Friday, March 30, 2012

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India shows concerns to US over rejection of H1B, L1 visas

India has complained to the US about an increase in the rate of rejection of US visas for Indian professionals that resulted in a sharp decline in the number of visas issued to Indians last year.

Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma took up the visa issue with US commerce secretary John Bryson in a bilateral meeting on Monday.

Call centre jobs: All you need to know

Information Technology (IT), the greatest change agent of the twentieth century, is changing the way we live, work, communicate, shop and study - practically everything we do.

IT is also changing the way we do business. Not only does it remove the barriers of distance and geography, but it also dramatically alters 'how' business is done.
Click here to read more.

Google beats Facebook in employee satisfaction after 4 years

Google appears to have stolen the title of 'the best place to work' from Facebook this year, according to a survey on employee satisfaction.

Career website Glassdoor, which conducted the survey, noted this year is particularly noteworthy given Google has lagged behind Facebook in employee satisfaction for the past four years.

But the two tech giants are neck and neck in terms of what employees think of their CEOs, with Google CEO Larry Page earning a 94% employee approval rating, just 2% higher than that of Mark Zuckerberg, the Huffington Post reported.

Facebook offers Rs 1.34 cr package to Allahabad engineering student

Social networking giant Facebook has hired an engineering student here for a fat annual pay package of Rs 1.34 crore, one of the biggest offers made to alumnus of any technical institution of the country.

According to P Chakravarti, Director of the Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology (MNNIT), a B.Tech student from the institute, who has requested that his name be withheld for "security reasons", received a letter on March 27 from Facebook confirming his appointment and the annual pay package on offer was stated to be USD 262,500 (around Rs 1.34 crore).

Interestingly, the MNNIT Director said the recruitment process began with a mail from Facebook "in October last year which was followed by nine rounds of telephonic interviews" before he was finally selected for the plush job which would require the student, who hails from Kanpur, to move to Menlo Park in California after finishing his software engineering course at the institute.

TCS to provide banking solution for Malaysia's AmBank

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) today said Malaysia-based financial services group AmBank has decided to deploy the banking solution of the Indian software major.

This integrated banking suite, spanning conventional and Islamic banking, will support both retail banking and lending functionalities, TCS said in a statement .

By deploying 'TCS BaNCS', AmBank will see its banking business expand into new areas, while enabling flexible development and the scalability to meet market and regulatory needs, it added.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Adobe Systems to scrap annual appraisals

About 10,000 employees at Adobe Systems, including 2,000 in India, have just completed what could probably be their last performance review. The global product services company plans to scrap the age-old practice of being pitted against colleagues and measured up by the bosses once a year.

"We plan to abolish the performance review format," says Donna Morris, senior VPHR at the company. Still in its blueprint, the plan is to have managers give regular feedback to their teams to ensure a quicker and continuous selfactualisation, rather than wait for the year-end.

Adobe took the plunge after it entered the digital marketing space, which required a completely different gamut of customer base and marketing strategies that called for an overhaul of HR processes as well.

Yahoo layoffs, possibly this month, could reach thousands, report says

Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson may be close to announcing a major reorganization and sizable layoffs at the Sunnyvale Internet company, which has been grappling with falling revenue, dissident investors and a changing Internet landscape.


Thompson's plans could lead to thousands of layoffs being announced in coming weeks, according to two news reports Monday that cited unnamed sources.

But analysts warn that cutbacks alone won't solve the company's problems.

"I wouldn't say there is fat to be cut. I would say there has to be a transformation of the company," said Ben Schachter, who follows Internet companies for Macquarie Equities Research. "They cannot continue to conduct business as they have for the last 10 years."
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IT cos like Infosys, HCL Tech, Cognizant, Wipro pamper placement officers for best talent

Once reserved for market analysts and key clients, Indian information technology companies are now pampering college placement officers by taking them on domestic and foreign trips as they seek to hire the best talent from Indian campuses ahead of competition.

Over the years Cognizant has been taking placement officers to cities like Bangkok and Dubai while others have been holding their offsites within their campuses. Infosys has also joined the race this year, although with a modest start in domestic locations.

Indian IT firms depend on campus recruits for a bulk of their hiring every year, making job offers to thousands of students every year. In this financial year for instance, Infosys is hiring over 20,000 students from campus while TCS is hiring over 30,000.

