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Archive for July, 2010

st – 21 October, 2008 – Outsourcing Associated bodies and Branch Associations from the Baltics, Ukraine, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania consolidate their resources and established Central and Eastern European Outsourcing Association (CEEOA) with the purpose to promote CEE region as competitive alternative to other Global offshoring destinations, and to increase services delivery quality and volumes under recognized standards.

Central and East European (CEE) countries are very small players in the Global market for IT and business process outsourcing. Lack of international trade practice and modern business management competencies by CEE vendors are among the factors keeping CEE region from realizing considerable opportunities created by globalization.

Therefore CEEOA strives to attract considerable attention to the region as an offshore outsourcing location, along with thousands of qualified graduates entering the marketplace each year. Service providers in these countries offer geographic proximity combined with cultural and language affinities, constantly improved business viabilities and services delivery capabilities, and openness to collaborate. The macro economical and political environment is stable, infrastructure is well developed.

Baltic Outsourcing Association (BOA), Ukrainian HI-TECH Initiative, Hungarian Outsourcing Association (HOA), Employers’ Association of the Software and Services Industry (ANIS) from Romania and Bulgarian Web Association (BWA) joined their forces with the purpose to best avail opportunities given by globalization and promote CEE region‘s competitive features in order to capture large share of the global market for IT and business process outsourcing (offshoring) services. CEEOA focus is on all service areas, not only IT, BPO and high tech industries, as its important to consider outsourcing as a non industry specific phenomenon. CEEOA is an open platform for all the organizations and businness associations in the region who are willing to join it or to contrubute to the accomplishment of its goals.

CEEOA operates as an independent professional advisory body on networking partnership basis, – its critical Objective is to create, develop and communicate positive image and main value proposition (-s) of CEE region as competitive alternative to other global IT, business processes and manufacturing outsourcing destinations.

The Association also strives to develop the internal market, where outsourcing should be promoted as a useful management tool for companies ranging from different industries in CEE region. Other Objectives are: to promote transparent and open business environment, CEE regional and international networking that builds operational value by promising and delivering high quality products and services at fair prices over the time, and by building strong economic, technical and social ties among the members of CEEOA and free competition; to improve business viabilities and services delivery capabilities of CEE Service providers; to promote creation and introduction of science-intensive technologies, the development of information society; to encourage each CEE country to increase the level of collaboration between government, companies, and universities to ensure that students gain the skills that companies require.

CEEOA intends to achieve these Objectives with the use of different marketing communication tools as PR, ATL and BTL activities, and the establishment of standardized certifications of Vendors‘ qualification. Besides initiating permanent researches to follow the main indicators of outsourcing, political, economic, and investment market features, Association wishes to maintain value added relationship network with associated outsourcing industry bodies, chambers of trade and industry and professional associations globally, while creating a single information flow promoting and sharing the best practices, expert information and research findings, benefits and innovative solutions in the outsourcing industry from CEE.

Central and Eastern European Outsourcing Association has already accomplished the project ITONews.eu (http://itonews.eu) – information platform, the main aim of which is to create the single information flow from CEE countries and to serve as a meeting place for outsourcing services providers and buyers. Also a brief research “Central and Eastern Europe IT Outsourcing Review ‘2007” has been conducted under the aegis of CEEOA, where the information about IT Outsourcing markets of CEE countries can be found.

About CEEOA

Central and Eastern European Outsourcing Association (CEEOA) (http://ceeoa.org) was founded in 2008. Baltic Outsourcing Association (BOA), Ukrainian HI-TECH Initiative, Hungarian Outsourcing Association (HOA), Employers’ Association of the Software and Services Industry (ANIS) from Romania and Bulgarian Web Association (BWA) became the founders of the association. One of the main objectives of CEEOA is to promote the Central and Eastern European Region as competitive alternative to other Global offshoring destinations, and to increase services delivery quality and volume under recognized standards.

