IT services major Wipro has said that it has set a target of doubling its consulting revenues over the next couple of years. Consulting contributes three per cent to Wipro’s revenues, but India’s third largest software exporter believes it can constitute six per cent by year 2011.
T K Kurien, Wipro’s president of consulting services, told Financial Chronicle that the company wants consulting to be the key differentiator in years to come.“The consulting vertical has 800 people in the team, onshore and offshore put together.
These people are some of the best in the business who face the CXOs in creating new revenue generation models,” he said.
Wipro is looking at social networking, banking and older industries such as telecom and manufacturing to derive greater revenues from the growing consulting business.
“About 70 per cent of the work that we undertake on the consulting front revolves around revenue generation. It’s not about cost reduction when it comes to Wipro’s consulting domain. We feel many are equipped to do cost reduction, but our expertise lies in creating additional revenue for our customers,” Kurien said.
Wipro’s consulting team is divided into smaller divisions handling technology and enablement, process excellence, functional excellence and risk and compliance. “There is great traction in risk and compliance, as the banking sector is busy gearing up for several procedural changes,” said Kurien.
Out of the 800 people, 7 per cent of them will now be part of the R&D team, which will track 12 industry verticals. The job of the R&D team is to lay seeds of innovation. It will play a key role in bridging the divide between ideators and front-end workers. The R&D facility will seek to enhance the business value to clients through innovation. The company believes that consulting will work as a powerful tool during times of recession to gain customer confidence.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
IT market
Google CEO leaves Apple board
Google CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned from Apple’s board of directors as the internet search leader increasingly develops products that compete with Apple’s core businesses, including the popular iPhone.
Apple chief execuitve officer (CEO) Steve Jobs said Schmidt would have had to excuse himself from large portions of the company’s board meetings to avoid potential conflicts of interest. “Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s board,” Jobs said in a statement.
Schmidt had been on Apple’s board since August 2006. His resignation comes as the Federal Trade Commission is looking into whether Google’s common ties with Apple might discourage competition.
Just a few months ago, Schmidt expressed confidence that a government inquiry into his role on Apple’s board won’t find any evidence that the ties between the two companies throttle competition in mobile phones and elsewhere.
Schmidt had said in May, in a media session ahead of Google’s annual shareholder meeting, that he hasn’t considered stepping down as an Apple director because he doesn’t view the company as a “primary competitor.”
Google’s Android operating system is used in mobile devices that compete with Apple’s iPhone. And Google is developing a free operating system based on its web browser, Chrome, a potential rival to Apple’s Mac systems.
Google has recently turned its 2007 acquisition of GrandCentral into Google Voice, which assigns a unique phone number to each user and lets the user direct calls to that number to any other phone line.
Relationships between the two companies haven’t always been smooth. On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission sent letters to Apple and Google — as well as Apple’s iPhone partner in the US, AT&T — seeking more information on Apple’s rejection of Google Voice’s application for the iPhone. The popularity of Apple’s iPhone is soaring even amid the recession.
The company said in July it sold more than 5.2 million iPhones in the US during the April-June quarter, more than seven times what it sold in the same period a year earlier. Google’s Android operating system currently runs on the T-Mobile G1, which went on sale last year. The second “Google phone” from T-Mobile goes on sale this week.
Now, Google’s latest goal is to make Android the operating system for phones across the industry, so it gives away the software for free for any phone maker to incorporate.
Apple chief execuitve officer (CEO) Steve Jobs said Schmidt would have had to excuse himself from large portions of the company’s board meetings to avoid potential conflicts of interest. “Therefore, we have mutually decided that now is the right time for Eric to resign his position on Apple’s board,” Jobs said in a statement.
Schmidt had been on Apple’s board since August 2006. His resignation comes as the Federal Trade Commission is looking into whether Google’s common ties with Apple might discourage competition.
