Accenture Ltd., the world’s second- largest technology-consulting firm, reported third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ estimates as customers outsourced work to curb costs in the recession.
Net income was $444 million, or 68 cents a share, compared with $469.1 million, or 74 cents, a year earlier, Accenture said today in a statement. That exceeded the 64-cent average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey. Sales fell 16 percent to $5.54 billion.
Accenture’s customers are farming out tasks such as accounting or management of software applications to reduce costs in the worst global recession since at least World War II. The outsourcing business accounts for up about 40 percent of the Hamilton, Bermuda-based company’s revenue. Analysts estimated sales of $5.29 billion for the quarter ended May 31.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
IT market, Recession
Aspiring engineers scared to opt for IT courses
The students who are aspiring for engineering career are opting for mechanical and civil engineering courses instead of IT courses. According to Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA), around 60-70 percent of almost 1.2 lakh students who appeared for common entrance test (CET) this year are expected to opt for non-IT courses. Also many courses like computer engineering, medical and biotechnology which were in demand last year do not have many takers this year.
The change in career can be linked with big IT companies like Wipro, Infosys and TCS deciding to cut down the number of recruitment due to recession. Big companies are also seeking to cut down on existing staff to adapt to economic slowdown. In such situation students are not that ready to take risk by entering the IT field. "In times of recession, nobody is daring to opt for IT. There are more job opportunities in mechanical. Lot of students that I know prefer to go into electronics and communication and mechanical engineering," an aspiring engineering student Bhavish Kuttapa told Economic Times.
Many students are interested in opting for telecommunication engineering as there are more jobs available in that field. It is expected from students to opt for recession-proof careers. "Something very similar happened few years ago when IT was doing better than other sectors. With government spending big on infrastructure, energy and telecom, there are more jobs available for mechanical, civil and electronic engineers," said GC Jayaprakash, principal consultant at executive search firm Stanton Chase International to economic times.
The change in career can be linked with big IT companies like Wipro, Infosys and TCS deciding to cut down the number of recruitment due to recession. Big companies are also seeking to cut down on existing staff to adapt to economic slowdown. In such situation students are not that ready to take risk by entering the IT field. "In times of recession, nobody is daring to opt for IT. There are more job opportunities in mechanical. Lot of students that I know prefer to go into electronics and communication and mechanical engineering," an aspiring engineering student Bhavish Kuttapa told Economic Times.
Many students are interested in opting for telecommunication engineering as there are more jobs available in that field. It is expected from students to opt for recession-proof careers. "Something very similar happened few years ago when IT was doing better than other sectors. With government spending big on infrastructure, energy and telecom, there are more jobs available for mechanical, civil and electronic engineers," said GC Jayaprakash, principal consultant at executive search firm Stanton Chase International to economic times.
Satyam
Restructuring dampens work spirit at Mahindra Satyam
'The reorganisation is very aggressive and the parameters are not clear'.
Just around three weeks earlier, employees of Mahindra Satyam (then Satyam Computer Services) could hardly contain their joy. On the back of good positive top- and bottom-line figures for the third quarter (October-December 2008) and January-February months of CY2009, and bagging of new business orders worth $380 million (around Rs 1,800 crore), they were seen distributing sweets to their peers at various campuses of the IT outsourcing company in Hyderabad.
The mood appears to have changed dramatically. Despite the new chief executive officer of Mahindra Satyam assuring them the company and its employees (known as associates) have a great future, most associates this paper spoke to are confused and worried about the goings-on at the workplace.
While the reality of the ‘virtual pool’ is sinking in gradually, the simultaneous reshuflle at Mahindra Satyam is scaring them. “The reorganisation is very aggressive and the parameters are not clear,’’ said one associate who operates from the Infocity campus. “There is no excitement at the office for the last two or three weeks,’’ he said.
There are reasons for this despondency. He has seen a team handling a vertical dismantled. “There were two seniors at the helm of affairs and one of them has been asked to leave,’’ he said about the changes. Only last week, Mahindra Satyam had brought the roles of about 70 to 80 senior leaders under the scanner.
The company is now looking for talent from within the organisation to head some positions after the rejig. In some cases, the company is also getting people from Tech Mahindra to fill the lacunae created due to the reorganisation of staff, he said.
“The mandate is clear for all of us. We have to be ready to don a new role,’’ said another associate. He said the company has now broken down the earlier multiple levels of reporting for a particular task. “This would result in most of the employees coming in the direct firing line of higher-ups and therefore more accountable and also vulnerable at the same time. Also, another round of restructuring at the employee level is on the cards,” he added.
Some associates, according to another employee, are finding it difficult to work as there is no information from the right channel on the rejig or the direction it is heading. On the letter to the associates from the new chief executive officer, seeing a great future for the company, he said the letter did not address the uncertainty the employees were now experiencing.