Contacts:

Iryna Dubenyuk

Email: irad@hi-tech.org.ua

Phone: +38 044 458 1753

Mumbai, India, 06 March 2009

ValueNotes conducted an executive briefing session, at Regus Business Center, Friday, March 6th, 2009 to present findings of their recently released report ‘Market Research Outsourcing – Buyer Survey’. The session was attended by senior executives from Ugam Solutions, Dexterity, Exevo, Annik Technology, Cross-Tab, TCS BPO, WNSGS, Integreon, IDC, and Datamatics, among others.

The event started off with a presentation by ValueNotes on the key findings and future outlook of the MRO industry. It was followed by panel discussions on the future of market research offshoring business and funding opportunities in MRO services.

While cost arbitrage has been a primary driver for offshoring, the survey brings to light that research agencies rate other factors like faster turnaround time, better quality of work as equally important. Interestingly, quality of work and client confidentiality issues emerged as key concerns towards offshoring.

While offshoring drivers and concerns remain similar across key markets like US and Europe, these markets differ significantly in their choice of offshoring destinations.

The MRO service provider landscape ranges from the captives of large research agencies to Pure-play MROs, full service research firms, KPOs and large and medium BPO service providers. The survey shows a clear inclination by research agencies towards using multiple options in offshoring. The larger research agencies have greater inclination to set up captives or employ specialized MRO service providers. Mid sized agencies prefer to work with full service research agencies while smaller firms are most comfortable with service providers of comparable size.

Today, while the MRO services industry is on a rapid growth path with research agencies and corporates offshoring greater volumes and more complex work, the future growth will be largely driven by niche opportunities in adjacent areas, developing capabilities to serve the relatively smaller research agencies and taking up more services higher up the value chain.

The first panel discussed trends in the MRO industry and its future outlook in current economic environment. Panelists included Sunil Mirani, CEO- Ugam Solutions, Pravin Shekhar, CEO- Dexterity, Alok Tayal, CEO- Exevo and V K Raman, CEO- TCS BPO, discussed strategic options to negotiate the economic downturn.

Commenting on the outlook for MRO services in recession , Sunil Mirani, CEO, Ugam Solutions, opined that marketing budgets have taken a hit and there has been retrenchment of work (volumes), however, with some companies offshoring and some preferring not to offshore, net-net the equation will balance out. Alok Tayal, CEO Exevo highlighted an opportunity due to increase in cost pressures.

Panelists agreed that MRO service providers will have to look at additional opportunities and focus on delivering technology driven solutions in near future.

The second panel discussion focused on funding in the knowledge services segment and explored reasons for comparatively lower funding in MRO services segment. Panelists included Rahul Sahgal, President and CEO, Annik Technology, Manish Modi, President, Exevo and Ashwin Mittal, Director, Cross-Tab.

While exploring reasons for lower level of VC funding, especially in MRO services, panelists agreed that high valuations and smaller scale in MRO were factors that weakened its attractiveness for funding. Manish Modi, President Exevo was of the opinion that venture capitalists do not believe that the market for MRO is as large when compared with other BPO segments. He said they typically look at investing much larger amounts (close to a couple of millions dollars), which is huge for MRO service providers. If an investor were to sell his/ her stake it would be an attractive opportunity for a larger MRO company or large BPOs. Rahul Sahgal of Annik opined that BPOs or larger MRO companies themselves will be a logical option to buy a MRO company if an investor looks to sell out its stake. Manish Modi of Exevo, was of the opinion that the ultimate exit to any funding is through an IPO. This was debated by the panel.

On the subject of attracting VC funding, Ashwin Mittal of Cross-Tab emphasized the importance to attract and retain best-of-the-class talent; a measure to demonstrate capabilities. Manish Modi, on the other hand, highlighted the need to identify better opportunities in the near future but something that people are not doing currently.

Although sometimes it seems that projects take on a life of their own, the simple fact is that projects don’t manage themselves. It takes the energy and commitment of a number of people to take a project from the initial idea through inception. As more companies embrace the concept of self-directed work-teams that work on specific projects, project management, will become a more vital element of the workplace. The following checklist will help you create a successful project management office:

- Formulate and outline the project

- Break up the project into manageable tasks

- Keep the project on target and complete it on time

Getting Started

The best way to guarantee a project’s success is to start with a strong foundation. Among the questions you should ask when putting together a project kick start:

- Is this something we have done before? If so, what did we learn from the last project?

