate.

The Ghana government recognises the undeniable potential for jobs that the outsourcing industry has, and hosting the BPO summit is one of the ways of edging out their competitors to be the industry leader in the region.