Nasscom Says Visa Hike is “Terribly Short Sighted”
September 2nd, 2010
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.
By 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.
For Nearshoring Customers, Business Continuity Should Be Priority One
August 16th, 2010
Redundancy 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.
What’s Fueling the Sonda Acquisition Spree?
July 6th, 2010
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.
When the Country Promotion Numbers Don’t Add Up
June 25th, 2010By Kirk Laughlin
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.
By Dennis Barker
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.
By Tarun George
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.
By Tarun George
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?
Santiago Shines as a Choice Destination as McAfee Sets Up First Latin America Location
May 5th, 2010SANTA 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 …
By Tarun George
In 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?