Such events, some analysts say are part of efforts to get the best interview slots when hiring from colleges. Infosys, which insiders say lost out in the talent scramble because it failed to get the socalled "slot zero" has now started Samvaad 2012, where the Bangalore-based firm hosts placement officers in Mysore, Pune, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, and Chandigarh.

Some 310 placement heads from a similar number of engineering institutions across the country are being invited, according to a company spokesperson. Through the event, Infosys seeks to impart skills, including "negotiation skills" to help these placement officers in their current roles.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

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IT services co Tieto to cut 1,300 jobs

Finnish IT services group Tieto plans to cut 1,300 jobs, or 7 per cent of its staff, as it struggles to compete against global rivals like IBM .

The company's share rose 6 percent to the highest level in 13 months on the move, which Tieto said will cut annual costs by 50 million euros ($66 million).

The cuts will include 500 jobs in Finland, 300 in Sweden, and around 500 elsewhere, the company said.

Goldman Plans More Layoffs

According to Reuters, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) is moving ahead with its cost cutting plan. To start with, the bank has sacked employees in its trading and investment banking divisions.

In 2011, Goldman reduced 2,400 positions, out of which 1800 layoffs took place in March 2011 as part of its annual review process. The recent announcement of job cuts also comes under Goldman's annual retrenchment of workers, who performed below expectations.

Mahindra Satyam, Tech Mahindra merge to create $2.4-billion company

The erstwhile Satyam Computer Services and Tech Mahindra announced details of their planned merger, saying the whole will be greater than the sum of their parts and positioning themselves as a player with the potential to challenge India's top-tier software companies.

The merger ratio, at 17 shares of Mahindra Satyam for two Tech Mahindra shares, was along expected lines, valuing the former Satyam at $1.8 billion (Rs 9,000 crore). CP Gurnani, the chief executive of Mahindra Satyam who oversaw the difficult transition of a fraud-hit firm to normalcy, will be the head of the combined entity, whose name has not yet been chosen. "It is a marriage made in heaven," Gurnani said on Wednesday about the merger, which becomes effective from April 2011.
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Tata Communications to hire 1,200 new staff, may raise debt

Tata Communications will recruit an extra 1,200 staff over the next 12 months in its outsourcing, sales and engineering divisions as it tries to turn around nearly three years of losses, the firm's CEO said on Wednesday.

The operator will also consider upping its debt if the potential returns justify it, Vinod Kumar, Tata Communications chief executive, told Reuters. Kumar declined to comment on the prospects of Tata buying Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW).

Tata said in a regulatory filing on March 1 its plans for an all-cash bid for CWW were "at a very preliminary stage", adding it would decide on whether to make an offer by March 29.
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Wipro Technologies eyes $3.5-billion services deals

Information technology services provider Wipro Technologies is pursuing contracts worth around $3.5 billion, senior management of the company told investors during a recent road show in Europe.

The Bangalore-based company is pursuing 15 $100-million deals and another 40 deals worth at least $50 million each.

Selective disclosure to groups of investors is seen a pro-active effort by firm, which underwent a management restructuring almost a year ago, to instill confidence among the investors community.
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Mahindra Satyam acquires vCustomer BPO for $27 million

Mahindra Satyam, on Friday acquired Delhi based BPO firm vCustomer's International operations for $27 million. This is the first 100% acquisition by Mahindra Satyam since it became part of Mahindra Group.

The acquisition marks the entry of Mahindra Satyam's BPO operations into other verticals such as Retail and Consumer Technology in addition to enhancing its technical support business.

Offshoring to India will end in 8-10 years: Report

Offshoring of jobs to India will begin to decline starting 2014, and will reach the end of its lifecycle in eight years, according to US-based strategic advisory and research firm The Hackett Group released at the Nasscom Global In-House Centers ( GIC) Conclave being held here.

According to The Hackett Group, the traditional model of US and European companies moving finance, IT, and other business services jobs offshore will reach the end of its lifecycle over the next 8-10 years, and US and European companies will simply run out of jobs which can be moved offshore to locations like India.