“We are not feeling like attending the work,’’ he said, adding there is an increased activity at the office but the outcomes are not defined. But there are also some associates who are charged up after reading the letter from CP (Gurnani). “There are signs that the troubled times are coming to an end. Lot of fresh ideas are flowing in,’’ said another employee, talking about the delayering happening at the Mahindra Satyam. The effort is to cut the costs and increase productivity.
“The letter from CP is a boost to the associates,’’ said one Satyamite, who started his career with it and would not move out of it on his own. “There is future for us,’’ he said recollecting CP’s words.
Of course, there are those who are still searching for career opportunities outside of Satyam. Besides, many members of the Satyam Freshers’ Union, a body floated to take up the grievances of freshers who got offer letters from the company but never got to join work, are now searching for job opportunities outside.
PW auditors’ bail plea dismissed
The Andhra Pradesh High Court today dismissed the bail plea filed by Price Waterhouse auditors — S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas — accused in the case relating to the financial scam at Satyam Computer Services.
The case came up for hearing last week but the orders were reserved for today.
The CBI argued that the two auditors have failed in their duties to reject inflated figures in the balance sheets for successive years. They were also party to the financial scam, they said. There was no merit in saying that they did not identify the inflated figures or they simply relied on the documents provided by the company, the prosecution argued.
Source: BusinessStandard
Just around three weeks earlier, employees of Mahindra Satyam (then Satyam Computer Services) could hardly contain their joy. On the back of good positive top- and bottom-line figures for the third quarter (October-December 2008) and January-February months of CY2009, and bagging of new business orders worth $380 million (around Rs 1,800 crore), they were seen distributing sweets to their peers at various campuses of the IT outsourcing company in Hyderabad.
The mood appears to have changed dramatically. Despite the new chief executive officer of Mahindra Satyam assuring them the company and its employees (known as associates) have a great future, most associates this paper spoke to are confused and worried about the goings-on at the workplace.
While the reality of the ‘virtual pool’ is sinking in gradually, the simultaneous reshuflle at Mahindra Satyam is scaring them. “The reorganisation is very aggressive and the parameters are not clear,’’ said one associate who operates from the Infocity campus. “There is no excitement at the office for the last two or three weeks,’’ he said.
There are reasons for this despondency. He has seen a team handling a vertical dismantled. “There were two seniors at the helm of affairs and one of them has been asked to leave,’’ he said about the changes. Only last week, Mahindra Satyam had brought the roles of about 70 to 80 senior leaders under the scanner.
The company is now looking for talent from within the organisation to head some positions after the rejig. In some cases, the company is also getting people from Tech Mahindra to fill the lacunae created due to the reorganisation of staff, he said.
“The mandate is clear for all of us. We have to be ready to don a new role,’’ said another associate. He said the company has now broken down the earlier multiple levels of reporting for a particular task. “This would result in most of the employees coming in the direct firing line of higher-ups and therefore more accountable and also vulnerable at the same time. Also, another round of restructuring at the employee level is on the cards,” he added.
Some associates, according to another employee, are finding it difficult to work as there is no information from the right channel on the rejig or the direction it is heading. On the letter to the associates from the new chief executive officer, seeing a great future for the company, he said the letter did not address the uncertainty the employees were now experiencing.
“We are not feeling like attending the work,’’ he said, adding there is an increased activity at the office but the outcomes are not defined. But there are also some associates who are charged up after reading the letter from CP (Gurnani). “There are signs that the troubled times are coming to an end. Lot of fresh ideas are flowing in,’’ said another employee, talking about the delayering happening at the Mahindra Satyam. The effort is to cut the costs and increase productivity.
“The letter from CP is a boost to the associates,’’ said one Satyamite, who started his career with it and would not move out of it on his own. “There is future for us,’’ he said recollecting CP’s words.
Of course, there are those who are still searching for career opportunities outside of Satyam. Besides, many members of the Satyam Freshers’ Union, a body floated to take up the grievances of freshers who got offer letters from the company but never got to join work, are now searching for job opportunities outside.
PW auditors’ bail plea dismissed
The Andhra Pradesh High Court today dismissed the bail plea filed by Price Waterhouse auditors — S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas — accused in the case relating to the financial scam at Satyam Computer Services.
The case came up for hearing last week but the orders were reserved for today.
The CBI argued that the two auditors have failed in their duties to reject inflated figures in the balance sheets for successive years. They were also party to the financial scam, they said. There was no merit in saying that they did not identify the inflated figures or they simply relied on the documents provided by the company, the prosecution argued.
Source: BusinessStandard
CTS
Cognizant big on mobile couponing
Betting on mobile applications as a growth area, IT major Cognizant is developing a new solution for mobile couponing. Mobile couponing is a process of receiving and redeeming merchant disc-ount coupons electronically using a mobile instrument and network instead of conventional paper coupons.
Said R Viswakumar, AVP, global technology officer, Cognizant: “We are exploring this emerging business need and developing a solution by identifying and creating specific technology components.”
