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.
What Does HP Want from Latin America? Exclusive Interview
August 31st, 2010Q&A with HP’s Keith Kerrison
Kerrison: “The Nearshore will grow because we have multinational clients who want support in their time zone or want to follow the sun, but it will not grow as fast as farshore.”
By Dennis Barker
Keith Kerrison looks at the Nearshore region not in isolation but sees it for what it really is: part of the much bigger world. He’s been involved in sourcing applications projects (“mainly SAP”) for about 15 years, back when he was with Proctor & Gamble.
He came to HP as part of an outsourcing arrangement with P&G and now, as director of the Best Shore Application Services for the Americas Region within Enterprise Services, essentially has the job of running HP’s global applications delivery system. Besides being an expert on sourcing, Kerrison is also numbered among the Nearshore Americas Top 50 Power Rankings.
We asked him about global-sourcing challenges, the Nearshore region, what it takes to make clients happy, and Canada.
The Myths and Realities that Prevent IT Outsourcing to Latin America
August 30th, 2010
“The resistance to nearshoring has always been the assumption that India has a much stronger talent pool than nearshore options,” says CIO Steve Romeo, in the middle, joined by CIO Shaun Cooper and CIO Joanne Kossuth.
By Linda Rosencrance
For years the refrain echoing in the ears of CIOs and IT decision makers has been “do more with less.” And in today’s economic climate, that refrain rings true more than ever.
With that mandate, the question is what can CIOs do to help their companies weather these tough business conditions? And since India is more expensive than ever, what is preventing those buyers from examining Latin America more seriously.
While labor costs may be on par with India, there are fewer cultural differences when working in Latin America. And geographic proximity makes communication easier and travel less expensive and less time consuming. Yet still many IT leaders seem to be reluctant to participate in nearshoring. Find out what three IT executives told us about why Nearshoring is not as attractive as some of us think.
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.
Is Canada’s Call Center Industry on Life Support?
August 24th, 2010
By Tarun George
Largely unnoticed by many site selection gurus, the offshore services industry in Canada has grown at a staggering rate over the last decade. According to Statistics Canada, between 1998 and 2006 the Canadian call center industry increased in revenue by 27% annually. But now the rise of new locations in Latin America and Eastern Europe as well as the recent economic recession may necessitate a change of strategy.
Analysts across the board are calling for a move into higher value services like IT – they say the current call center-focused model is just not profitable for the country anymore. But is Canada’s call center industry really on life support? We sat down with Peter Ryan, Lead Analyst for BPO and Contact Center Outsourcing at Ovum to find out.
What’s Behind the Sudden Departure of Stream CEO Scott Murray?
August 20th, 2010
Was it Scott Murray’s brash and hard-charging style that led to his sudden departure as top boss at Stream Global Services this week? We may never know the real answer, but there are plenty of surprised looks on the faces of those who work at Stream or do business with the global call center and CRM giant, based outside of Boston. The announcement went out early today that Murray is being replaced by Kathryn Marinello, the former CEO at Ceridian, a major payroll and HR outsourcing firm.
Murray is certainly not leaving under a cloud like Mark Hurd did during his sudden resignation at HP just a few weeks ago, but the news does come as somewhat of a shock for an executive who returned to Stream to command a growth-first strategy that seemed to directly reflect the aggressive style of Murray himself. There are two clues that lead us to believe that Murray was removed – rather than him leaving by choice.
Latin America ICT: Ranking the Top Five Telecom Markets
August 18th, 2010Chile Claims Top Spot Based on Advanced Infrastructure
By Tarun George
Over the next five years, LatAm wireless network traffic is slated to rise at a CAGR of 86% – pretty significant compared to the 61% CAGR average for emerging markets as a whole. And yet Latin America is still a relatively small telecom services market. Despite advances in information and communication technologies (ICT), there are large discrepancies between countries – some with modernized and liberal telecom networks, and others with closed and politicized systems in place. If you’re a prospective sourcing client, those discrepancies can make or break your operation.
To clear the air, we decided to leverage some expert opinion and develop our 2010 Ranking of the Top Five Telecom-Ready Sourcing Destinations in Latin America.
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.
Mexico Outsourcing Will Soar Under Schumer Law
August 12th, 2010
Senator Schumer probably doesn't realize the huge incentive he is helping create to boost outsourcing to Mexico.
In its Haste to Gouge India, Congress Neglects to Consider the TN Visa
By Kirk Laughlin
In what could be one of the most extraordinary examples of the self-defeating consequences of slapdash, politically inspired protectionism, the new Congressional border bill which partly takes aim at Indian outsourcers is likely to trigger a nearshoring bonanza – with Mexico poised to become a major beneficiary. But wait, isn’t Chuck Schumer (D-NY) who is a key sponsor of the bill, going to protect U.S. jobs? Actually no and we’ll explain why.
Exclusive: Why Peru Fits into the Global Strategy of TCS
August 11th, 2010
Manzano: "We have much more information about Latin America than our competitors do"
By Tarun George
Newest in the line of “India Inc.” conquests in Latin America, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced recently the opening of a new delivery center in Lima, Peru. With centers already in Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia, TCS has the largest LatAm presence of any of its Indian counterparts, and has expanded aggressively there ever since Gabriel Rozman initiated the company’s expansion six years ago.
We sat down with Henry Manzano, CEO of TCS Latin America, to find out more about his growth strategy and what TCS sees in the region that its competitors do not.
