Infosys Technologies Chief Executive Kris Gopalakrishnan believes 2010 will bring a turnaround in IT outsourcing services, reports RTT News. The India-based outsourcing company receives nearly 60 percent of its revenue from the United States.
As the economy worsens, companies are sending more businesses processes overseas, according to PCWorld.com. It quotes Ritesh Idnani, vice president and head of global sales and marketing at Infosys BPO, saying: "Companies are under pressure to cut costs, and are more receptive to new ideas that can help them do it."
Although India’s IT sector has grown consistently in recent years, the Indian chamber of commerce Nasscom predicts the country’s software and IT services to expand at a slightly lower rate than the previously forecast 20 percent. The sector may take a hit in profits with President Obama's plan to end to tax breaks for U.S. companies that outsource jobs abroad.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Deloitte Offers Green Company Cars to All Employees in UK
Getting a company car used to be a perk reserved for executives. Now Deloitte is changing that with the launch of a new program to make fuel-efficient cars available to all 12,000 permanent employees in the UK.
The company will provide fuel-efficient cars for employee use at a reduced cost, and take advantage of new tax incentives for clean car fleets. The new Deloitte “All Employee” company car program will save employees money and reduce carbon emissions.
Savings are expected in three key areas:
Employees: By trading earnings taxed at a high rate (31 percent) for a car taxed at a lower rate (10 percent), employees will save money. The cars will include leasing, insurance, maintenance, roadside assistance, and taxes, all at roughly half the cost of renting a car privately.
The employer: Will gain volume discounts, recover sales taxes on the vehicles and save on insurance.
The environment – Cars with lower CO2 emissions save on fuel costs by using less fuel.
Deloitte’s other green initiatives including its Green IT program, which includes reducing the number of printers, file servers and backup tapes. Deloitte also has adopted video conferencing and has provided employees carbon offset charge cards.
The company will provide fuel-efficient cars for employee use at a reduced cost, and take advantage of new tax incentives for clean car fleets. The new Deloitte “All Employee” company car program will save employees money and reduce carbon emissions.
Savings are expected in three key areas:
Employees: By trading earnings taxed at a high rate (31 percent) for a car taxed at a lower rate (10 percent), employees will save money. The cars will include leasing, insurance, maintenance, roadside assistance, and taxes, all at roughly half the cost of renting a car privately.
The employer: Will gain volume discounts, recover sales taxes on the vehicles and save on insurance.
The environment – Cars with lower CO2 emissions save on fuel costs by using less fuel.
Deloitte’s other green initiatives including its Green IT program, which includes reducing the number of printers, file servers and backup tapes. Deloitte also has adopted video conferencing and has provided employees carbon offset charge cards.
H1-B, NRIs
Indian Firms, Microsoft Top H-1B List
Indian outsourcers, along with Microsoft and Google, again lead the list of companies bringing foreign workers to the U.S. on the H-1B visa program. According to U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS), Four India-based companies topped the list:
Infosys Technologies (INFY, India): 4,559 H-1B visas approved in 2008, 4,559 in 2007
Wipro (WIT, India): 2,678 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 2,567 in 2007
Satyam (SAY, India): 1,917 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 1,396 in 2007
Tata (TCS.BO, India): 1,539 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 797 in 2007
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT): 1,018 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 959 in 2007
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG): 248 H-1B visas approved in 2008
Lehman Brothers: 130 H-1B visas approved in 2008
In fiscal year 2007, six of the top 10 visa recipients were based in India; two others among the top 10, Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) and UST Global, are headquartered in the U.S. but have most of their operations in India, according to BusinessWeek
The H-1B program, which started in 1990, was set up to allow U.S. companies to import the best and brightest in technology, engineering, and other fields when such workers are in short supply domestically. The H-1B visa program is currently capped at 65,000 per year, with another 20,000 set aside for advanced-degree graduates of U.S. universities.
USCIS will begin taking H-1B applications for the next fiscal year on April 1 and will distribute the new visas on Oct. 1.
