Musings of an Insomniac

Attrition and Hiring in India

2010-02-06T21:40:00.001-08:00

As the economic recession is melting down, the companies are in the phase of hiring new employees. With the recession there was seen changes in the percentage of attrition. The attrition rate at present in India is about 9-11% which was 18-20% earlier. This has happened because of less available job opportunities as compared to the past. The number of lay offs are also less in India as compared to the rest of world. In India 12.6% companies are considering to lay off their employees whereas in US 55% of companies are doing this. China is at 30.6%, Japan at 17% and Australia at 32.4%.

But with the squeezing of economic recession, new jobs can again give rise to the problem of attrition in India. BPO sector in India has the highest attrition rate. Gone are the days when people used to stick to one job & got retired from the same job after 25-30 years. The trend has changed a lot. Now everyone wants to grow at much faster pace & keep looking for job change & satisfaction. As per the Hay Group's report, the attrition rate in BPO is 23.5% that is followed by Communications (22%) & Retail (18%). The IT industry is seeing 15-16% attrition rate. The major reasons citied are no post job benefits like pension & PF with very less basic salary. Apart from this numerations & bonuses are also very less as compared to other industries that are leading to attrition. Further if the companies will not think from the employee's perspective then the never ending attrition will further increase.

Most of the Call center or BPO sector hire freshers with or without graduation. So when they get experience of one or two years they look for more greener pasture and thus change the job for more salary & position. But if the attrition rate is compared to the last two to three years then for year 2009 there has been a decrease. This is because of the less availability of new job opportunities due to recession. Attrition at senior level is further low than the executive level because of the job satisfaction both on professional & financial front.

Many companies thus to solve this problem are looking for employees who are already employed. Companies are taking lateral entry that means hiring employees from the other company at same level & salary. Although in India there are anti-poaching laws but yet this is being practiced.

The sectors of financial services, insurance, telecom & retail are seeing major recruitments. New companies & extensions along with the less availability of talent in these sectors have led to more job recruitments in these sectors. As per Manpower Consultants, the employment service providers, there is a scope of 25% employment in India for fourth quarter in 2009 which was 19% in the first quarter. Kotak Mahindra Bank is hiring around 750 people by the end of this year. 100 employees will be freshers. Capegemini is also on the way of hiring employees and expected to increase the work force to 40,000 from 17,000 by 2010. Also major hiring will be seen in Deloitte that was once facing the high attrition.

So overall it can be seen that with the expansion of the companies, the hiring is on. Present day employers are looking for the quality rather than quantity. So you as an employee can brush up your talent to grab the matching job opportunity that will be knocking your door soon.

How to keep your job safe

2010-02-06T21:39:00.000-08:00

Although the severe recession time is over, the risk is not all clear. It will take some more time for economy to get stable and recession to be wholly out of scene. So, along with knowing about how to keep job safe, you must also be prepared for a layoff. Here are some ways to tackle with this grave problem.

Create an Emergency Fund: Keep some of your money aside to cover your basic living expenses for about six months. This should include paying your rent or mortgage, buying monthly supplies of food and repaying loan premiums. It will be wise to keep them away as short-term deposits so that you earn interest as well as they are available in the near future without any loss on interest.

Cut Back on Your Expenditures: Refrain from buying expensive items that are not basic to your living. In fact, this way you'll save money for your emergency fund too.

Keep Away Your Credit Cards: Don't be tempted with those credit cards. Debts call stress and they are complete “no no” when you are seeing layoff in the near future. If you have to use these cards, do it cautiously.

Enlarge Network: Try to get known to as many people as you can in your field of work. A lots of friends and contacts in industry means a better chance of finding work quickly in case you lose your job.

Enhance Your Skills: Use your downtime (when you are not working) as an opportunity to develop your skills and knowledge to a higher level. This can even help in making changes in your job profile- some other work that hasn't got affected by recession.

Recession Layoff: Warning Signs

2010-02-06T21:38:00.003-08:00

The ongoing recession has left almost everybody in jeopardy of losing their jobs. Following are some of the warning signs that should be kept in mind to recognize the possibility of a corporate bankruptcy or unemployment.

1.If the company starts hiring a consultant then one must be prepared that job cuts and lay offs are on the cards.

2.A bad assessment or review is also a warning bell. If your colleague is bestowed with a positive review then you might be on the hit list. You should definitely start worrying once your managers complains about the recession and layoffs.

3.If the company is experiencing low profits and the sales are also down, then it is the time to worry. Profits and pay cheque are directly proportional, hence a decrease in the profit will directly influence decrease in the pay. Thus, when a company is rendering losses, then it will surely start cutting the number of employees.

