Business

Archive for the ‘Outsourcing’ Category

Data Conversion can be defined as the conversion of data from one format to another, usually for the purpose of application interoperability or for the capability of using new features. Data Conversion plays a critical role in businesses by centralizing the flow of information and regulating the same, converting data from an unstructured format into an electronic one and helping in structuring the data into coherent and meaningful information that can be used.

Indian outsourcing companies provide data conversion services that enable companies to specifically convert all kinds of forms, periodicals, reports, journals, catalogs, and financial statements into a desired format. Two of the many data conversion services that are offered are Document Conversion services and File Conversion Services.

Document Conversion

Since data forms the backbone of any business organization, very often huge amounts of data stored in multiple data formats can cause chaos and in turn huge losses in terms of money, time and clientele. Document Conversion Services is required in order to organize and streamline varied sources of data and store them in a central repository for future use.

All documents received by the client are scanned and converted into a wide variety of documents depending on the format specified by the client. Documents are converted from

Ø  DWG to JPG

Ø  PDF to DOC

Ø  DOC to TIFF

Ø  Excel to HTML

Ø  PSD to XHTML

Ø  TIFF to PDF

Ø  GIF to TGA

Ø  PSP to PDF

Ø  Books to HTML/ XML/XHTML/ PDF /MS Word

Ø  Paper documents and scanned images to MS Word

Ø  Scanned paper reports and images to electronic formats

Ø  Image files to XHTML

Documents are accepted in any format such as CDs, DVDs, manuscripts or printed material. After going through the processes of evaluation, identification and confirmation, the documents are converted into the specified format required by the client. This ensures an accuracy rate of 99.9%.

File Conversion

Since storage software versions are constantly being updated, companies are very often left with unreadable or incompatible files. For example, Real Networks is now in their 11th version and Windows Media is in their 12th version. Outsourcing companies in India offer varied file conversion services that would ensure that all files are up-to-date and in the current format specified by the client.

In order to convert files that have valuable information which are stored in a format that was in vogue during their conception but no longer in use now, outsourcing companies offer the following file conversion services

Ø  Content conversion of legacy and new content

Ø  Document conversion from legacy formats into to XML/HTML

Ø  Audio file conversion

Ø  Video file conversion

Ø  MP3 file conversion

Ø  Image file conversion

Ø  Pre-press preparation for print and e-publishing

Ø  E-book production

Ø  Graphic design and digitization of illustrations

Ø  Tiff file conversion

Ø  Text file conversion

Ø  HTML file conversion

Data can be sent in any file format such as Paper documents, Books, Microfilms, Microfiches, Image files (.tiff, PDF, gif, jpeg, etc.), Video files (.mpg, .mov, .avi  etc) and Audio files (.mp3, .wmv, .wav etc). The client then receives their converted data in any file format (txt, PDF, doc, Microsoft NetShow, Real Video, Vivo, AVI, QuickTime etc) or any media (CDs, tape, Zip disk etc.) as per their choice. The files are sent to the client via the Internet or through a secure FTP server, VPN or Telnet.

Outsourcing of Document Conversion and File Conversion services to India offer the overseas customer a host of advantages which include

Ø  High expertise and experience in the area of data conversion

Ø  Qualified experts attending to each project

Ø  A  99.995% accuracy rate

Ø  High end technical knowledge and know-how

Ø  Multiple document conversions

Ø  Project specific attention

Ø  Preserved image quality even after conversion

Ø  Advanced PDF converter which supports encrypted PDF files

Ø  Ability to stay ahead of other vendors by competitive pricing

Outsourcing of Document Conversion and File Conversion services helps businesses to manage and store their data effectively, which in turn would enable them to experience an increase in profits. The quick turn around time and ability to make sure that all of the client’s objectives and goals are met work as an added bonus towards outsourcing of Document Conversion and File Conversion services to India.

23 July, 2009 – Kiev – The research “Central and Eastern Europe IT Outsourcing Review 2008” provides an evidence of the rapid development of IT outsourcing services market in the Central and Eastern Europe. The CEE cluster becomes the real player on the global outsourcing market. The clients are getting more interested in the “nearshoring” to the CEE region than  in the offshoring to India or China.  The customers become more sophisticated in their business relationships. There has been a shift from simple cost savings as a motivation to valuing the experience of outsourcing services providers and efficiency of cooperation between the client and provider teams. The advantages of the CEE countries such as cultural compatibility with Europe and North America, technical and business experience are of great value for the clients.

One of the main objectives of the research conducted by the Central and Eastern European Outsourcing Association (CEEOA) with the support of Council of European Professional Informatics Societies (CEPIS) is to provide the holistic view on the potential of the CEE region as a global cluster for provision of nearshore IT outsourcing for the Western European countries and for offshore IT outsourcing for the North American market.