The solution would be piloted in Cognizant first and then launched along with merchants, mobile operators, banks and pay-ment companies in a phased manner. The trans-border company has discussed the idea with a few existing clients and the response so far has been encouraging, said Viswakumar.
Researches suggest that mobile phones are fast replacing 300 billion paper coupons issued every year in the US. Brands such as Burger King, Dairy Queen, Victoria’s Secret, Unilever and ShopRite have starting using mobile coupons in various forms.
Said R Viswakumar, AVP, global technology officer, Cognizant: “We are exploring this emerging business need and developing a solution by identifying and creating specific technology components.”
The solution would be piloted in Cognizant first and then launched along with merchants, mobile operators, banks and pay-ment companies in a phased manner. The trans-border company has discussed the idea with a few existing clients and the response so far has been encouraging, said Viswakumar.
Researches suggest that mobile phones are fast replacing 300 billion paper coupons issued every year in the US. Brands such as Burger King, Dairy Queen, Victoria’s Secret, Unilever and ShopRite have starting using mobile coupons in various forms.
Satyam
Deloitte eyes Mahindra Satyam auditor post
Audit firm Deloitte India has opted out of the work on restatement of Satyam accounts, perhaps in antici-pation of getting auditing assignment for Mahindra Satyam. Deloitte has been looking into Satyam books of past seven years, along with KPMG since January, after the scam broke out.
Mahindra Satyam is yet to appoint a statutory audi-tor. A Satyam spokesperson in Hyderabad said that no auditor had been appointed, “because it has to be done by the shareholders at the AGM.” At the same time, moves are afoot to merge Tech Mahindra and Mahin-dra Satyam.
Mahindra Satyam is yet to appoint a statutory audi-tor. A Satyam spokesperson in Hyderabad said that no auditor had been appointed, “because it has to be done by the shareholders at the AGM.” At the same time, moves are afoot to merge Tech Mahindra and Mahin-dra Satyam.
NRIs, Recession, TCS, Wipro
UK's Lloyds banks on Wipro, TCS staff
Even as protectionism gains ground among political hardliners in the UK and US, UK-based Lloyds Bank has initiated the process of replacing most its British IT workers with Indian nationals. Many of the Indian recruits will be from top-rung Indian IT majors like Wipro and TCS, who are also the bank’s vendors, said two industry officials familiar with the development.
The bank, which has over 400 employees in its IT department, is learnt to be considering replacing over 80% of its IT workforce with those from India. “We continue to outsource areas of IT work to companies based overseas. At any one time, some of the staff from these companies will be based in the UK to deliver aspects of our IT projects which is standard industry practice, “ said a Lloyds spokeswoman over email. She added that the number of staff from overseas companies working with Lloyds in the UK varied depending on the projects underway and the skills required. TCS declined to comment since it was in the midst of its silent period while Wipro refrained from comemnting on “market speculation.”
Globally, the economic crisis ahs resulted in serious cost-cutting measures which includes wage cuts. For example, an Indian IT specialist with over four years of experience, will be paid almost 30% lesser than his British counterpart. “The costs pressures for companies in Europe and US are forcing companies to lay off workers and replace them with more inexpensive labour mostly from India and China,” said a UK-based consultant who advises European banks on outsourcing strategies. Last week, the Lloyds Banking Group’s employee union protested on a move to replace skilled IT workers of British origin with those fom India.
“Workers from India, who would otherwise have no legal right to work in the UK, are being given work visas and flown into the country to take on jobs that could otherwise be given to the existing UK-based staff. The UK government should be using its 43% ownership in Lloyds to force the bank’s board to act in the best interest of UK jobs and its economy,” the union’s assistant general secretary Steve Tatlow had said last week.
The bank, which has over 400 employees in its IT department, is learnt to be considering replacing over 80% of its IT workforce with those from India. “We continue to outsource areas of IT work to companies based overseas. At any one time, some of the staff from these companies will be based in the UK to deliver aspects of our IT projects which is standard industry practice, “ said a Lloyds spokeswoman over email. She added that the number of staff from overseas companies working with Lloyds in the UK varied depending on the projects underway and the skills required. TCS declined to comment since it was in the midst of its silent period while Wipro refrained from comemnting on “market speculation.”
Globally, the economic crisis ahs resulted in serious cost-cutting measures which includes wage cuts. For example, an Indian IT specialist with over four years of experience, will be paid almost 30% lesser than his British counterpart. “The costs pressures for companies in Europe and US are forcing companies to lay off workers and replace them with more inexpensive labour mostly from India and China,” said a UK-based consultant who advises European banks on outsourcing strategies. Last week, the Lloyds Banking Group’s employee union protested on a move to replace skilled IT workers of British origin with those fom India.
“Workers from India, who would otherwise have no legal right to work in the UK, are being given work visas and flown into the country to take on jobs that could otherwise be given to the existing UK-based staff. The UK government should be using its 43% ownership in Lloyds to force the bank’s board to act in the best interest of UK jobs and its economy,” the union’s assistant general secretary Steve Tatlow had said last week.
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