4.If your company is slashing the present salary of the employees then become sure that your organization is in deep trouble. The situation can also appear dim in case there is a pay freeze. This too means that the company is facing a precarious condition.

5.When people are being laid off and hiring has come down to minimal, then it is advisable for you to start looking for an alternative. You never know when you many be thunderstruck with the lighting of unemployment.

6.If your company on the verger of a merger then it implies that something big is happening for good or worse. Since merger puts any company in a very negotiable position, there is a chance that the employees will be sacked. This happens a lot in IT Jobs.

7.When too many rumors are being circulated in the market and the company officials are sitting with their lips sealed then there is a reason to worry.

These are some of the most common warning signs that implicate that your job is in danger. However, there are certain industries like auto industry and various manufacturing industries wherein the job stability is very less. Sometimes, even when your company is making profits but the industry is wavering, then your job might be far from being safe. Keep these warning signals is mind, especially during recession to keep yourself prepared for any catastrophe.

Keep in mind before closing Job Offer

2010-02-06T21:37:00.000-08:00

If you belong to the genre of those job seekers who enjoy multiple job opportunities in their kitty, then you have more reasons to be worried. Choosing the right job from amongst many offers can be a tricky decision and it can change the life of a person drastically. Here is a rescue. Below are some of the most trusted facts that should be kept in mind while choosing an offer.

Know About the Company

Before you plan to join any company, it is important that you know about the company throughly. Visiting the company's website is the way to do it. Besides, you should also be aware of the job profile and the offer of the company in order to compare the best deal. To have the best opinion, contact the candidates who have been interviewed before or ask the skill and employability department and the HR people regarding their company's policies.

Define Your Priorities

In order to ensure that you choose the best company that suits you the most, define your priorities. For example, if a brand is more important, then you can opt for the company that has a good reputation, compromising even if the salary is a little less. Some of the most common priorities of any person includes, money, job satisfaction and professional growth. If you are interested in mathematical calculation and find yourself to be satisfied doing that, then you should go for banking or accounting jobs rather than running after a more money making job where you wont be satisfied.

Take Your Time

Some companies offer you to join within a short notice. Don't be too haste. Ask the employers for some time so that you can make a uniform decision. Be careful while evaluating the offer as well as while negotiating the terms of the offer. Avoid procrastinating it for too long. Don't give the impression that you are taking the advantage of the companies generosity.

These were some of the most common facts that one should keep in mind before determining the company to be picked as your workplace. Choosing between jobs can be one of the most difficult part of job hunting process and it requires constructive planning and clearheaded decision making.

Jobs are Back

2010-02-06T21:35:00.000-08:00

The dragon of economic recession has engulfed every sector and undoubtedly the employment sector in the India job market scenario is the first one to have a hard hit because of this. Globally numerous companies are laying off their employees. In India the conditions in the beginning of 2009 were quiet similar when a job dip came and with this the job market reached at 29%. But due to financial insight of India's leaders, the Indian job market is showing the promising growth and it has gone to 51% in the second quarter. So there is a rising trend in the Indian job market. These figures are shown in the quarterly survey by Global Placement Report on employment trends for Indian job market with 30 key countries. It says that Indian's job market is the strongest.

India is one of the strongest nations that is growing profusely in every sector. Hyderabad, NCR, Bangalore & Chandigarh have become the IT hubs that generates numerous jobs even during the recession period in India job market. According to the Boston Consulting Group the sector like IT, health, banking, retail and outsourcing along with others will have the requirement of 85-90 million people even during the hard economic times. The another survey by HR consultancy Manpower projects is showing that jobs in India are not much affected by the recession. In Hyderabad the largest banks are opening their branches and huge construction for that is going on at a fast pace. In the near future it is expected to generate 2,00,000 new jobs in financial and banking domain freshers as well as experienced fellows.

Also the outsourcing sector like BPO, KPO & other call center are the major job providers in India. HCL, Wipro, Converges, Excel are few to name are the top guns in BPO industry. These big companies are recruiting numerous candidates. Apart from this, the sectors of health, insurance, pharma are also showing significant growth, which again is the symbol for rising trend in Indian job market. If we consider the govt sector then Indian Railways is the biggest employer in India with 1.42 million employees. Not to forget Indian railways is also the fourth largest employer in the world. All the state level, the railway industry is expected to hire new professionals in the coming years.

Top ten companies by NASSCOM (the National Association of Software & Services Companies) who are hiring:

Tata Consultancy Services
Infosys Technologies
Wipro Ltd
Cognizant Technology Solutions (India)
HCL Technologies
HP India
MphasiS Ltd
Intelenet Global Services Ltd
IBM-Daksh Business Process Services Pvt Ltd
Genpact India Pvt Ltd

Job market in India is thus flourishing and giving all sorts of career opportunities.