The Hackett Group's offshoring research, examined 4,700 companies with annual revenue over $1 billion and headquartered in the US and Europe. It found that by 2016, a total of 2.3 million jobs in finance, IT, procurement and HR will have moved offshore. Click here to read more.
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Dell chalks out new BPO offerings, takes on Indian outsourcing firms

In a bleak environment where unemployment and sensitivity around offshoring are hurting the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, IT giant Dell is readying an ambitious foray that will pit it against Indian outsourcing rivals in some of the largest back-office processes outsourced to third-party providers.

Once known for desktops and laptops and its direct selling business model, Dell has been beefing up its services portfolio by adding offerings since diversifying into software services by acquiring Perot Systems.

Ashutosh Vaidya, who joined Dell from Wipro to head its third-party BPO services nine months back, is adding final touches for the launch of four new backoffice services -- finance and accounting, procurement, customer interaction services and analytics -- slated for next quarter. Click here to read more.

Monday, March 19, 2012

iGate Patni plans to hire 1,500 for product engineering business

Technology firm iGATE Patni expects nearly 25 per cent of its overall revenue to come from the product engineering services (PES) business in 2-3 years.

"We expect almost 25 per cent of our total revenues to come from the PES business in 2-3 years. Currently, about 15 per cent of the revenues accrue from PES business," said iGate Patni Executive Vice-President and Head of PES Satish Joshi.

PES business provides end-to-end product development and product life cycle management -- right from research and evaluation, electronic and engineering design, up to sustenance and maintenance. The business caters to sectors such as auto, industrial automation and control, consumer electronics, mobiles and semiconductor.

Snapdeal to hire 500 people in 6 months; keen on acquisitions

eCommerce major Snapdeal plans to increase its headcount over the next six months by adding 500 people.

Snapdeal, which claims to have over 15 million users, employs about 1,000 people at present.

"We have seen 80-90 per cent growth in traffic month-on-month over the last three quarters. We have been gradually increasing the pace of hiring and over the next six months, we will add about 500 people," Snapdeal Chief Executive Director Kunal Behl said.

The addition would be done in the areas of engineering and analytics, he added.

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Layoffs hit again at Connexion Technologies

Connexion Technologies has laid off 232 workers – more than half its staff – in its second round of layoffs this year.


The layoffs by the company, which builds and manages telecommunication networks for residential communities, included the elimination of 106 employees in North Carolina, mostly at its Cary headquarters.

Connexion was founded in 2002 by former Cary Mayor Glen Lang, who remains CEO. The company had 455 workers before this week’s layoffs.

Does Cloud Really Matter for Your IT Job?

The job market is already warmed by the news about emerging job openings with cloud computing. Recently published Microsoft Corp. commissioned research from IDC analyst firm points out that cloud computing is to create over 14 million new jobs globally. New findings report that business that shifts to cloud can invest more time and money in innovation and job creation. While half of all new cloud-related jobs are centered in China and India, IT job hunters are seen relaxed despite of the Tech job cuts are happening in another side.

Though employment bright lining in cloud computing, a study by CSC, the IT Service Provider, indicates that 14 percent of companies reduced their IT staff after setting up cloud strategy. By embracing cloud computing, enterprises may need different types of IT professionals who are asked to manage vendor relationships, to work across departments and to help clients and workers integrate into the cloud.

The survey also found 20 percent of surveyed companies have actually increased their IT staff. It shows instead of a wholesale cut off or hiring, it depends how the enterprise works with cloud computing while cloud is meant only for a shift of responsibilities.

India job market prospects to improve in next quarter: Survey

The job market outlook in the second quarter of 2012 has improved in most countries, with prospects being the best in India, according to a survey by staffing services firm ManpowerGroup. A survey of 4,992 Indian employers showed that most plan to increase headcount in the April-June quarter this year.

India's seasonally adjusted net employment outlook for the second quarter stood at 44%, one percentage up from the previous quarter. Net employment outlook is the difference in percentage of employers who anticipate increase in employment at their location in the next quarter and those who expect a decrease.

It was 46% for the same quarter last year. The two sectors in India that may offer new opportunities are services (59%) and finance insurance and real estate (51%). While outlook in the services sector has improved by 9 points over the previous quarter, and 10 points over the year-ago period that of the finance insurance and real estate sector has improved by 6 points over the previous quarter.