Source: U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS)
Infosys Technologies (INFY, India): 4,559 H-1B visas approved in 2008, 4,559 in 2007
Wipro (WIT, India): 2,678 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 2,567 in 2007
Satyam (SAY, India): 1,917 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 1,396 in 2007
Tata (TCS.BO, India): 1,539 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 797 in 2007
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT): 1,018 H-1B visas approved in 2008; 959 in 2007
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG): 248 H-1B visas approved in 2008
Lehman Brothers: 130 H-1B visas approved in 2008
In fiscal year 2007, six of the top 10 visa recipients were based in India; two others among the top 10, Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH) and UST Global, are headquartered in the U.S. but have most of their operations in India, according to BusinessWeek
The H-1B program, which started in 1990, was set up to allow U.S. companies to import the best and brightest in technology, engineering, and other fields when such workers are in short supply domestically. The H-1B visa program is currently capped at 65,000 per year, with another 20,000 set aside for advanced-degree graduates of U.S. universities.
USCIS will begin taking H-1B applications for the next fiscal year on April 1 and will distribute the new visas on Oct. 1.
Source: U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Service (USCIS)
Google apologizes over Gmail crash
Google has issued an apology to customers after a system crash left millions of users around the world unable to send and receive emails.
Google's web-based email service, Gmail, got shut for two-and-a-half hours from around 9.30am (UK time), frustrating individuals around the world who rely on the email tool for communication, reports the Daily Express.
According to Internet data company comScore, an estimated 127 million people have Gmail accounts - making it the third most popular email provider after Yahoo and Hotmail.
As technicians worked to fix the problem, the Internet giant apologised to users of the service, stressing that it was an 'unusual occurrence'.
Once the problem was resolved, Acacio Cruz, site reliability manager for Gmail, posted a statement on the Google blogspot apologising for the inconvenience.
The statement read: "We know that for many of you this disrupted your working day. We're really sorry about this and we did do everything to restore access as soon as we could. Our priority was to get you back up and running."
Google also revealed that its engineers were still trying to establish the root cause of the problem.
A representative for Google said: "The problem is now resolved and users have had access restored. We know how important Gmail is to our users, so we take issues like this very seriously, and we apologise for the inconvenience."
Google's web-based email service, Gmail, got shut for two-and-a-half hours from around 9.30am (UK time), frustrating individuals around the world who rely on the email tool for communication, reports the Daily Express.
According to Internet data company comScore, an estimated 127 million people have Gmail accounts - making it the third most popular email provider after Yahoo and Hotmail.
As technicians worked to fix the problem, the Internet giant apologised to users of the service, stressing that it was an 'unusual occurrence'.
Once the problem was resolved, Acacio Cruz, site reliability manager for Gmail, posted a statement on the Google blogspot apologising for the inconvenience.
The statement read: "We know that for many of you this disrupted your working day. We're really sorry about this and we did do everything to restore access as soon as we could. Our priority was to get you back up and running."
Google also revealed that its engineers were still trying to establish the root cause of the problem.
A representative for Google said: "The problem is now resolved and users have had access restored. We know how important Gmail is to our users, so we take issues like this very seriously, and we apologise for the inconvenience."
iPhone Not Doing So Well In Japan, Now Free
There are no official statistics available as how well the iPhone sells after Apple started offering it in the Japanese market. Now Softbank Mobile, one of Asia’s biggest tech companies and the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in Japan, thinks sales need a boost and decided to give away the hardware basically for free.
Yahoo CFO to leave as company reorganizes
Yahoo Inc Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen is leaving amid a broad reorganization initiated by new CEO Carol Bartz to
dismantle the "silos" that slowed down the Internet company.
Bartz, who took the reins six weeks ago, announced the changes in a blog post on Thursday, as well as in an e-mail to Yahoo employees.
dismantle the "silos" that slowed down the Internet company.
Bartz, who took the reins six weeks ago, announced the changes in a blog post on Thursday, as well as in an e-mail to Yahoo employees.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)