Sony Pictures Layoff

2010-02-06T21:34:00.000-08:00

NEW YORK: Sony Pictures Entertainment, a division of Sony Corp, is planning to lay-off about 450 employees, or about 6.5 per cent of its current work force, in the next few weeks, says a media report.

Attributing to a memo by Sony Pictures co-chairmen Michael Lynton and Amy Pascal, The Wall Street Journal said, the company is planning to lay-off about 450 employees in the next few weeks.

The report said that the majority of the layoffs are expected to hit the studio's home-entertainment and formation-technology departments, but nearly all divisions are expected to feel an impact to some extent, which includes motion pictures, television production and corporate.

"Most of the layoffs are expected to fall in the US and take place by the first week in March," it added.

After the current round of job cut, studio's head count would stand at about 6,300. In addition, the studio would not fill about 100 jobs that are currently open.

The company's business has been hit by digital piracy and the impact of social-media services that have sometimes undermined studios' marketing efforts.

DVD sales in the US has seen declined 13 per cent to $8.73 billion against last year, putting a major dent in the studios' bottom-line, the report said attributing to Adams Media Research.

Human Touch : Layoff

2010-02-06T21:32:00.001-08:00

Losing a job is akin to death for most & must be dealt with sensitively. Layoffs are the order of the day & a fact of corporate life. No organization worth its salt is going to tolerate poor competence & sloth and will get rid of employees who do not contribute, particularly in recessionary times. However, the process requires a great deal of empathy and tact.

More than anything it requires the 'Human Touch'. Here are a few tips:

1. Be transparent. The first thing you need to do is to be more open with your employees. Start by exposing your employees to all of your major business and financial metrics, because laying everything out on the table builds employee trust. Not only will exposing employees to this information give them some warning about downturns, but it might also spur them to come up with some approaches to solve your business problems.

2. Over-communicate. Not knowing what’s happening always breeds fear. The best approach to minimize fear and speculation is to over-communicate—saturating people with information. Keep rumour mongers at bay. They can destroy morale.

3. Focus your retention efforts. Generally, rather than low morale, the biggest negative business impact comes from increased turnover. The best retention approach begins by identifying and prioritizing the most critical segments of your employee population that are at risk of leaving (i.e., top performers and individuals in revenue-producing and mission-critical positions).

4. Educate them about the consequences. Educate your current employees so that they realize that losing a job isn’t the end of the world. Start by letting all employees know what help they will receive from the firm if they are laid off. In addition, if a significant percentage of your previously laid-off employees have successfully found jobs, make your employees aware of it.

5. Take the responsibility of informing the concerned person that it was a decision made by & why it was made. Offer to help the person find another job if he/she allows. Also insist that the person’s department head and HR are around. The occasion is a serious one and is not to be dealt with flippantly.

It’s important to realize that having no layoffs can actually backfire, because it can cause employees to develop the expectation of permanent job security getting them to rest their oars and drift. This isn’t a good result, because a reasonable fear of business downturns actually tends to keep your employees from becoming complacent.

Effect of Recession on Government Jobs in India and Recession Proof Jobs

2010-02-06T21:31:00.000-08:00

Effect of Recession on Government Jobs in India and Recession Proof Jobs

In the month of June 2009 AIR INDIA employees haven't received their salaries. The number of employees have also been slashed down due to recession. So it is not only the private sector but also the government jobs in India that are getting jolts from the the US recession. So all government jobs are not recession proof although the impact of US recession on government jobs in India is too low. This is the one side of the coin but if we look at the other side of it then we will find that Indian youth is shifting towards government jobs as they need security rather than money in corporate or private sector. Since 2008 Indian youth is seeing and facing recession that has given birth to such urges.

Banking today has become the most promising sector in India as there are numerous jobs in banking. In 2009 State Bank of India (SBI) has announced 1200 posts and hired deserving candidates. Even Dena Bank has declared around 2500 posts for different sectors this year.

Now if we look at the private sector then most of the IT companies in India were not hiring in 2009 so India has become the valley of job seekers. Moreover most of the IT companies were doing lay offs that has led to this paradigm shift. Because of this vary reason people are now moving towards the government jobs in India as these are comparatively more stable and has additional advantages of PF and stuff like that. Most of the engineers, IT trained professionals, fashion designers, and retail sector professionals are finding government jobs in India.

But there is also a good news as Global Manpower Survey is showing that year 2010 will see more jobs in India. A survey of 3600 employers was done in the first quarter of 2009 which has shown that 63% of employers wont change the hiring pattern. The survey has also shown 6% increase in hiring.