Just a few months ago, Schmidt expressed confidence that a government inquiry into his role on Apple’s board won’t find any evidence that the ties between the two companies throttle competition in mobile phones and elsewhere.
Schmidt had said in May, in a media session ahead of Google’s annual shareholder meeting, that he hasn’t considered stepping down as an Apple director because he doesn’t view the company as a “primary competitor.”
Google’s Android operating system is used in mobile devices that compete with Apple’s iPhone. And Google is developing a free operating system based on its web browser, Chrome, a potential rival to Apple’s Mac systems.
Google has recently turned its 2007 acquisition of GrandCentral into Google Voice, which assigns a unique phone number to each user and lets the user direct calls to that number to any other phone line.
Relationships between the two companies haven’t always been smooth. On Friday, the Federal Communications Commission sent letters to Apple and Google — as well as Apple’s iPhone partner in the US, AT&T — seeking more information on Apple’s rejection of Google Voice’s application for the iPhone. The popularity of Apple’s iPhone is soaring even amid the recession.
The company said in July it sold more than 5.2 million iPhones in the US during the April-June quarter, more than seven times what it sold in the same period a year earlier. Google’s Android operating system currently runs on the T-Mobile G1, which went on sale last year. The second “Google phone” from T-Mobile goes on sale this week.
Now, Google’s latest goal is to make Android the operating system for phones across the industry, so it gives away the software for free for any phone maker to incorporate.
cognizant, CTS, H1-B, NRIs
H1B Cap : July 24, 2009 Update
The H1B cap count remains unchanged. The USCIS issued a count of the cases received as of July 24, 2009, which was identical to the previous one. There have been 44,900 regular cap cases and 20,000 advanced-degree cap cases filed for the fiscal year 2010 limits. As of this writing, the USCIS continues to accept cases under both the regular and advanced-degree caps.
IT market
Dell gets notice for over pricing
Computer major Dell India has been issued notice by a district consumer court for allegedly over pricing products and supplying a faulty laptop to a customer.
A consumer court in Shalimar Bagh, while issuing notice to Dell India earlier this week, asked the firm to file its response by December 21, the next date of hearing.
The court was hearing the plea of Archer Softech Pvt Ltd through its advocate Ankur Raheja, who alleged that the Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop it bought for Rs 69,164 turned out to be faulty. He also said that the company was not ready to replace or repair the product.
"Except the hard-disk and processor (which are of Toshiba and Intel make, respectively ), almost each and every part has either been replaced or is not functioning properly due to manufacturing defects and poor quality of spares supplied for the laptop," Raheja said.
He added that his client had to run form pillar to post to get spare parts for the laptop and its servicing, which also resulted in loss of business.
He has demanded that the company return the amount paid by the consumer for the laptop and a compensation of Rs 400,000. The complainant also alleged that Dell is over-pricing its products, charging consumers much more than the maximum retail price (MRP).
"There is no doubt that Dell India's aim is not just profit but extraordinary profit by exploiting Indian customers. That is why the prices for laptops and especially parts are always charged on the higher side in India," Raheja said in the complaint. He said that the company had charged much more than the MRP for a battery. The cost of the battery, printed on the box, was Rs 2,100 but the company charged Rs 5,152, he alleged.
"We have contacted the company on many occasions but lame excuses were provided by the irresponsible staff. And on some occasions, no response was received," Raheja said.
A consumer court in Shalimar Bagh, while issuing notice to Dell India earlier this week, asked the firm to file its response by December 21, the next date of hearing.
The court was hearing the plea of Archer Softech Pvt Ltd through its advocate Ankur Raheja, who alleged that the Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop it bought for Rs 69,164 turned out to be faulty. He also said that the company was not ready to replace or repair the product.
"Except the hard-disk and processor (which are of Toshiba and Intel make, respectively ), almost each and every part has either been replaced or is not functioning properly due to manufacturing defects and poor quality of spares supplied for the laptop," Raheja said.
