Showing posts with label Accenture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Accenture. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Accenture gets $58M FEMA contract

Accenture Ltd. said Monday that it received a $58 million Federal Emergency Management Agency contract for program-management and business-architecture services. The services will support FEMA's flood risk mapping, assessment and planning program, which assesses flooding risks through digital flood-hazard data and Web-accessible data. The contract has a one-year base period and four one-year options.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Half of women executives feel insufficiently challenged: Accenture

Almost half of women business professionals around the world – and a similar number of their male counterparts – believe they are insufficiently challenged, despite being confident of their skills and capabilities, reveals new research from Accenture.

Accenture's survey of 3,600 professionals from medium to large organisations in 18 countries across Europe, Asia, North America, South America and Africa found that 46 per cent of women and 49 per cent of men said they are not being challenged significantly in their current roles, yet more than three-quarters (76 per cent) of all respondents are confident of their skills and capabilities. Click here for complete story.

Accenture lays off 500 in Philippines

US-based outsourcing firm Accenture is laying off almost half its workforce in the Philippine capital due to the effects of the global financial crisis, the Labour Department said.

Accenture Philippines has filed a notice of retrenchment for about 500 workers at its facilities in Manila, said Labour Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz. Accenture, which engages in business process outsourcing, including call centres, had about a thousand workers in Manila and in March 2008 it opened an office in the central city of Cebu which employs about 500 people.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Accenture eyes BearingPoint's Asia business: sources

Consultancy firm Accenture Ltd (ACN.N) has hired Duff & Phelps to advise on its possible acquisition of the Asia business of BearingPoint Inc (BGPT.OB), two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

BearingPoint Inc, which provides technology and management consulting services to the U.S. government, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Wednesday.

But BearingPoint has said that its overseas operations were not included in the U.S. bankruptcy filing.

BearingPoint declined to comment, while a representative for Accenture could not be immediately reached for comment.

Accenture, a major competitor of BearingPoint in Asia Pacific markets, is in particular interested in BearingPoint's Japanese business and assets, said the sources who declined to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the discussions.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Accenture Philippines lays off 500 workers

Outsourcing firm Accenture said it is laying off at least 500 workers in the country due to a “redundancy” program.

This affects approximately three percent of its total workforce in the Philippines or approximately 500 out of a total headcount of more than 16,000 employees.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

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Satyam scam: Infosys, IBM, Accenture may benefit most

Source: The Economic Times
Infosys Technologies is expected to gain the most among the top Indian IT players from Satyam’s loss of credibility. Although there will be no shift towards one single provider, Infosys’ reputation as a firm with high corporate governance standards as well as its US listing is expected to stand it in good stead when customers make a choice, said analysts.

On Wednesday, when Ramalinga Raju confessed to cooking Satyam’s books, Infosys was among the few IT stocks that ended higher. The stock was up 1.7% to Rs 1,187, as compared to Wipro and TCS that ended almost flat at Rs 243.30 and Rs 503.70, respectively. HCL Technologies, the other top player, was down 15%.

"The senior management of Infosys has come out quite aggressively in the media on maintaining high corporate governance standards," pointed out Ascendia Consulting principal analyst Alok Shende. However, the hitch to this could be Infosys’ premium pricing, which some analysts said was 10-15% higher than Satyam’s rates. This, along with a substantial customer overlap, could work in the favour of the number one IT exporter, TCS.

"It is not going to be as easy as that to say any one vendor will benefit. TCS probably has the largest overlap of clients. General Electric (GE), General Motors and Citigroup are all clients of TCS as well as Satyam. Citigroup is also a client of Infosys but it is small," said an analyst with a foreign brokerage. Infosys had stopped servicing GE because it was unwilling to compromise on its billing rates and provide services at the discounts GE was looking for. This one of the reasons why GE had moved more work to Satyam, recollected an analyst.

Apart from Infosys, the US-headquartered India-based Cognizant Technology Services is also well poised to take advantage of the situation.

Overseas brokerage Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc said in a report that Cognizant could have an edge over Infosys if it emphasises its US domicile status, as opposed to Infosys which is domiciled in India. "In e-mails to employees, management is already highlighting its US-listed status, and compliance with Sarbanes Oxley laws," according to a report from brokerage firm CLSA. Wipro had also sent e-mails to all salespersons asking for aggressive messaging to customers that Wipro is ready to take on operations running at Satyam, according to CLSA.

IBM and Accenture, which have a significant offshore presence, will be the biggest gainers, said some analysts. IBM has around 75,000 employees in India and Accenture, around 35,000. "Best positioned to benefit from such a situation, we believe, are the large, global, well-known MNCs like ACN (Accenture) and IBM. We consider them of tier-1 calibre in terms of offshore capabilities, but their size, stature, brand, global reputation, and high-level client relationships (particularly ACN) differentiate them, in our view, and will make them more attractive to worried clients than even the tier-1 offshore firms like INFY and WIT (Wipro)," said an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus.