List of Recession Proof Jobs according to Forbes

Sales Representative
Software Design and Development
Nursing
Accounting Executive
Accounting Staff
Networking and System Administration
Administrative Assistant
Business Analysis and Software Implementation
Business Analysis Research
Finance Staff

2010-01-04T09:04:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: Software companies, led by Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services, are set to report higher revenues for the December quarter as firms such as British Petroleum increased outsourcing, but a stronger rupee and higher wages could reduce profitability, say analysts. Although profitability may fall, industry may cheer the revival of order flow after more than four quarters of uncertainty on new businesses as companies in the West grappled with recession and credit crisis. Revenues may rise as much as 4% on quarter, some analysts say.

“The macro situation has improved. The order book is better now. Companies might outperform vis-a-vis guidance,’’ said Harit Shah, research analyst at Karvy Stock Broking. The $60-billion Indian IT sector that depends on the US and Europe for most of its revenues, has been facing tough business conditions for more than a year as their clients such as Citigroup and General Electric were cutting costs as the credit crisis reduced demand. But the situation has improved in the past few months with steady flow of orders as developed economies emerged out of recession. But the appreciation of the rupee against the US dollar, would reduce profitability.

“We are seeing stability and an improvement in demand that we had talked about the last quarter,’’ said Suresh Vaswani, joint CEO, AT Wipro Technologies. The rupee’s rise from 49-50 levels in Q2 to 46-47 levels in the third quarter will impact margins. For every 1% strengthening in rupee, margin impact can be up to 50 bps in large companies, analysts said.

The rupee has been one of the best performing currencies in the region in the December quarter as global funds poured money into India expecting a strong economic growth. The quarter saw deals like British Petroleum global vendor consolidation contract worth over $2 billion shared among others by TCS and Infosys. Also, implementation of software packages such as SAP and Oracle which were onsite heavy are now about 60% offshore. IT companies like HCL Technologies have gained from this shift and HCL’s buyout of Axon helped.

The revival of order flow has also brought in higher costs for companies as they paid more wages, in some cases as much as 11% more, to retain talent to execute orders. And companies could not raise the fees they charged for services as they had to compete aggressively for new orders. “There will be a margin impact of about 25 bps due to salary hikes and variable payout,” said Shashi Bhushan, senior research analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher. “Pricing has been muted with a positive bias that is not too bad for this year,”he said.

The revival of businesses may ensure continued order flows, but may not necessarily lead to rising profitability as the currency movements may be adverse. “Margins are not sustainable as the rupee is strengthening,” Bank of America-Merrill Lynch wrote in a report. BoA-ML sees rupee/dollar at 45 at March end and at Rs 43 at end December 2010 and this will have a negative impact on margins in coming quarters.

Wages will climb up even as pricing will be under pressure. Discretionary sales and marketing spends will also move up.

2010-01-04T09:01:00.000-08:00

Cloud computing is helping corporations create new, cost-effective business models. It has opened a world of opportunities for Indian IT companies

Devant Mody, the head of sales and finance at Bajaj Finance is a happy man, he has been able to reduce the time taken to process applications for consumer finance from 45 minutes to just 5 minutes by adopting ‘cloud computing’ — techno-speak for online or internet-based computing. The program went “live” in April 2009, and “it has exceeded my expectations”, says Mody. “This strategy helped me make customers happier by allowing them to file their applications online and get approvals faster, besides reducing my capital expenditure since I did not have to add any hardware or buy new software licences.”

In Hong Kong, Mark Ross, vice-president & chief information officer of Sun Life Financial Asia, is no less happy. He was aware that most interactions in the insurance industry were still on paper or through call centres. To push customer service a notch further, he wanted his customers, internal users, insurance agents and partners such as banks to access critical information securely at any given time. He evaluated options available and decided that the cost of doing this in-house would be far too high and time-consuming. “Even before the financial crisis, it would have been difficult to convince the management of the large outlay required for an in-house system. After the crisis hit us, it wasn’t even worth considering. It had to be a cloud-based offering.” Ross now uses the cloud as an interface to the core system (records and so on). “There are no fixed costs. We did not have to buy hardware. And the actual implementation cost is just a third of what it would have cost had we added computers and servers,” says he.

Ross and Mody are two of a growing tribe of users who have started moving their information technology (IT) businesses to the cloud. This has helped them speed up their consumer-facing businesses (their core strengths), while reducing capital expenditure.

Clouding up
Despite its somewhat esoteric name, most people who use web-based email services, have watched a video online, shared snaps using photo-hosting services, read news online or watched TV shows on the internet may not realise that they are actually using ‘cloud computing’ services. Most players provide these services for free for individual users. For enterprise users, it’s generally a paid subscription-based model — Google Apps is an example.

