CSC today announced that it has signed a five-year extension to provide business process outsourcing (BPO) services for Aspen Valley Hospital (AVH) located in Aspen, Colo. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Under the new agreement, CSC will continue to provide business office support, including billing, accounts receivable and third-party claims reconciliation. AVH signed the original agreement in December 2005 with First Consulting Group, which CSC acquired in January 2008. During the initial contract, AVH profits rose from $2.4 million in 2005 to $10 million in 2008.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
H1-B, Outsourcing, Satyam
Satyam clients find hard to leave Satyam
SAN FRANCISCO: Outsourcing partnerships are built on trust, so when Satyam Computer Services Ltd copped to inflating its books by $1 billion,its customers, some of the world's biggest companies, were burned.
Satyam, Sanskrit for "truth", counts a third of the Fortune 500 as its clients, some of which have handed Satyam their most critical technology chores. No longer just cheap call centers or help-desk technicians, outsourcers do it all now, from maintaining clients' databases to handling their payroll.
That means severing an outsourcing relationship is like hacking off a limb. Companies are loath to unplug even from a shaky outsourcing deal. Yet that's the dilemma facing Satyam's customers as they see the company in tatters.
Three former top Satyam executives, founder and ex-Chairman B Ramalinga Raju; his brother B. Rama Raju, Satyam's former chief executive; and Srinivas Vadlamani, former chief financial officer, have been arrested and face conspiracy, forgery and other charges in India. The future of the company is unclear, facing a cash crunch, Satyam recently had to press some customers to make early payments.
Still, Satyam says its biggest clients have promised to remain.
"Well over 90 percent of our clients have committed to staying with us, either formally or informally," spokesman Jim Swords said. "We're not experiencing any volume of attrition at this point."
The fact that few Satyam clients have defected, so far, shows how deeply connected outsourcers have become to their customers.
With information-technology services now a $748 billion business worldwide, according to Gartner Inc, outsourcers such as Satyam, IBM Corp, Accenture Ltd, Infosys Technologies Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and Wipro Ltd are often as important to a company as its own internal divisions.
Even companies that want to defect, an option being explored by most, if not all, of Satyam's 650-plus clients, may have to wait weeks or months before they can pull the trigger. One big challenge is simply figuring out which Satyam workers handle which particular technological tasks for a customer.
"This isn't speed dating," said John McCarthy, a vice president with market-research firm Forrester Research. "You're not changing partners every three minutes. And that's because of the complexity."
Since Satyam's fraud surfaced Jan 7, only one big company is known to have jumped ship.
Bloomington, Ill.-based State Farm Insurance Cos. ended its contract with Satyam fewer than 10 days after the accounting shenanigans emerged. State Farm won't say how much business it did with Satyam; Satyam said State Farm's decision was "immaterial."
The companies had worked together for nearly a decade, with about 400 Satyam employees at State Farm offices in the US.
Satyam, Sanskrit for "truth", counts a third of the Fortune 500 as its clients, some of which have handed Satyam their most critical technology chores. No longer just cheap call centers or help-desk technicians, outsourcers do it all now, from maintaining clients' databases to handling their payroll.
That means severing an outsourcing relationship is like hacking off a limb. Companies are loath to unplug even from a shaky outsourcing deal. Yet that's the dilemma facing Satyam's customers as they see the company in tatters.
Three former top Satyam executives, founder and ex-Chairman B Ramalinga Raju; his brother B. Rama Raju, Satyam's former chief executive; and Srinivas Vadlamani, former chief financial officer, have been arrested and face conspiracy, forgery and other charges in India. The future of the company is unclear, facing a cash crunch, Satyam recently had to press some customers to make early payments.
Still, Satyam says its biggest clients have promised to remain.
"Well over 90 percent of our clients have committed to staying with us, either formally or informally," spokesman Jim Swords said. "We're not experiencing any volume of attrition at this point."
