More Newspaper Jobs being Outsourced, Commentaries and Other News.

An Indian paper claims; “American inefficiency is India’s outsourcing gain”. I beg to disagree. Outsourcing leads to higher productivity for the companies that sent the jobs elsewhere. The end result will undoubtedly be a stronger and bigger enterprise. Please read my related discourse through this link.

The beneficiaries of outsourcing, instead of angering their clients, should be thankful for the inflow of new employment and business opportunities. Instead of namecalling, why not focus on doing the job well? Geesh, is that the way to treat clients? Call them inefficient? I wonder why the paper stopped itself from calling them stupid.

A day after a New Zealand newspaper announced the outsourcing of 70 sub-editing jobs to Australia (details here); an American newspaper declared plans to outsource jobs to another country. In the news, the Star Tribune (Minneapolis) will be sending 25 graphic design jobs to India (details in this page). Of course, the union is mad. Again, this site’s contention in regard to this topic remains.

This site preaches the gospel of outsourcing but is constantly aware of the follies of a few employees of outsourcing companies specifically, call center agents. Of course, most people know that absurd replies to customer questions are heard everywhere. Furthermore, it is also known that offshore contact centers are delivering better services at lesser cost. It is indeed very true, that the benefits of outsourcing far outweigh the costs. As an example, PC manufacturer DELL has thousands of customer service representatives in the Philippines and in a television advertisement in Manila, a ranking Dell executive declares that their BPO facility in the country is the best so far. Here is another testimony to outsourcing’s exemplary benefits.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

- As the US turns to India and other Asian countries for their outsourcing needs, Western Europe is sending jobs to its former adversaries-Eastern Europe. Please read the complete news here.

- Infosys BPO is expanding to Manila. Please read it here.

- While call centers are rapidly being outsourced to Asian countries, some US call centers continue to expand (onshore). Please read it here.

FAIL SAFE SERVICES

The string of calamities that hit Asia, Australia and most recently, the US once again emphasized the need for companies that has backed up, redundant and fail safe systems. In BPO, several end clients distribute their requirements to a number of service providers in order protect themselves in the event of unforeseen incidences.

Further to that, outsourcing companies are also known to purposely operate while utilizing less than 100% of their individual capacities. The reason for such an operating policy includes being able to accommodate a sudden surge of client requirements and a drop in their own capacities. A drop in an outsourcing firm's capacity includes a sudden low employee turnout due to typhoons and bog downs in company equipments such as the recent Asian internet failure, caused by the earthquake in Taiwan. please refer to a related post.

Not a single country is safe from calamities. The mighty United States, itself, regularly deals with its own share. However, since business dealings of most companies reaches far across state boundaries, it is imperative that business services continue uninterrupted.

That is the challenge of every BPO company. To be able to deliver its services, without fail.

IF YOU BUILD IT, WILL THEY COME?

One client chairs a group of companies that successfully developed several real properties during the past few decades. Not long ago, he consulted me regarding the BPO prospects of his company. He mentioned having noticed the boom in the office leasing business due to the upsurge of BPO firms. Call Centers have taken over a number of previously empty office buildings and numerous projects that are yet to break ground have already been fully committed.

I was given a preview of their inventory that can possibly be converted into BPO facilities and asked of my opinion and help, being an industry insider. The following day, I wrote a few Call Centers and made a preliminary presentation of my client. Several replies came but I find a particular response worth sharing in this space.


A consultant to a giant call center company, called and asked to meet with me in their office. I agreed while asking if their client has a requirement that matches our inventory. The reply was positive. Arriving on time for my meeting, I was made to wait for half an hour while the person I was to meet, rummaged through her things. During the meeting, I described the properties available for BPO use and asked for its prospects (with her client). She then enumerated a number of projects that my client should put into effect. In summary, my client was being asked to build an expensive BPO facility, with a minimum size of 5,000 square meters, among other things.

Very politely, I asked if their call center will lease our building, should my client spend for the infrastructure that they ask for. The reply blunt was "First, build your facility, then we will offer it (to clients)." A bit surprised, I explained that my client is willing to invest, but no businessman will spend (that much) without any indication that money will be made from it.

The reply was "You have to show to your prospective lessee/s that you have the confidence in your company and the capability to spend & maintain the facility, before you even talk to them."

She added; “Look at this particular building at _ _ _ _ _ _. It was built without any lessee on the list, but now it is filled to capacity.”

Geesh!!!! TO BE CONTINUED....

New jobs posted

The other blog posted a couple of new job opportunities.

Please click the BPO Job Opportunities at the sidebar of this page.

You may also opt to go direct by clicking here.

Online BPO and Work at Home Opportunities

Browsing through the internet, several work at home ads can be found. A few require do not require a membership fee in order to gain access to (online jobs) but a big majority does. Some membership fees may be as low as US$5.00 but there are those that can go to as much as US$199.00 or even more.