These analysts believe the MNCs stand to benefit more because they are large (with the ability to take on Satyam’s revenues), established and with "sterling reputations" and "recognisable brands" that put them in the best position to reassure worried clients.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

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Troubles of Satyam Could Benefit Rivals and 2 U.S. Companies

 The financial fraud at Satyam is rippling through the technology services industry, as customers scramble to line up other suppliers and rivals look to pick up business. 

Already, competitors are angling for a share of Satyam’s nearly $2 billion in annual revenue. The big winners from the fallout are likely to be two American companies, Accenture and I.B.M., Rod Bourgeois, a technology services specialist at Sanford C. Bernstein & Company, said Thursday.

Accenture and I.B.M., Mr. Bourgeois said, have three advantages over other competitors. Each company already supplies most of the blue-chip corporate clients of Satyam. I.B.M. and Accenture have built up their Indian operations in recent years, so they offer Satyam customers the same skills at competitive prices. And they are not Indian companies.

The $50 billion-a-year offshore outsourcing business was growing at a 29 percent annual rate until the credit crisis hit last fall, Mr. Bourgeois said. But he now forecasts growth in 2009 to be about 10 percent.

The impact on other Indian outsourcing companies is unclear, but analysts say that, long term, the fraud could have wide implications. The scandal at Satyam — a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and audited by an American accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers — raises doubts about other Indian companies.

“This is a crisis of trust,” said Frances Karamouzis, an analyst at Gartner. “It’s not really Satyam at stake; it’s the India Inc. brand.”

The big Indian outsourcers like Tata Consulting Services, Infosys and Wipro could pick up business as a result of Satyam’s travails. The same is true, analysts say, for Cognizant Technology Solutions, which has its headquarters in Teaneck, N.J., but most of its operations in India.

Yet in the business of outsourced technology services, where suppliers build and maintain a customer’s vital software, reputation matters a lot. Companies often depend on their outsourcing suppliers to manage the technology behind basic tasks like billing, purchasing and customer relations. In the corporate market, it is said, customers are not buying technology, which can change rapidly, but buying a relationship with a supplier.

For that reason, Ms. Karamouzis said, the odds are that the Indian government and the industry’s powerful trade group, Nasscom, will develop a rescue package for Satyam, if necessary.

For corporate customers, the crucial resource is the software developers at Satyam, far more than the corporate entity itself. Satyam’s strongest business is maintaining and customizing so-called enterprise resource planning software, typically from SAP and Oracle, which runs the basic operations at companies.

Ms. Karamouzis said Gartner’s advice to clients was to identify by name the most important Satyam developers working on a company’s outsourced software projects. Then, she said, companies must assess the risk at Satyam, which may include sending people to India for a first-hand look.

In a letter to the Satyam board on Wednesday, Ramalinga Raju, the chairman and co-founder, said that the company’s cash reserves were about $69 million, instead of the $1.1 billion reported last year.

“If they don’t make payroll, there will be a mass exodus of employees,” Ms. Karamouzis said.

If Satyam remains intact, she said, companies may well want to offer bonuses to keep the important engineers working on their projects, instead of defecting to outsourcing rivals.

The Satyam setback has occurred at a time when the once-torrid growth of the Indian technology outsourcing industry has been slowing significantly. The terrorist attacks in Mumbai last November and a stronger rupee, analysts say, have prompted some companies to look at lower-cost alternatives in China, Mexico and Brazil.

But the main reason is the sudden slowdown in the global economy, especially the crisis in the financial services sector, a large source of business for the Indian outsourcers.

Yet when the global economy comes out of its slump, many analysts expect the growth of the leading Indian outsourcers to pick up, if not to the previous levels.

“The golden age of very high growth and financial returns is over,” said John C. McCarthy, an analyst at Forrester Research. “But Satyam and the current economic troubles do not change the fundamental economics of offshore outsourcing.”

Forrester projects that the offshore outsourcing business will grow by 17 percent annually through 2012.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

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Satyam Crisis[update]: Possible takeovers



Satyam Computer is understood to have grabbed the attention of private equity investors, rival IT firms and other institutional investors, which are looking at the IT major as a possible takeover target with attractive valuations.

Satyam Computers is available at a bargain:
Though the company looks attractive, the three top Indian IT services companies are unlikely to bite. According to market sources, the Big 3: TCS, Infosys and Wipro are most definitely not going to make a bid for Satyam. The reasons are simple. The foremost being acquiring Satyam would be "more of the same." Same suite of businesses, technologies and clients. Market participants also believe that considering the cash one would have to fork out, the only thing assured are 53,000 employees. The big 3 don't necessarily want those number of additional people at the moment.