“A true cloud offering,” says Jeremy Cooper, vice-president (marketing) of salesforce.com (vendor for both Bajaj Finance and Sun Life) for Asia-Pacific, “is one that is subscription-based, which involves no purchase of hardware, software but only needs an internet connection. It could also be a multi-tenancy model where a single infrastructure is used by many (like Google or Yahoo).”

Indian IT services firm Patni Computer Systems says it hopes to become the first company in the country to host all its IT services on the cloud. The company’s pilot is in place and the data reside on a large business-to-consumer (B2C) player’s data centre. Patni, according to Chief Executive Officer Jeya Kumar, plans to have all its internal IT services hosted on the internet with many B2C players by June 2010. The company, says Kumar, spends around Rs 190 crore on its internal IT needs annually. These include servers for storage, desktops, networks and bandwidth.

“We are our own guinea pigs when it comes to cloud computing. Once we are convinced that it is secure and fruitful, we will extend these services to our customers too,” says Kumar. Not only will Patni be “able to save around 30 per cent by way of capital expenditure and another 30 per cent on space when the process is complete”, says Kumar, but “when we acquire a new company, we will not need two data centres even if the headcount doubles. The complete new portfolio from the acquisition will be hosted on the web.”

Wipro too has built a “private cloud” for internal use. The software giant is now offering that expertise to existing customers to optimise the computing power of their data centres. Wipro is also building what it calls the “enterprise cloud” — a capability it plans to offer to clients who have already outsourced or plan to outsource their hosting or infrastructure management activities with the company, according to Girish Paranjpe, Joint CEO of the company.

“Creating a private cloud is something that Wipro can help clients with. Managing security within private clouds is what Wipro can do. It is much more efficient both in terms of costs and kind of provisioning. Earlier, we in Wipro noticed that once we placed an order for a server, it used to take 43 days to install. Now that we have capacity on demand, we have to just switch on, and it takes just 36 minutes,” says Paranjpe.

Many opportunities

Infosys has cloud computing-based solutions for the auto sector. And others such as HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services and even Bharti Airtel (with its network PC) aren’t far behind. They will no doubt have stiff competition from global majors. Sensing the huge opportunity in India, IBM has already set up a cloud computing centre in Bangalore. Oracle is getting its act together, while Verizon launched its cloud computing service in India in August 2009.

The opportunities are simply huge. HCL Technologies CEO Vineet Nayar says cloud-based enterprise services provide an opportunity to create new business models and should not be seen as just another technology. It is a shift in the way IT delivers business capabilities.

Smaller Indian players are also fast taking the cue. Hexaware Technologies, for instance, has announced a strategic partnership with SOASTA, a leader in cloud testing, according to R V Ramanan, president of global delivery. Akash Saraf, CEO of Zenith Infotech, also a hardware vendor, concurs that the move to cloud computing “will certainly make maintenance obsolete.” Zenith recently launched its private cloud computing service called Proud. It is a single centralised computing system which replaces the need for customers to buy computing and networking hardware as separate components. Since the customer can run its entire IT infrastructure — desktops, servers, storage, networking and applications like enterprise resource planning, security and so on — it helps save on cost and maintenance.

The number of applications and the amount of content in the cloud now available to both consumers and corporations has grown to a critical mass, according to analysts at Booz & Company. Gartner says worldwide cloud service revenue will surpass $56.3 billion in 2009, a 21.3 per cent increase in revenue from $46.4 billion in 2008. The market is expected to reach $150.1 billion in 2013. The Indian market, according to Springboard Research, will register compounded annual growth of 76 per cent between 2007 and 2011 and reach $260 million (around Rs 1,300 crore) in by 2011.

Cost saver

“Companies love the cloud as they have only operating costs to pay. The cloud is a win-win for everyone. As more and more people are using multiple screens, desktops, laptops, mobile phones and TV screens to access their data, the cloud is inevitable. Corporate India can save lots of money by using the cloud,” says Vijay Mukhi who promotes ‘The India Cloud Initiative’.

Ascentius Consulting Principal Analyst Alok Shende: “We anticipate cloud computing to be adopted in segments that currently have low IT penetration and demand solutions with low complexity. Small- to medium-sized businesses will be the prime candidates. Large enterprises may have some initial concerns on compliance, data security and unproven reliability of cloud computing. However, there will be pockets such as back-up storage and hosted email service where large enterprises will be more open to employ the cloud.”

When a company needs more capacity during its peak season, it simply pays for it on demand. When business slows down and the company needs less capacity, its bill goes down because it uses fewer resources. In financial terms, this allows a company to move much of its infrastructure costs from being a capital expenditure to an operating expenditure.