He added that his client had to run form pillar to post to get spare parts for the laptop and its servicing, which also resulted in loss of business.
He has demanded that the company return the amount paid by the consumer for the laptop and a compensation of Rs 400,000. The complainant also alleged that Dell is over-pricing its products, charging consumers much more than the maximum retail price (MRP).
"There is no doubt that Dell India's aim is not just profit but extraordinary profit by exploiting Indian customers. That is why the prices for laptops and especially parts are always charged on the higher side in India," Raheja said in the complaint. He said that the company had charged much more than the MRP for a battery. The cost of the battery, printed on the box, was Rs 2,100 but the company charged Rs 5,152, he alleged.
"We have contacted the company on many occasions but lame excuses were provided by the irresponsible staff. And on some occasions, no response was received," Raheja said.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Outsourcing
Outsourcing Benefits U.S. Workers, Too: BusinessWeek
Article from BusinessWeek
Many companies are hiring temporary and contract workers in the U.S. at a faster clip than they're sending jobs to India and other overseas locations.
Outsourcing is a dirty word. In the U.S., outsourcing means firing full-time workers and shipping their jobs to a less developed country where wages are lower and labor laws are more lax. With U.S. unemployment closing in on 10%, and estimates of real unemployment (including part-time workers) climbing to over 15%, the idea of cutting American jobs and shipping them abroad is morally offensive to many.
So imagine my surprise when I found out that one small corner of the outsourcing business was going great guns—and that one of the fastest-growing destinations for outsourced jobs is none other than the U.S.
ONLINE CONTRACTING
I came to this conclusion after reviewing the statistics of oDesk, one of several companies that connect people in need of skilled temporary work with employees who fit the bill. ODesk provides the infrastructure to make it easier to monitor, manage, and pay consultants working in remote locations. The number of hours worked on oDesk projects by contractors has risen threefold over the past 12 months. The rise of oDesk and competitors such as eLance illustrate how the world has become not only a freelance economy but also, by extension, an outsourced economy.
This outcome is driven by several key factors. First, the Internet makes it easier to assemble and manage remote teams of workers. Second, increasing economic pressures in the global economy spurred by the rise of the developing world as a global competitor have forced all firms to eliminate some full-time positions, and instead rely more on contractors.
Last, many small and midsize businesses now regularly need real technology help, whether it's to build Web sites and databases, craft user interfaces, or install software. They also need help to babysit and develop this technology. Small businesses were the least well-equipped and are the most under-resourced. So naturally they turned to the new global freelance market, at first for technology skills and then for help in marketing, accounting, and other areas.
GLOBAL "SMALLSOURCING"
Some predicted that freelancing would wither under the financial crisis as firms cut spending for IT development work. But that clearly hasn't happened, if the numbers from oDesk are to be believed. Contractors offer a wide variety of skills, ranging from data entry to sophisticated computer programming. Customers vary from small businesses and sole proprietors seeking project help to large businesses that don't have internal skills for a certain type of job.
What's perhaps the most interesting facet of this new brand of outsourcing—which I call "smallsourcing"—is the truly global nature of the workforce and the work being outsourced. ODesk has contractors from dozens of countries, including China, Singapore, Russia, and Bolivia. At the same time, work is being outsourced to the U.S. from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Spain—even Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. While the single largest percentage of oDesk work goes to contractors in India, the U.S. ranks No. 3. And the number of hours worked in the U.S. is growing at a pace of 267%, considerably faster than the 188% for India.
The salary differentials between India and the U.S. are far smaller than one might have thought, according to oDesk billing data. Indian workers were paid roughly $11 an hour on average and U.S. workers were paid roughly $17.50 an hour. But Americans receive higher evaluations for their work—an average 4.48 out of 5, compared with 4.12 for India. So the Americans don't have that much of a disadvantage. Companies readily pay a little more for higher-quality work.
