Being in the insurance-financial services domain may not be the most attractive situation during the current downturn, but Alliance Cornhill Information Services (ACIS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of UK-based Allianz Insurance, is foreseeing a 100% growth in its headcount at its operations out of the Technopark here.
ACIS, which has grown from being an IT/ITeS operation employing about two dozen employees in 2004 has grown to being a 700-staff organisation doing high-end value-added services for the Allianz group, and has added a new facility here, hoping to reach a headcount of 1,400 in the near future.
The company opened its third facility at the Technopark today, which adds 40,000 sq ft and 250 seats in the first phase of the new facility. The ACIS centre here is a one-of-its-kind facility for the Allianz group, doing captive work for the parent company and operating units within the Allianz group.
“ACIS has been working with five other operating units within the Allianz group over the past one year, and looks poised to expand to make full use of its capacity of 1,400 seats at the Technopark”, Andrew Torrance, CEO of Allianz Insurance, UK told ET.
He said some of the new projects that ACIS had added in the recent past included a project to supply certain insurance products to customers, another that is meant for the insurance broker base, a project that involves revamp of the retail platform, one relating to legal protection insurance, and a claims operation project.
ACIS COO Rakesh Gupta said the immediate future looked bright for the company in the backdrop of the pressure on businesses to achieve cost efficiencies, adding that ACIS was offering the right value proposition to attract fresh business.
Mr Torrance said Allianz Insurance was not, at the moment, looking to set up another unit on the lines of ACIS anywhere else in the world, adding that the expansion here would be able to take care of additional work for the near term. Mr Gupta said ACIS had the option of expanding by adding more space within the Technopark or outside of it should the need arise to up its headcount beyond 1,400.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
IT market
Google tops best employer lists
Internet search giant Google has emerged as the most sought after company for business as well as engineering graduates, according to two surveys, which term the company as the world’s “most attractive employer” followed closely by rival, Microsoft.
According to the surveys compiled by global employer branding firm Universum, Google has been ranked at the top spot in the list of top 50 global businesses and engineering companies.
About Google, the survey said, “Google’s number one position is no surprise. Due to its remarkable brand image, students worldwide see it as a company they would like to work for.” The internet search giant is followed by Pricewaterhouse where most business schools students want to work, while engineering graduates preferred Microsoft as their second choice.
“The employers that feature in top 50 all have one thing in common: they successfully appeal to current and future talent, and they are aware of how scarce talent is,” Universum said.
Soft drink major Coca-Cola has been placed at the 13th position, while Citigroup has cornered the 21st place for itself among the list for business students. However, irrespective of ranks, the top 50 global employers for business and engineering students are very similar, showing strong employer brands transcend many skill and industry groups.
Conversely, Oracle and Philip Morris make it to the top 50 for business students, but not for engineering students. GlaxoSmithKline and Alcatel-Lucent appear only in the engineering rankings. Despite it being one of the toughest years for car manufactures, BMW and Daimler appear in the global top 50 ranking in both lists. The global rankings based on the survey of about 1,20,000 students highlights the world’s most powerful employer brands and those that are “successful in talent attraction and retention.”
Students from the US, Japan, China, Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Russia, Spain, Canada and India took part in the survey.
According to the surveys compiled by global employer branding firm Universum, Google has been ranked at the top spot in the list of top 50 global businesses and engineering companies.
About Google, the survey said, “Google’s number one position is no surprise. Due to its remarkable brand image, students worldwide see it as a company they would like to work for.” The internet search giant is followed by Pricewaterhouse where most business schools students want to work, while engineering graduates preferred Microsoft as their second choice.
“The employers that feature in top 50 all have one thing in common: they successfully appeal to current and future talent, and they are aware of how scarce talent is,” Universum said.
Soft drink major Coca-Cola has been placed at the 13th position, while Citigroup has cornered the 21st place for itself among the list for business students. However, irrespective of ranks, the top 50 global employers for business and engineering students are very similar, showing strong employer brands transcend many skill and industry groups.
Conversely, Oracle and Philip Morris make it to the top 50 for business students, but not for engineering students. GlaxoSmithKline and Alcatel-Lucent appear only in the engineering rankings. Despite it being one of the toughest years for car manufactures, BMW and Daimler appear in the global top 50 ranking in both lists. The global rankings based on the survey of about 1,20,000 students highlights the world’s most powerful employer brands and those that are “successful in talent attraction and retention.”