Research firm Saltmarch Intelligence says data confidentiality and auditability topped the list of primary obstacles for the use of cloud computing technologies in their organisations, according to a survey of over 1,100 Indian Business Technology professionals. “Security incidents in the cloud have made clear that this new promising technology comes with complexity and security and privacy challenges. Cyber attacks are executed with precision and patience and security technology seems to fall behind the threat curve,” says Indu Britto, group publisher & senior vice-president, Saltmarch Media.

Vendors say they have the resources to make their data centres more secure than anybody ever could and resilience is better because data is distributed and backed up in geographically dispersed locations. Cooper of salesforce.com says: “That cloud computing compromises security is a myth. We have 1,800 customers who mostly comprise financial institutions and banks.”

Analysts also say that few firms have worked out “which data should go where from a business point of view. This failing means moving everything to the cloud would not provide any real benefits as the fundamentals have not been sorted out. It would merely “create a new set of network dependencies because the data is no longer in the same data centre”.

There are other hurdles too. Dearth of sufficient bandwidth, lack of robust networks, virtualisation and security issues could delay adoption of the technology. More than 30 per cent of large businesses have some enterprise applications in the cloud, but two-thirds do not have a security strategy for cloud computing, a survey conducted by IDC found.

Indian IT New Services Tougher Times

2010-01-04T08:58:00.000-08:00

The year that passed by was one of the toughest in the decade for the Indian IT industry, which reeled under the impact of the worst-ever global economic crisis.

It was a reality check for the industry, with companies facing huge uncertainty on their business outlook for most part of the year as customers held back or cancelled investments in new technology.

Towards the close of the year, the industry began to show early signs of recovery, with customers starting to take decisions on IT spends.

Shares move upReflecting the sentiment, shares of IT companies such as Infosys, Wipro, and HCL Technologies touched 52-week high in the past week, as against yearly-lows in January-March. The BSE IT Index also touched the year's high of 5190 on December 24 as against 1987 on February 24.

The image of the industry took a hit at the beginning of the year due to the $1.4-billion fraud at Satyam Computers. The timely government intervention did mitigate the impact resulting in buy-out of the Hyderabad-based firm by the Mahindras.

On an optimistic note, implementing the learnings from previous downturn in 2001-02, the large and mid-size vendors managed to handle the changing market dynamics effectively by continuing to invest in newer service offerings and expanded their delivery footprint overseas. The smaller firms, however, bore the brunt of the downturn.

The economic crisis, triggered in September 2008, had forced the Indian IT firms to innovate, finetune their business model and tighten the cost structures as the volatile currency movement affected the earnings and pricing power came under pressure with clients seeking hefty discounts of 5-20 per cent.

Such a trend not only exerted pressure on the profit margins, but also forced the companies to shed their flab, resulting in an increase in forced attrition. Though wage cuts and pay hike deferrals were more pronounced till the middle of the year, the situation improved over the past few months, companies have started effecting wage hikes and firmed up their hiring plans for the next year.

Vendor consolidation

Vendors do expect stability in the pricing going forward in 2010. A clearer picture on the 2010 budgets was expected by the end of January-March quarter though some players feel that the 2010 budgets may stay flat over 2009. The consolidation in the market place is expected to benefit the Indian vendors as they are still able to offer the cost arbitrage when compared their global counterparts.

The large Indian players have gained from the recent vendor consolidation exercises at large global clients such as BP Plc, Nokia Siemens Networks, Telstra and Aviva among others.

New pricing models based on fixed price, pay-by-use and ticket-based pricing gained currency in 2009 as the outsourcers demonstrated cost savings to their customers from such newer engagement models. The Indian vendors expect their share of revenues from such newer pricing models to go up as compared to the traditional time and material projects, where billing is done on an hourly basis for the number of persons deployed on the projects.

Newer services

2009 also saw the Indian vendors launch newer services offerings on pay-by-use or Software-as-a-Service model through cloud computing initiatives.

Companies like Wipro have set up private cloud to test and deploy their applications internally to showcase to their customers.

The year saw the large vendors sharpen their focus on the domestic market, where the emergence of large IT deals acted as an offset to the slump in business from traditional markets in US and Europe.

Indian vendors also expanded their global footprint by setting up delivery locations in Latin America, where they see traction in the market place. The industry witnessed merger and acquisition activity on a moderate scale where companies picked up the captive units and smaller niche firms to enhance their competencies.

Indian IT Sector the New Reality 2010

2010-01-04T08:56:00.000-08:00

NEW DELHI: India’s $60-billion technology services industry may have hoped for a rebound in 2010 after gloomy 2009, but days into the New Year,the initial optimism is fast wearing thin.