WAGE PRESSURE CUTS BOTH WAYS
True, smallsourcing pits workers in high-wage countries against those in low-wage countries. That will necessarily mean downward pressures on wages in developed countries for freelancers in specialties where foreign freelancers can easily compete. But smallsourcing could help raise the bar in locations such as rural parts of the U.S. In many of those places a $17.50-an-hour job is considered very solid and real estate prices are low enough to allow someone to buy a house with this level of take-home pay. Plus, highly skilled workers can make much more. Some with Web design and system administration skills earn $60 to $90 an hour.
As health-care expenses continue to rise and the costs of full-time employment grow in tandem, outsourcing inevitably will increase. Building a variable-cost labor structure is a necessity for many employers who need the flexibility to pay higher rates when the economy is good and lower rates when the economy is bad.
For the project workers who log in to oDesk every day to create their own job with decent pay, outsourcing is a wonderful thing—be it in Wyoming or New Delhi. Some have been forced from full-time jobs but many simply prefer to go it alone or to work with small groups. Scarred by a barrage of layoffs in recent years, these workers like the control over their lives and diversity in the source of paychecks.
In a world of uncertainty, one thing is certain: Outsourcing is thriving and will only get bigger—both in India and other foreign shores, but right here in the U.S. as well.
Many companies are hiring temporary and contract workers in the U.S. at a faster clip than they're sending jobs to India and other overseas locations.
Outsourcing is a dirty word. In the U.S., outsourcing means firing full-time workers and shipping their jobs to a less developed country where wages are lower and labor laws are more lax. With U.S. unemployment closing in on 10%, and estimates of real unemployment (including part-time workers) climbing to over 15%, the idea of cutting American jobs and shipping them abroad is morally offensive to many.
So imagine my surprise when I found out that one small corner of the outsourcing business was going great guns—and that one of the fastest-growing destinations for outsourced jobs is none other than the U.S.
ONLINE CONTRACTING
I came to this conclusion after reviewing the statistics of oDesk, one of several companies that connect people in need of skilled temporary work with employees who fit the bill. ODesk provides the infrastructure to make it easier to monitor, manage, and pay consultants working in remote locations. The number of hours worked on oDesk projects by contractors has risen threefold over the past 12 months. The rise of oDesk and competitors such as eLance illustrate how the world has become not only a freelance economy but also, by extension, an outsourced economy.
This outcome is driven by several key factors. First, the Internet makes it easier to assemble and manage remote teams of workers. Second, increasing economic pressures in the global economy spurred by the rise of the developing world as a global competitor have forced all firms to eliminate some full-time positions, and instead rely more on contractors.
Last, many small and midsize businesses now regularly need real technology help, whether it's to build Web sites and databases, craft user interfaces, or install software. They also need help to babysit and develop this technology. Small businesses were the least well-equipped and are the most under-resourced. So naturally they turned to the new global freelance market, at first for technology skills and then for help in marketing, accounting, and other areas.
GLOBAL "SMALLSOURCING"
Some predicted that freelancing would wither under the financial crisis as firms cut spending for IT development work. But that clearly hasn't happened, if the numbers from oDesk are to be believed. Contractors offer a wide variety of skills, ranging from data entry to sophisticated computer programming. Customers vary from small businesses and sole proprietors seeking project help to large businesses that don't have internal skills for a certain type of job.
What's perhaps the most interesting facet of this new brand of outsourcing—which I call "smallsourcing"—is the truly global nature of the workforce and the work being outsourced. ODesk has contractors from dozens of countries, including China, Singapore, Russia, and Bolivia. At the same time, work is being outsourced to the U.S. from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Spain—even Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. While the single largest percentage of oDesk work goes to contractors in India, the U.S. ranks No. 3. And the number of hours worked in the U.S. is growing at a pace of 267%, considerably faster than the 188% for India.