Students from the US, Japan, China, Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Russia, Spain, Canada and India took part in the survey.
IT market, New Deals, Outsourcing
Mid-tier tech cos eye $2 bn local deals
With larger rivals already chasing the lucrative domestic market, mid-tier tech firms such as Patni Computer Systems and Hexaware are attempting to enter the market by jointly bidding with experienced bidders. India’s government departments and other state-owned firms are set to spend around $2 billion on IT during the next 12 months. Hexaware, MindTree and Patni are among the many mid-tier Indian tech firms seeking to explore new business with an experienced partner.
Hexaware, for instance, is pursuing 2-3 large deals as part of a consortium and several smaller ones on its own. The company’s strategy for the Indian market will be different from its strategy for overseas markets, said Hexaware’s vice-chairman and chief executive officer, PR Chandrasekar.
“If we treat India as just another location for our services, it will not work. It will need fairly dedicated focus and some innovation on how we source talent and price our offerings. You also need to leverage your niche capabilities, especially if you are not one of the big players,” said Mr Chandrasekar, who was earlier with Wipro, India’s third-biggest IT company.
In order to focus better on the Indian market, companies such as Hexaware and Patni have recently formed focused business units. While Narendra Upasani heads Hexaware’s India business, Deepak Khosla is responsible for growing Patni’s revenues from the country.
For large contracts in the government and public sector, Hexaware will work as part of a consortium because these projects usually require the bidder to have a prior track record in executing similar projects.
Experts such as Guru Malladi, partner at Ernst & Young said it will be challenging for mid-tier tech firms to take on bigger rivals. “A Rs 5,000-crore project, for example, can never be delivered by a single player. But I do see an element of challenge for mid-size players who have so far not operated in the domestic market. Large players have to sometimes rely on small players but they may not see value in mid-size players in terms of cost or efficiency arbitrage,” said Mr Malladi.
“Globally, this kind of scale is not available anywhere, even if it may not be the largest in revenues,” pointed out Jeya Kumar, CEO, Patni Computer.
Like Hexaware, Patni is chasing 3-4 contracts in the domestic market as part of a consortium. “With the kind of large deal sizes we are seeing, you have to have a multi-vendor strategy,” added Mr Kumar. Apart from the government, Hexaware will focus on sectors such as travel and transport, insurance, hospitality and logistics, and technology offerings across sectors.
According to Mr Malladi, mid-size players have to be more strategic in their outlook using their niche skills to enter the market. Hexaware, along with others like Patni and Mindtree are turning towards India, drawn by the large opportunity and significant growth potential.
Hexaware, for instance, is pursuing 2-3 large deals as part of a consortium and several smaller ones on its own. The company’s strategy for the Indian market will be different from its strategy for overseas markets, said Hexaware’s vice-chairman and chief executive officer, PR Chandrasekar.
“If we treat India as just another location for our services, it will not work. It will need fairly dedicated focus and some innovation on how we source talent and price our offerings. You also need to leverage your niche capabilities, especially if you are not one of the big players,” said Mr Chandrasekar, who was earlier with Wipro, India’s third-biggest IT company.
In order to focus better on the Indian market, companies such as Hexaware and Patni have recently formed focused business units. While Narendra Upasani heads Hexaware’s India business, Deepak Khosla is responsible for growing Patni’s revenues from the country.
For large contracts in the government and public sector, Hexaware will work as part of a consortium because these projects usually require the bidder to have a prior track record in executing similar projects.
Experts such as Guru Malladi, partner at Ernst & Young said it will be challenging for mid-tier tech firms to take on bigger rivals. “A Rs 5,000-crore project, for example, can never be delivered by a single player. But I do see an element of challenge for mid-size players who have so far not operated in the domestic market. Large players have to sometimes rely on small players but they may not see value in mid-size players in terms of cost or efficiency arbitrage,” said Mr Malladi.
“Globally, this kind of scale is not available anywhere, even if it may not be the largest in revenues,” pointed out Jeya Kumar, CEO, Patni Computer.
Like Hexaware, Patni is chasing 3-4 contracts in the domestic market as part of a consortium. “With the kind of large deal sizes we are seeing, you have to have a multi-vendor strategy,” added Mr Kumar. Apart from the government, Hexaware will focus on sectors such as travel and transport, insurance, hospitality and logistics, and technology offerings across sectors.