While there has been market speculation that IBM or Accenture might emerge as strategic buyers, the general perception within the industry seem to be that they might also stay out. Both the companies have hugely grown their local operations and today have 74,000 IBM) and 37,000 (Accenture) employees in India. Adding more people through acquisition might not be a priority while they can be grown organically especially in the current environment where quality people are available at reasonable prices.

Satyam for Cash:
A controlling 26% stake in the company can be acquired for $520-million, given that the company's market cap is around $2-billion. Then, of course, the cherry on the cake: $1.2-billion in cash.

Cognizant interested in Satyam?
As speculation mounts on who could be a potential ‘buyer' of Satyam Computer Services, the one name repeatedly touted as a very interested party is Cognizant Technologies. The Teaneck, New Jersey-based, Nasdaq-listed company with a huge India back-end has not hid its ambitions of wanting to be in the big league. The company that has clocked very aggressive top line growth in the last few years grew 50% in 2007 with revenues at $2.13 billion.

If it were to buy Satyam which had revenues of $2.14-billion last fiscal, then Cognizant with has 59,000 employees would easily pip Wipro to emerge as the third largest IT services company. Wipro's IT services business closed last fiscal with a topline of $3.41-billion. Cognizant and Satyam with combined revenues in excess of $4-billion would easily move Wipro to the fourth slot among the top Indian IT service providers. When contacted Cognizant Technologies' spokesperson R Ramkumar, said, "As a policy, we do not comment on market speculation."

Among the big IT players, analysts say Cognizant is likely to gain the most if it acquires Satyam as the deal will give it scale, an opportunity to diversify from concentrations such as banking, financial services and pharmaceuticals and access to a robust SAP business.

Is Hewlett-Packard eyeing stake in Satyam?
BANGALORE: Hewlett-Packard (HP) is evaluating the possibility of acquiring a stake in IT services provider Satyam Computer, attracted by the latter’s lucrative business software practice. The opportunity to challenge rival IBM with bigger, low-cost offshore capabilities is also alluring, those familiar with the strategic options being considered by the company said.

More:
Raju tells Satyam staffers to stand by him. Letter to all Satyam Employees.

Friday, December 5, 2008

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More working hours for Indian techies


BANGALORE: Technology firms are increasing working hours and monitoring the hours worked far more rigorously than ever before in a bid to squeeze more out of employees in these difficult times. 

Some are even going to the extent of checking the recess hour of their employees, to make sure that lunch sessions and coffee breaks do not cut into their per-day productivity. 

TCS has recently increased the working hours by an hour a day to 9 hours. From January 1, 2009, Accenture India will do the same, becoming perhaps the first MNC company in India to move to longer working hours. 

Wipro employees already put in 9.5 hours (8.30 am to 6pm) a day including a brief lunch break, while it's 9.15 hours in Infosys. But these weren't implemented stringently; until now. 

“It's sort of mandatory for us now to put in 9.5 hours of work a day. Our HR seems to be monitoring it very closely these days and even a 15 minute shortage/delay is being noticed,” said a Wipro employee who got a reminder for short-swiping a few days ago. 

Infosys Technologies head (HR) T V Mohandas Pai said the company has stringent measures to make sure employees put in the required 9.15 hours every day. 

An increase in working hours will directly impact productivity and revenues. For instance, by increasing work hours by an hour a day an employee works an additional 22 hours a month. If an hour of his/her work is billed at $20, the company makes an additional billing of $440 per employee. That means, in rupee terms, a single employee can bring in additional revenues of Rs 22,000 a month for the company. 

Such work time extension works well for projects that are on what is called the ‘time & material' model. Around 70 per cent of tech projects are currently under this model, while the rest are fixed price projects where the service providers may resort to pruning the size of teams to bringing cost down. 

“Companies, by and large, are targeting a per employee productivity enhancement of 15 per cent,” said a strategist working with an MNC firm. Employees are, understandably, unhappy. “Some people are good and are capable of finishing even the extra work that is given to them in 8 hours. So they are wondering why they should hang around for 9 hours,” said an employee of Accenture India.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

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Accenture, Gurgaon : Mass walk-ins but not interviewing candidates

Forwarded by Venkat
I recently had this experience with Accenture. I got a call from a consultant and was asked to appear for an interview in Accenture, Gurgaon. I went for the interview only to find that there are already a huge crowd waiting outside the office gate since the past 3-4 hours. There was no provision to sit, the place where the candidates were waiting was the area in front of the lift, without even a fan, forget an AC. The place was suffocating. And after waiting for such a long time, we were told to fill up a form with our details and that they will contact us later. I never received a call.


They might have as well asked us to just send our profiles over email! Whats the point? And these companies call themselves global fortune 500 companies!!!

I guess companies no longer look at employees as brand ambassadors! They just look at them as a shelf product that they can buy and sell when they want rather than looking at them as living people!