Friday, September 3rd, 2010

Brazil's GDP is expected to rise at 4% to 5% per year over the next 10 years: Investing in Brazil Requires Understanding of Tax Law |  HCL recently opened a next-generation green data center in Parsippany, New Jersey : Brazil a Key Hub for HCL  |  Tracfone, holds between 14 million and 15 million U.S. customers : TracFone is Lead Customer at ACC’s New Guatemala City Call Center | 
Ameet Nivsarkar 262x300 Nasscom Says Visa Hike is “Terribly Short Sighted” Nivsarkar: “Latin America can bring in language capabilities and time zone and proximity benefits and we are firmly convinced the way forward will be to have a globally distributed model – pulling on the strengths of every location worldwide.”

The fallout from the visa hike issue is still being felt across the global outsourcing industry.  One of the obvious questions is whether large India firms will aggressively reshape their operating models to accommodate the new visa costs – or – is it just a mild bump in the road to continued expansion in the Americas?

Giving us an exclusive perspective on the issue is Ameet Nivsarkar , NASSCOM Vice-President for Global Trade, who is in charge of international and policy relationships for the India ITO/BPO advocacy group.

What long term impact do you think the visa fee hikes will bring to the way in which India outsourcing firms conduct business in the United States?

The fee per say is not going to be a large cause of concern. Our bigger concern is the direction all of this is taking. This is not the first attempt the US. Congress has taken to discriminate against India firms.

This is the first time we are seeing legislation go into law. Obviously India firms are concerned, and this certainly will add to the bottom line.

Read More »

nearshore outsourcing investment 300x199 Nearshore Outsourcing Investment: The Real Winners are Todays Risk TakersBy Kirk Laughlin

It’s not hard to remember back to 1995-1997, when the Internet boom began to gather some real traction. Firms like Netscape, Lucent and Cisco were suddenly red hot darlings that became emblematic of a new generation of  Wall Street investment targets. There were plenty of skeptics of course who didn’t like the price-per-earnings ratios of these companies or didn’t believe the aggressive forecasts of top executives. And then there were the very real concerns about risks and the seeming intangibility of the Internet, backbone buildouts and why broadband mattered. Back then, Google had yet to be born and the eye-ball grabbing power of search was not really well understood.

So, what does the investment climate of the mid-90s have to do with 2010 investment in Nearshore outsourcing? Plenty and I’ll explain why.

Read More »

nearshoring.risks  228x300 For Nearshoring Customers, Business Continuity Should Be Priority OneRedundancy and availability are essential checklist items in disaster zones
By Dennis Barker

Earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes. Mother Nature has cruelly reminded us again this year that the Nearshore region runs the risk of natural disaster. Obviously anyone doing business in a meteorological danger zone has to think strenuously about their provider’s ability to recover from a disaster and maintain business continuity. Or maybe it’s not obvious.

Andrew Fazio, director of commercial sales at Flow, a telco/cable/Internet provider and data center operator based in Jamaica, told us that clients aren’t always aware of all the issues or ramifications connected to disaster recovery.

Read More »

sonda 300x104 Whats Fueling the Sonda Acquisition Spree?By Dennis Barker

When the biggest IT company in Chile announced it was planning to spend $500 million on acquisitions between this year and 2012, it apparently wasn’t just blowing smoke. Going where the money (and expertise) is, most recently Sonda picked up innovative Brazilian IT services firm Kaizen.

Sonda’s buying streak now includes Brazilian IT services provider Telsinc; Mexican IT company NextiraOne; and Bogota-based software developer Red Colombia. In 2007, Sonda purchased Brazilian provider Procwork.

Read More »

By Kirk Laughlin

iStock 000005320423XSmall.nearshore.numbers 300x199 When the Country Promotion Numbers Dont Add Up Numbers don’t lie – or do they? According to Philip Peters (#48 on the Nearshore Americas’  Power 50 Ranking), the CEO at Zagada Research, the numbers being used to promote certain Nearshore country destinations are being “inflated”. This probably doesn’t come as a shock to many people who have learned through trial and error to “triangulate” sources of information provided by economic development agencies and governments in Latin America and the Caribbean. Using multiple sources of data helps reduce the risk of relying on bad information, which obviously can greatly influence site selection, hiring and deployment strategies and making strategic business plans based on assumptions about the cost-of-doing business.

Read More »

By Dennis Barker

iStock 000000575774XSmall.wavelength.nearshore 300x167  Tips for Picking a Software Development Partner From a Time Zone Focused CEO Surely you’ve heard someone say that communication is the key to a successful outsourcing relationship. You’ve probably heard it so many times that your cliche alert pops up anytime someone utters the phrase.

But we’re hearing from more and more software-building companies that the best projects are those where there isn’t just good communication but where everyone is working in synch: not just on the same clock but on the same wavelength.

Read More »

By Tarun George

kpmg.nsamericas 300x223 Buy Vs. Build in Latin America Outsourcing: The View from KPMG

As Americas-based outsourcing continues its strong emergence, more sourcing-minded U.S. firms are pulling out their checklists to figure out if it is smarter to send work to an existing provider or take an often more costly route by establishing their own captive center.

We checked in with David Kane, a Director in the Shared Services and Outsourcing Advisory Group at KPMG to help determine how companies can choose the right path.  Kane delivered a presentation on this very topic at the Sourcing Interests Group (SIG) Forum in March. We asked him to expand on the points he discussed, as well as his own experiences of both the buy and build options.

Read More »

By Tarun George

nearshore.reflection 150x150 Duplicating NASSCOMs Wild Success: Can it Be Done in Latin America? Those in the Nearshore who have experience with the ‘India Inc.’ brand know how hard it is to compete with its low prices, aggressive marketing strategy and solid reputation as the global IT destination of choice. But maybe it’s time to stop competing, and start learning.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has represented and promoted the Indian IT and BPO industry for over twenty years, achieving tremendous success both nationally and globally. The question is, can that success model be copied in Latin America to achieve the same results?

Read More »

SANTA CLARA, Calif. & SANTIAGO, Chile – (Business Wire) McAfee, Inc. (NYSE:MFE) today announced plans to open a new McAfee Labs facility in Santiago, Chile. The new facility is planned to open in the third quarter of 2010 and ultimately will house more than 60 highly skilled researchers, developers, quality assurance engineers and support experts, with potential for further expansion.

“This expansion of McAfee Labs will help us improve the McAfee customer experience and allow for more technical innovation,” said Jeff Green, senior vice president for McAfee Labs. “The Santiago, Chile, facility will expand our global footprint and make McAfee Labs stand out even more as the world’s premier security research organization.”

Welcoming today’s announcement, Hernán Cheyre, executive vice president of CORFO, the Chilean Economic Development Agency, said, “Chile is swiftly implementing the reconstruction of the areas affected by the earthquake. The country is and still will be one of the …

Read More »

By Tarun George

iStock semiconductornearshore 300x199 COUNTRY PROFILE: Identifying the Core of Costa Ricas Shrewd Sourcing StrategyIn 1996 Costa Rica shocked the sourcing world by winning a $300 million  deal with Intel to build a new semiconductor plant, against a host of seemingly better qualified countries. Since then, through coordinated government effort, the ‘new kid on the block’ has become a choice destination for high-end ITO and software development services. Can Costa Rica continue its winning ways or are there major hurdles on the horizon?

Read More »

View our site in:
Join Us on Facebook
Follow Global88 on Twitter

Sign up for our free e-newsletter:

Marquee Content Powered By eTDS TechnoSys.
Visit Our Plugin Community.