According to Mr Malladi, mid-size players have to be more strategic in their outlook using their niche skills to enter the market. Hexaware, along with others like Patni and Mindtree are turning towards India, drawn by the large opportunity and significant growth potential.
IT market, Outsourcing
China planning to build 'Little India' to attract outsourcing industry
Wuxi, a picturesque city that lies along the Taihu Lake resort of the Jiangsu province, is planning to build a "little India" in years to come in order to become a major service outsourcing center.
Wuxi is traditionally a manufacturing city, but with a focus on environmental protection, and especially after a serious blue-green algae outbreak in Taihu Lake, city leaders started to study how to transform the city's development.
Wuxi decided to replace manufacturing with the service outsourcing industry, which has far less pollution and consumes much less energy, the China Daily reports.
The city is expected to attract 30 to 40 billion dollars in service outsourcing business and help create jobs for one million people by 2020, equivalent to that of India as a whole in 2007. The advancement of the service outsourcing industry cannot survive without a large talent pool. But the city three years ago learned that fewer than 2,000 students in the city were studying software and information technology fields.
As a result, Wuxi established a goal to build a total area of six million sq m for software service outsourcing within three years, and encouraged enterprises to cultivate and import skilled workers.
The local government joined India's National Institute of Information Technologies (NIIT), the world's second-largest educational institution, to establish the NIIT (China) Outsourcing College in Wuxi as a training base for the city's outsourcing businesses.
While the domestic macro-economy continues to be affected by the global financial crisis, outsourcing is maintaining robust growth in Wuxi.
The city signed 1.14 billion dollars in contracts from January to July, up 110 percent year-on-year.
After India became world's largest service-outsourcing base, many East Asian countries including Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam began competing for more market share.
Wuxi is traditionally a manufacturing city, but with a focus on environmental protection, and especially after a serious blue-green algae outbreak in Taihu Lake, city leaders started to study how to transform the city's development.
Wuxi decided to replace manufacturing with the service outsourcing industry, which has far less pollution and consumes much less energy, the China Daily reports.
The city is expected to attract 30 to 40 billion dollars in service outsourcing business and help create jobs for one million people by 2020, equivalent to that of India as a whole in 2007. The advancement of the service outsourcing industry cannot survive without a large talent pool. But the city three years ago learned that fewer than 2,000 students in the city were studying software and information technology fields.
As a result, Wuxi established a goal to build a total area of six million sq m for software service outsourcing within three years, and encouraged enterprises to cultivate and import skilled workers.
The local government joined India's National Institute of Information Technologies (NIIT), the world's second-largest educational institution, to establish the NIIT (China) Outsourcing College in Wuxi as a training base for the city's outsourcing businesses.
While the domestic macro-economy continues to be affected by the global financial crisis, outsourcing is maintaining robust growth in Wuxi.
The city signed 1.14 billion dollars in contracts from January to July, up 110 percent year-on-year.
After India became world's largest service-outsourcing base, many East Asian countries including Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam began competing for more market share.
IT market
Net gets a desi flavour with Web names in Indian languages
Imagine accessing Internet in your mother tongue. It is possible now with the international body, which manages domain names allowing use of seven Indian languages in Web addresses.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a global non-profit organisation, has taken the decision to allow Web addresses in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Telegu. The decision was taken in Seoul, where a conference of ICANN was going on.
Till now, on the Web all domain names were available only in Latin characters from “A to Z”. Domain names -.com, .net, .org, .in - are used as identification labels.
Now, users can type Web addresses in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Telegu.
Govind, Senior Director, who was representing the Department of Information Technology (DIT), said “this will be a revolutionary move on the World Wide Web (www) that would dignify the presence of Indian vernacular languages on Internet.”
He further confirmed that more languages would be added in the near future. DIT has started giving free fonts in 22 official Indian languages.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a global non-profit organisation, has taken the decision to allow Web addresses in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Telegu. The decision was taken in Seoul, where a conference of ICANN was going on.
Till now, on the Web all domain names were available only in Latin characters from “A to Z”. Domain names -.com, .net, .org, .in - are used as identification labels.
Now, users can type Web addresses in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Telegu.