Through the years, a lot of news articles claim that fraudulent advertisments are all over and that unsuspecting viewers have easily fallen victims of unscrupulous sites.

I created a new site that will publish vacancies that are personally known to the author/s to be in actual existence. The blog will also post advertisements found through the net but all of it will be accompanied with short notes/ reviews. The authors of this site will also browse through, but not limited to Google advertisements and will try conduct verifications and authenticate some ads.

Ads that are personally found to be truly reliable and those that were verified and authenticated by reliable sources, will be accompanied by this site's "Seal of Approval".

Check the site regularly and tell your friends about it.

Everybody, take heed! The leader speaks!

This is very much worthy of commendation. Let's hope that all other players will immediately follow.

Despite a 31% growth in revenues (US$ 31B), Indian BPO companies are getting their acts together in order to maintain their leadership.

In the annual meeting of the country's industry group, experts emphasized the need to innovate and not simply rely on the low labor cost and large talent pool of their country. The inventory of qualified talents is diminishing, wages are increasing and other low cost BPO centers like Eastern Europe, China, the Philippines and Vietnam are also fighting for their share of contracts from their biggest client-- The United States.

Please click here for the rest of the story.

Philippines hosts the 7th e-services expo

Foreign companies thinking of outsourcing some of their business processes will be attending the e-Services Expo: 7th global conference on outsourcing and exhibition at the Shangri-La Plaza, along the Ortigas Business District, Philippines. Most of the conference exhibitors are companies specializing in Contact Centers, Transcription, Software Development, Animation, Back Office Operations, and various IT solutions.

New Submarine Cable system for RP

Good News for Asian BPO!

The Philippine Daily Inquirer reports that the Hongkong based company- Asia Netcom will be installing a 23,500 kilometer submarine cable system that will augment the existing telecoms infrastructure connecting the Philippines with the rest of the world. The project which is estimated to cost $636 Million, is expected to be completed by July 2008 .

The Competitive Advantage of the Philippines II

Despite being a newcomer in the global BPO industry, the Philippines have steadily increased its foothold as a top outsourcing destination.

Rest of Asia ready to grab BPO jobs from India, RP--study
INQ7.net, Agence France-Presse
Last updated 08:44pm (Mla time) 11/05/2006

THE PHILIPPINES and India have to boost their overall competitiveness, as Asian countries gear up to get their share of the global offshore outsourcing pie, a recent global study showed.

These top two outsourcing destinations will eventually compete with China, and other Asia Pacific countries that have similarly positioned themselves as outsourcing destinations, the latest Offshore City Competitiveness Report of market research firm neoIT showed.

The study noted that companies have "moved beyond India" and the Philippines into not so well-known cities in the world since companies want to create a "global footprint."

China and Eastern European countries are starting to attract offshore outsourcing deals because of specific language skills required.

China is particularly keen on toppling India in the "services globalization arena," the study added.

Meanwhile, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan are emerging as alternative outsourcing destinations in the Asia Pacific region.

Companies outsourcing their non-core business processes are now looking for multiple locations that cater to specific requirements, the study said.

Manila is currently known for its strengths in English voice-based customer care services, which mainly caters to North American-based companies. It is also an ideal destination for back-office processing activities, such as payroll and accounting, the study said.

Manila has been a global services hub of many multinational companies, and has a "good talent supply" from universities, the study added.

The neoIT study identified two categories used to identify outsourcing destinations: generic and enterprise-specific factors. The generic factors include cost, human capital, infrastructure, risks, and environment. The enterprise-specific factors, on the other hand, include language compatibility, physical proximity (of offshore facility to the company), socio-economic affinity, and the availability of sector-specific expertise. The supply of middle managers and attrition rates are also considered.

Taking into account these categories, the study concluded that the National Capital Region of Delhi is the "most suitable location." This was, the study noted, despite the eroding cost advantage and supply constraints of these cities.

"A lot has been said about India's eroding cost advantage and supply constraints," senior neoIT consultant Sabyasachi Satyaprasad said Saturday.

"But the fact remains that in terms of talent supply and cost arbitrage, India is still the leader," said Satyaprasad, whose company is headquartered in San Ramon, California, with offices in India and the Philippines.

Industry analysts closely watch profit-margin trends of Indian outsourcing companies for signs their competitive edge is eroding.

But Satyaprasad said in an interview with Agence France-Presse that there was no sign of that happening and Indian outsourcing giants like Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services routinely report profits that beat market expectations.

New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and Kolkata were the seven most favored sites worldwide to locate offshore, said the report, assembled from feedback from over 60 clients.

The study also included Manila as among the top 10 cities in the world for offshore outsourcing jobs. Other cities identified were Ho Chi Minh and Shanghai.