Industry officials, analysts and other experts believe that India’s IT sector, a habitual growth monster until the crisis period last year, is unlikely to return to the ‘business as usual’ situation that existed before the crisis and will have to soon recalibrate itself to a new reality and new growth strategies.

The US and European markets, which account for about 80% of Indian software exports, are yet to show signs of a pickup in demand for outsourcing that was expected in the run-up to New Year. Taking note, industry lobby group Nasscom said it does not see any immediate upward revision in the exports growth target, which it had pegged to an all-time low of 4-7% in mid-2009.

“It’s a demand environment that appears permanently damaged,’’ said Vineet Nayar, CEO, HCL Technologies. Other business services providers like Infosys Technologies, Wipro Technologies and Genpact share the same sentiment.

After a compounded growth of over 30% since the 2003-04 dotcom bust, software export growth fell to 16.3% at $46 billion last fiscal against 27% at $40 billion in 2007-08. Last year saw Indian companies embracing survival strategies, moving to fixed costs and bundling software services with back-office operations and remote infrastructure management, to retain customers and fuel growth.

HCL’s Nayar calls it coping with a new ‘normal’ where, “we will see lower ‘normal’ levels of expenditure, lower volumes, hard costs, lower margins and lower annual increases”.

Besides tough global headwinds, Indian providers are also up against a stronger rupee that will erode margins. A Bank of America-Merrill Lynch (BoA-ML) tech sector report expects the Indian currency, which has appreciated about 4% vis-à-vis the dollar in the last quarter, to strengthen further over the next few quarters at Rs 45 by March-end and Rs 43 by December 2010.

That is bad news for Indian providers, already coping with higher costs due to wage hikes and increased sales and marketing spends.

“Budgets could remain flat for sometime,” says Suresh Vaswani, joint CEO, Wipro Technologies adding that customers continue to demand more for less.

BoA-ML also notes that Indian majors will face stiffer competition from global vendors. New competitors such as Dell, which bought out Perot Systems in September 2009 to strengthen its services offering, are beginning to turn the heat on Indian IT. Dell, for instance, plans to target $20-50 million contracts, the sweet spot for Indian technology majors.

Others such as IBM, Accenture and HP now have strong low-cost service delivery options. Their deeper domain expertise also gives these firms another edge over Indian providers.

And Indian tech companies may be among the few sectors that see little hope in\ the recovery gathering pace. In any case, these companies don’t see a return to the giddy business growth of yesteryears. To corroborate this, HCL’s Nayar points to data from S&P 500 companies.

An analysis shows that 75% of S&P 500 companies recorded a negative growth in the June 2009 quarter. Though the situation is expected to reverse by this June, only 24% companies are expected to grow more than 10% from the year before compared to 50% of them in 2008.

“Clearly, we are looking at a market of different shape and size ahead,” says Mr Nayar. Increasing costs are another worry. The BoA-ML report sees wages and marketing spends climbing as companies target new service lines, markets and geographies.

So how will companies counter the likely stresses and strains of 2010?

Companies will have to evolve new business models to grow in a tough market environment, says Nasscom president Som Mittal. Wipro, for instance, sees new business coming from adoption of cloud computing, green and collaboration technologies. The company is also eyeing more business from the Indian and Middle East markets.

“Customers are not looking at just any vendor but also transformation partners who have their skin in the game,’’ says Mr Vaswani. Infosys, meanwhile, is ramping up its sales force and adding practice and product specialists to its ranks.
BoA-ML recommends that to cope with the new market dynamics, companies may require more locals onsite, better system integration skills, more contracts on pricing models like `gain sharing’ (pricing linked to revenue), automation for infrastructure services and so on.

“The way forward is disruptive innovation,” says Mr Nayar, adding that competing with established leaders in their business models can only bring incremental growth.

“Global CIOs today are not looking for technology solutions. They are looking for business solutions. So from offering new delivery models such as pay per use to taking over entire IT infrastructure of the client to large multi-year SAP implementations, we are doing it all.’’

Whatever the strategy, the beginning of 2010 is not different from that of 2009 — uncertainty dominating the minds of company heads, rather than the cautious optimism they were predicting in December.

“Countries and companies still have job losses to think about. If job losses keep rising, it’s a problem,’’ says Pramod Bhasin, president & CEO, Genpact.

No Engineer Good for Infy Prize This Year

2009-12-05T06:32:00.001-08:00

New Delhi: India churns out around seven lakh engineers every year. And yet how many of them are actually good enough to win some of the prestigious domestic and global awards? The issue has come to the forefront with Infosys Technologies reportedly having failed to find a worthy candidate for its Infosys Engineering Science Prize 2009.