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Wipro eyeing deals worth $3.5bn

Information technology services provider Wipro Technologies is pursuing contracts worth around $3.5 billion, senior management of the company told investors during a recent road show in Europe.

The Bangalore-based company is pursuing 15 $100-million deals and another 40 deals worth at least $50 million each.

Selective disclosure to groups of investors is seen a pro-active effort by firm, which underwent a management restructuring almost a year ago, to instill confidence among the investors community.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

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Cognizant rewards employees with 200% variable payout

CHENNAI: After growing faster than Indian information technology (IT) industry, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp has now rewarded its employees by giving out as much as 200% of the variable components of their 2011 salaries.

Typically, anywhere from 20 to 30% of an employee salary is labeled as variable pay, linked to a combination of overall company performance and individual performance.

"The company has done the repeat of 2010 in rewarding its top performers. The top performers got around 200% of their target bonus while the average bonus given was 150%. The bonuses were on expected lines as the company has been scoring good quarter on quarter," said a Cognizant employee in Chennai on condition of anonymity.

"Yes, Cognizant has announced performance-linked bonus payout for all its associates, globally," said Shankar Srinivasan, Chief People Officer, Cognizant. "Our industry leading revenue growth in calendar 2011 has enabled us to pay performance bonuses well above target."

Cognizant's bonus comes at a time when industry lobby Nasscom has projected tepid revenue growth for software exporters. Last month, Nasscom forecasted 11-14% growth for India IT-BPO Industry during fiscal 2013, lesser than the 16.7% growth that the sector saw this in the just concluding fiscal.

Click here to read more.

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Lawmakers question sharp rise in denial of H1B, L1 visas

Voicing concern over increasing rates of denial of H-1B and L1 work visas, that are popular among Indian professionals, top US lawmakers and corporate bigwigs have questioned the Obama administration over the issue, warning this would hurt American business interests.

Officials at a Congressional hearing cited last year's figure of 26 per cent denial to H1B visa applicants, that was the highest in recent years, and also pointed out instances where the visas were denied for flimsy reasons.

Elton Gallegly, chair of the Immigration Policy and Enforcement Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, said figures obtained from US Citizenship and Immigration Services show a rise in denial in certain categories of visas between the years of 2008 and 2010.

Click here to read more.

Ericsson lays off 22 execs in India; to transfer another 100 to sister units

The Indian arm of the world's largest telecoms gearmaker, Ericsson, is trimming and redeploying staff as it faces lukewarm operator spends in a fiercely competitive market.

Nearly 22 executives across categories have been fired on performance grounds and another 100 are likely to be transferred to sister organisations like Ericsson India Global Services, Ericsson Supply Site Jaipur, R&D centres and the regional technical centres (RTCs) to boost efficiencies, a top company executive aware of the development.

The Swedish vendor, which nearly doubled its India workforce last year to 12,000, is also undertaking a major "people competence" mapping exer-cise in the country to weed out non-performers.

AOL cutting 40 more jobs

AOL Inc (AOL) is firing as many as 40 people in the group that includes its AOL Instant Messenger service, while executives Eric van Miltenburg and Jason Shellen depart, three people with knowledge of the matter said.

David Tempkin, who now runs the mobile group, will become head of the consumer applications division, which includes mobile, AIM, e-mail and about.me, an online profile application, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the changes haven't been announced. He replaces van Miltenburg, they said. Shellen was head of AIM, the instant messaging service.

AOL, based in New York, has 5,660 employees and is trimming costs amid declining sales. AIM's staff cuts are related to the division's underperformance, the people said. AOL, led by Chief Executive Officer Tim Armstrong, could eliminate more staff in other departments, these people said.

Siemens CFO blasts NSN job cut plan

Siemens finance chief Joe Kaeser has blasted the way joint venture Nokia Siemens Networks was handling planned job cuts in Germany and called on it to hold talks with labor.

NSN, in which Nokia holds 50 per cent plus a "golden share", is run from Finland by Indian executive Rajeev Suri, who has called 3,000 job cuts in Germany unavoidable. NSN staff in Germany have reacted with outrage.

NSN is cutting 20,500 of its overall 74,000 jobs, and Kaeser acknowledged it had no choice but to consolidate. He said NSN's restructuring was not a matter of requiring more money because it already had enough capital and liquidity.

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