The salary differentials between India and the U.S. are far smaller than one might have thought, according to oDesk billing data. Indian workers were paid roughly $11 an hour on average and U.S. workers were paid roughly $17.50 an hour. But Americans receive higher evaluations for their work—an average 4.48 out of 5, compared with 4.12 for India. So the Americans don't have that much of a disadvantage. Companies readily pay a little more for higher-quality work.
WAGE PRESSURE CUTS BOTH WAYS
True, smallsourcing pits workers in high-wage countries against those in low-wage countries. That will necessarily mean downward pressures on wages in developed countries for freelancers in specialties where foreign freelancers can easily compete. But smallsourcing could help raise the bar in locations such as rural parts of the U.S. In many of those places a $17.50-an-hour job is considered very solid and real estate prices are low enough to allow someone to buy a house with this level of take-home pay. Plus, highly skilled workers can make much more. Some with Web design and system administration skills earn $60 to $90 an hour.
As health-care expenses continue to rise and the costs of full-time employment grow in tandem, outsourcing inevitably will increase. Building a variable-cost labor structure is a necessity for many employers who need the flexibility to pay higher rates when the economy is good and lower rates when the economy is bad.
For the project workers who log in to oDesk every day to create their own job with decent pay, outsourcing is a wonderful thing—be it in Wyoming or New Delhi. Some have been forced from full-time jobs but many simply prefer to go it alone or to work with small groups. Scarred by a barrage of layoffs in recent years, these workers like the control over their lives and diversity in the source of paychecks.
In a world of uncertainty, one thing is certain: Outsourcing is thriving and will only get bigger—both in India and other foreign shores, but right here in the U.S. as well.
Cost cutting, Satyam
Mahindra Satyam places another 500 associates on the bench
Mahindra Satyam is on course to cut more flab to trim costs. After placing over 8,000 employees on the virtual pool, the company has now created a “corporate reserve” akin to a bench for over 500 associates. The move, however, sparked off speculation about possible exit of senior-level employees in the Hyderabad based outsourcing firm.
In an internal communication, the company said “associates belonging to the enterprise business competency (EBS) and those in sales, relationships, operations management, programme management, delivery integration, solution frameworks & presales will reside in the corporate reserve till allocations are made.
“With a transition to the new organisational design, some of the erstwhile units like vertical business units and horizontal competency units will cease to exist. Employees who have not been allocated any portfolio yet in the new organisation design will be placed in the unit called corporate reserve”, said T Hari Chief People’s Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of Mahindra Satyam.
According to him, there would only be a few hundred associates in the corporate reserve. “We are aware of the inconvenience that this could cause for the small set of associates, but request your understanding given the complexities of this large-scale exercise”, the communication stated.
Earlier, the company placed around 8,000 people on the virtual pool fort six months. The creation of a corporate reserve, according to analysts, is akin to placing employees on the bench. Scam tainted Satyam had around 42,000 employees on its rolls when the firm was acquired by Pune based Tech Mahindra.
In an internal communication, the company said “associates belonging to the enterprise business competency (EBS) and those in sales, relationships, operations management, programme management, delivery integration, solution frameworks & presales will reside in the corporate reserve till allocations are made.
“With a transition to the new organisational design, some of the erstwhile units like vertical business units and horizontal competency units will cease to exist. Employees who have not been allocated any portfolio yet in the new organisation design will be placed in the unit called corporate reserve”, said T Hari Chief People’s Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of Mahindra Satyam.
According to him, there would only be a few hundred associates in the corporate reserve. “We are aware of the inconvenience that this could cause for the small set of associates, but request your understanding given the complexities of this large-scale exercise”, the communication stated.
Earlier, the company placed around 8,000 people on the virtual pool fort six months. The creation of a corporate reserve, according to analysts, is akin to placing employees on the bench. Scam tainted Satyam had around 42,000 employees on its rolls when the firm was acquired by Pune based Tech Mahindra.
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