“CEE IT Outsourcing Review” is conducted for the second time.  The 2007 research report “Central and Eastern Europe IT Outsourcing Review 2007″ indicated that there was a great interest from the clients consuming outsourcing services and research companies.  Following positive feedback for the 2007 Report, the CEEOA decided to commission an annual review on “CEE IT Outsourcing Review”, resulting in this 2008 Report. “CEE IT Outsourcing Review 2008” was conducted during January to July 2009. The national IT and outsourcing associations, largest outsourcing companies, and independent experts were invited as respondents.  The Ukrainian software development company NET Technology Center WEB100 (http://www.web100.com.ua), who provide offshore outsourcing services and deals with the development of IT solutions for B2B communications and business solutions based on Social Media approaches, sponsored the research.

The research examines key development indicators of the IT outsourcing market in the 16 countries of the Central and Eastern Europe region including market value, number of professionals, number of IT companies providing outsourcing services and market rates.

“CEE IT Outsourcing Review” includes the detailed country profiles, experts estimations on the outsourcing market development during the recession period, their opinion on new tendencies and forecasts for the market recovery, profiles of the leading outsourcing companies in the region.

Victor Maznyuk, President of Ukrainian Hi-Tech Initiative, one of the CEEOA founders, noted,

“Outsourcing industry in the Central and Eastern Europe does not suffer significantly during the financial crisis. At the outset of 2009 there was insignificant number of the outsourcing companies closures.  The outsourcing industry always expected from the outsourcing players  to meet the client requirements quickly and to control the expenses. Having a great experience of the development on the competitive market of outsourcing services provision, the Eastern European companies learned how to work successfully during the recession period without  taking drastic measures and significant business changes.

As a whole, the crisis produced the effect of improvement in the industry. The number of IT specialists slightly increased, their salary and rental fee underwent insignificant drop. This allowed companies to reduce the cost of services and to be confident during the recession period. Without any doubt I can claim that outsourcing industry is ready for the increase of provided services value in view of the forthcoming economic recovery.”

The official version of the research “Central and Eastern Europe IT Outsourcing Review 2008” is available at the information portal ITONews.eu (http://www.itonews.eu) and at the CEEOA website.

About CEEOA

Central and Eastern European Outsourcing Association (CEEOA) (www.ceeoa.org) was founded in 2008.  The members of the association are the leading national IT and Outsourcing associations from the Central and Eastern Europe, among them Baltic Outsourcing Association (BOA), Ukrainian HI-TECH Initiative, Hungarian Service Industry and Outsourcing Association (HOA), Employers’ Association of the Software and Services Industry (ANIS) from Romania, Bulgarian Web Association (BWA) and ASPIRE – Association of IT & Business Process Services Companies (Poland). 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 to the recognized standards.

Pune, India, 19 May 2009

Although legal services outsourcing has garnered a lot of media attention, there still is a sizeable proportion of the legal community that has not considered outsourcing legal services to lower cost destinations.

Offshoring of legal services to India began way back in 1995 when law firm Bickel & Brewer opened a captive facility in India. The legal services outsourcing industry started to attract significant attention only around 2005. In a matter of just a few years, the industry has grown to reach $225 million in revenues in 2008. However, this is only a very small portion (<5%) of the addressable market. According to the recent survey results, there is a low perceived benefit of outsourcing legal services amongst law firms and (if not addressed) this is likely to stunt the growth of the LPO industry.

Most of the law firms are relatively new in terms of their offshoring initiatives and have not integrated offshoring in their overall strategy. A large number of law firms, irrespective of their size, are apprehensive about sending their legal work to another country. While this does result from lawyers not being convinced about the benefits of offshoring, they also indicate concerns such as data security, client confidentiality and quality of work delivered.

Cost reduction was rated as the primary driver for offshoring legal services. Other significant drivers include client pressure to cut costs by offshoring, increasing workload, time differences and competitors’ decisions to offshore. According to Neeraja Kandala, lead analyst – Legal Services, “There seems to be some awareness about the benefits of offshoring, especially amongst those who offshore. However, for the majority, the drivers do not seem to be strong enough. Obviously, the benefits do not appear to be substantial to help over-ride their concerns.”

Data security and quality of work delivered emerged as the key concerns for law firms. Given the confidential nature of legal documents, it is understandable that law firms have apprehensions on the security aspect.

While several leading and experienced offshore legal service providers take adequate precautions to ensure that there is no data theft, this needs to be communicated to the law firms in a more convincing manner. Further, service providers need to gain the confidence of buyers that a satisfactory end product will be delivered. According to Arun Jethmalani, CEO, ValueNotes, “This is the challenge for the provider community as a whole, but inconsistency in quality between the good and not-so-good providers will remain a problem until sufficient maturity is achieved – both by buyers and sellers.”

The ValueNotes report: “Legal Services Outsourcing: What do Law Firms Think?” provides an understanding of the offshoring awareness, drivers and concerns of US and UK based law firms. The survey throws light on the perceptions towards the associated risks and rewards of outsourcing legal services to low cost destinations.