- Do we have the time and resources to do this project effectively?

- How many people will we need? What sort of expertise should they have?

- Will we need to use outside sources?

- Does top management support the project?

- How long will the project take?

- Once you’ve put together a workable project plan, you need to put an action plan together so:

- Decide how many people will be assigned to the project. Assign people on the basis of their experience and expertise.

Make sure you have a commitment from upper management regarding adequate resources (funding, staff, time, etc.). Make sure, too, that you know exactly what upper management expects in the way of a given project. Communicate your interpretation of their instructions to your supervisors, and make sure you clear up any questions or confusion before the project begins.

Set up a communication network to ensure that everyone is talking with one another; don’t allow people to work in a vacuum.

Create a schedule with specific dates by which different elements of the project will be completed. Build-in a few days to allow for unforeseen problems.

Assign someone the task of keeping records of ongoing progress during the project. This information should be shared with everyone who is working on the project.

If no one from your division has ever worked on this sort of project, consult with people from other departments, or even from other companies (when possible) to get an idea about what to expect.

The Course of the Project

Once the project is under way, there’s a strong tendency to put it on automatic pilot. This makes it harder to fend off potential difficulties, and it cuts off any creative ideas that could enhance the project. Here are some ways to keep things moving effectively through the project’s duration:

Hold regular meetings. These don’t have to be formal three-hour progress sessions – but they should give project members the opportunity to share ideas, voice concerns and ask questions of one another. Some of these meetings should include brainstorming sessions, which promote free flow of creative ideas.

Keep written records of meetings. These make people take the sessions more seriously, and they give anyone who’s unable to attend a point of reference from which to work.

Have individual workers provide you with progress reports. These should not be one-sided conversations. Share your ideas, and offer to address the individuals’ concerns and answer questions as well.

Make sure deadlines are being met. Make it clear that anyone who anticipates missing a deadline should let you know ASAP; this way, you can adjust schedules, or provide people with additional support staff or other resources.

Keep track of what is being spent on the project. Individuals should provide you with information on how much they spend. Let them know how much money they have to work with so they don’t go over budget.

If you’re working with outside contractors or people from other departments, make sure you keep them posted on the progress of the project. You should invite them to at least some of the meetings and brainstorming sessions, and be sure to solicit their opinions.

Solicit the opinions of people in the company who aren’t involved with the project. Sometimes a fresh perspective can provide the best ideas.

Keep upper management apprised of the progress you’re making. This way, you can be alerted to any potential red flags (no manager likes surprises).

The Difference Between Success and Failure

A key factor in the success of the team is its leader. The qualities of a successful project leader include:

- Conscientiousness

- Technical and organizational knowledge

- Honestly/trustworthiness

- Consistency/predictability

- Resourcefulness

When the Project Is Completed

As the project draws to a close, it’s important to remember that a completed project is not a project that is over. Here are some guidelines for dealing with the project’s completion:

Just before the project is complete, meet with the project team as a whole (and one-on-one) to make sure all the loose ends are tied before the project is submitted. Make sure everyone is given credit for contributions.

Remember you don’t have to have a glitzy presentation with video and fancy hand-outs – but your presentation should be professional. Make sure you provide neat, complete copies of your work to upper management, and make certain your presentation is well-planned and professional. A typed copy sent to the supervisor in an interoffice envelope is not enough.

Be sure to give proper recognition to team members when you present the completed project to upper management. It’s important to recognize workers in front of their peers, but they deserve recognition “upstairs” as well.

After the project is over and handed in, gather everyone who worked on it and conduct a postmortem: What were the best aspects of the project? The worst? What mistakes were made, and how can you learn from them? Did you budget, enough time and resources? Too much? Not enough? Do you need more of less outside help for the next project? Who has demonstrated expertise that had previously been ignored? How can the entire process be streamlined? Include your outside contractors and consultants in the postmortem and be sure to get their insights.