The fact that few Satyam clients have defected, so far, shows how deeply connected outsourcers have become to their customers.
With information-technology services now a $748 billion business worldwide, according to Gartner Inc, outsourcers such as Satyam, IBM Corp, Accenture Ltd, Infosys Technologies Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and Wipro Ltd are often as important to a company as its own internal divisions.
Even companies that want to defect, an option being explored by most, if not all, of Satyam's 650-plus clients, may have to wait weeks or months before they can pull the trigger. One big challenge is simply figuring out which Satyam workers handle which particular technological tasks for a customer.
"This isn't speed dating," said John McCarthy, a vice president with market-research firm Forrester Research. "You're not changing partners every three minutes. And that's because of the complexity."
Since Satyam's fraud surfaced Jan 7, only one big company is known to have jumped ship.
Bloomington, Ill.-based State Farm Insurance Cos. ended its contract with Satyam fewer than 10 days after the accounting shenanigans emerged. State Farm won't say how much business it did with Satyam; Satyam said State Farm's decision was "immaterial."
The companies had worked together for nearly a decade, with about 400 Satyam employees at State Farm offices in the US.
Cost cutting, Layoffs in India
Mastek asks 425 staff to resign or get trained with nominal salary
In the first open acknowledgement of the hit the IT industry is taking and the need for companies to downsize, Mumbai-based IT firm Mastek has given 425 employees the option to resign or stay with the company and receive training.
The employees who stay back will also receive a nominal compensation. All these employees are staff who are not on billable projects and in excess of the regular bench (extra staff most software companies maintain in readiness for new projects).
The 425 employees – who are either trainees or junior employees – have been given the option of leaving the mid-sized IT company immediately with a compensation package. As on December 31, 2008, Mastek had 4,243 employees, of whom about 27 per cent were based on-site while the rest were at various offshore locations. Mastek, which follows a July-June calendar, has given guidance of net profit at Rs 32-33 crore for the March quarter.
The employees who stay back will also receive a nominal compensation. All these employees are staff who are not on billable projects and in excess of the regular bench (extra staff most software companies maintain in readiness for new projects).
The 425 employees – who are either trainees or junior employees – have been given the option of leaving the mid-sized IT company immediately with a compensation package. As on December 31, 2008, Mastek had 4,243 employees, of whom about 27 per cent were based on-site while the rest were at various offshore locations. Mastek, which follows a July-June calendar, has given guidance of net profit at Rs 32-33 crore for the March quarter.
Layoffs in USA
Zygo Corporation cuts jobs, salaries
Zygo Corporation, headquartered in Middlefield, announced that it would be reducing its workforce by 7 percent as well as forcing unpaid furloughs and pay reductions for some remaining employees.
In the second quarter of fiscal year 2009, Zygo had net sales of $33.5 million and a net loss of $4.0 million, compared to net sales of $40.4 million and net income of $1.2 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2008.
In the second quarter of fiscal year 2009, Zygo had net sales of $33.5 million and a net loss of $4.0 million, compared to net sales of $40.4 million and net income of $1.2 million for the second quarter of fiscal 2008.
Deutsche Bank to cut bonus by 60%
Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s biggest bank, plans to cut bonuses at the securities unit by an average of 60 percent after reporting a record loss, a person with knowledge of the situation said.
Business units hardest hit by the financial crisis such as structured products and proprietary trading will face larger reductions than areas including foreign exchange and commodities, said the person, who declined to be identified because the plan isn’t public. Focus Magazin reported the bonus plan earlier.
Business units hardest hit by the financial crisis such as structured products and proprietary trading will face larger reductions than areas including foreign exchange and commodities, said the person, who declined to be identified because the plan isn’t public. Focus Magazin reported the bonus plan earlier.
Satyam
Reports: Satyam to layoff half of the head count??
According to the reports received from various employees(IT and admin staff) from Satyam: Half of the Satyam head count(apprx 25K) will be laidoff once the takeover happens.
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