Govind, Senior Director, who was representing the Department of Information Technology (DIT), said “this will be a revolutionary move on the World Wide Web (www) that would dignify the presence of Indian vernacular languages on Internet.”
He further confirmed that more languages would be added in the near future. DIT has started giving free fonts in 22 official Indian languages.
Monday, November 2, 2009
IT market, Outsourcing
Shifting staff offshore better than rate cuts: Forrester
Firms’ ability to shift more staff offshore drives more savings than the 5 per cent to 10 per cent rate reductions they have been seeking from their IT vendors, according to the latest Forrester report on IT offshoring.
The report notes that more and more firms are now looking to shift away from the traditional offshore pricing approach of an hourly rate to a fixed price model.
The Forrester report titled “Assessing your onshore/offshore staffing ratios” by its vice president and principal analyst John McCarthy, states that the economic downturn has hit IT budgets full force, and as a result, firms are scrambling to react and optimise their offshore spend.
“Our recent Enterprise IT Services Survey (North America & Europe, Q2 2009) shows that renegotiating IT services rates is the top priority of these firms. 80 per cent of the 931 respondents list it as their critical priority. And on an average, we see clients getting actual reductions in the range of 4 per cent to 7 per cent based on current rates, type of work, and volume of spend” says McCarthy.
The report advises such firms to move beyond short term strategies and invest in better specifications and change management processes, which will enable them to move more work offshore and recognise the associated savings.
Forrester notes that clients move through four distinct stages in their offshore maturity namely Bystanders, Experimenters, Committeds, and Full Exploiters.
During this evolution, clients not only build up trust with their IT vendors, but more importantly for the offshore mix, they also mature and add more rigor to their specifications, incident management, and governance processes.
“This improved process acumen on the part of the client, coupled with the domain and tool investments of IT vendors, has increased the amount of work that can be sent offshore by 10 per cent to 20 per cent over the past three years,” says McCarthy.
After the rate renegotiation, the second primary strategy firms are adopting in the short term is transition to fixed price model from time and materials (T&M) pricing model.
“They want the certainty of a fixed price,” notes the report. The report also reveals that the budget crunch has encouraged firms to look at more than just rates.
“Over the past four to six months, we have seen a dramatic rise in the number of inquiries related to IT services governance best practices, specifically around the most cost-effective mix of onshore and offshore staff from IT suppliers. And our research demonstrates that adjusting Onshore/Offshore ratios is the best way to increase savings,” adds McCarthy.
The report notes that more and more firms are now looking to shift away from the traditional offshore pricing approach of an hourly rate to a fixed price model.
The Forrester report titled “Assessing your onshore/offshore staffing ratios” by its vice president and principal analyst John McCarthy, states that the economic downturn has hit IT budgets full force, and as a result, firms are scrambling to react and optimise their offshore spend.
“Our recent Enterprise IT Services Survey (North America & Europe, Q2 2009) shows that renegotiating IT services rates is the top priority of these firms. 80 per cent of the 931 respondents list it as their critical priority. And on an average, we see clients getting actual reductions in the range of 4 per cent to 7 per cent based on current rates, type of work, and volume of spend” says McCarthy.
The report advises such firms to move beyond short term strategies and invest in better specifications and change management processes, which will enable them to move more work offshore and recognise the associated savings.
Forrester notes that clients move through four distinct stages in their offshore maturity namely Bystanders, Experimenters, Committeds, and Full Exploiters.
During this evolution, clients not only build up trust with their IT vendors, but more importantly for the offshore mix, they also mature and add more rigor to their specifications, incident management, and governance processes.
“This improved process acumen on the part of the client, coupled with the domain and tool investments of IT vendors, has increased the amount of work that can be sent offshore by 10 per cent to 20 per cent over the past three years,” says McCarthy.
After the rate renegotiation, the second primary strategy firms are adopting in the short term is transition to fixed price model from time and materials (T&M) pricing model.
“They want the certainty of a fixed price,” notes the report. The report also reveals that the budget crunch has encouraged firms to look at more than just rates.
“Over the past four to six months, we have seen a dramatic rise in the number of inquiries related to IT services governance best practices, specifically around the most cost-effective mix of onshore and offshore staff from IT suppliers. And our research demonstrates that adjusting Onshore/Offshore ratios is the best way to increase savings,” adds McCarthy.
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