The company has decided not to give the prize in that category to anyone this year. Infosys' Chief Operating Officer (COO), SD Shibulal, told that there were 34 nominees for the engineering and computer science prize but even after relaxing the age limit to 55 years, the jury could not find anyone who met all the criteria of the Infosys Prize. So, the jury took the unanimous decision to not award the prize for the engineering sciences discipline this year.

Infosys Science Foundation is a not-for-profit trust set up by Infosys Technologies. The company has named three scientists and two academic experts as winners of Infosys Prize 2009 for outstanding contributions to scientific research.

The winner in physical sciences is Thanu Padmanabhan of Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophyics, Pune, in recognition of his contribution to a deeper understanding of Einstein's theory of gravity in the context of thermodynamics. For mathematical sciences, Ashoke Sen of Harish Chandra Research Institute at Allahabad was given the prize in recognition for his contributions to mathematical physics. For life sciences, K VijayRaghavan of National Centre of Biological Sciences in Bangalore got the award.

The winner in the social sciences and economics category is Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee of Massachusetts Institute of Technology for his contributions to the economic theory of development. Upinder Singh of the University of Delhi won an award for her contributions as an outstanding historian of ancient and early medieval India.

Wipro to hire 5000

2009-12-03T09:13:00.000-08:00

Hyderabad: Considering a fresh recruitment strategy of taking in graduates from non-engineering institutes, Wipro plans to hire around 5,000 people in the next couple of months.

"Our strategy is to recruit non-engineering graduates, in addition to engineering and make them fit into the slot. We are still working out the details," said Wipro Technologies Joint CEO Girish Paranjpe. Refusing to divulge more details for next year's recruitments and outlook, Paranjpe said that it would be a mix of 60 percent freshers and 40 percent experienced.

Last year the company made offers to as many as 8,500 persons through recruitment drives in colleges and institutions. "We expect clients to make no further cuts in their budgets. We expect 2010 to be a better year than 2009," Paranjpe said on the sidelines of dedicating renovated Manikonda Lake at Hyderabad facility to the community.

He said that the new hiring strategies will be worked out in a month or two. Attrition rate in the company currently stands at ten percent. On becoming energy efficient, he said that the company is determined to reduce the carbon emission per employee by 45 percent from the present 3.96 tonnes to 2.5 tonnes in the next five years. "Our power consumption went down by 12 percent last year and we are planning to set up a micro windmill at our Hyderabad facility soon," said Paranjpe.

IT Job Market Buzzing again

2009-11-13T21:01:00.000-08:00

Headhunters looking out for 30,000 lateral entries in top firms
IT majors are back to hiring experienced hands after an eight-month hiatus beginning January. Counting for the early signals from headhunters in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai, tech shops may be looking out for up to 30,000 lateral entries, if not more, before this calendar runs out. Recruitment agencies say they have started getting mandates for hiring in small batches.

At least two recruitment firms that FC spoke to confirmed that IT companies had mandated lateral hiring of between 20,000 and 30,000 employees in the past one month alone, though they were unwilling to hazard a guess on how the numbers might stack up by the end of 2009. They said there were still uncertainties about hiring intentions of their clients.

In the boom years of 2006, 2007 and 2008, the IT/ITeS industry created up to 400,000 new jobs every year of which about 150,000 were lateral entries. And while the global recession set in September 2008, hiring continued right through December. It was only in January-August this year that hiring trickled down to just a few hundred.

Headhunters confide that most large Indian and foreign firms, including the likes of IBM and Accenture, are back to hiring. Infosys and TCS have about more lateral hirings from the October-December quarter. So are some of the mid-sized body shops Sotware engineers with 4-8 years experience are mostly in demand.

Kris Lakshmikanth, CEO of The Head Hunters India said even tier-II IT companies were scouting for experienced personnel. “Depending on the size of the companies, the number of vacancies is generally between 50-100.”

Infosys board member T V Mohandas Pai told Financial Chronicle that his company had increased the forecast of additional headcount for financial year 2010 to 20,000 from 18,000 because it wanted to recruit more experienced people. This was needed to balance out the company’s staff pyramid, 70 per cent of which rests on freshers.

A HR industry tracker, who did not want to be named, said Infosys and TCS were also looking for business and vertical heads with over 12 years experience.

Sudhakar Balakrishnan, CEO of Adecco India, said, “There is some buoyancy now in the lateral hiring market for IT companies. Companies, though keeping the final numbers under wraps, are definitely looking to hire laterally. With revenues going up and the environment stabilising, they feel that a lot of requirements would be coming up.’’

While declining to give definite growth numbers, T Muralidharan, CMD of Hyderabad-based TMI Group said, the mandates received by his agency for filling up vacancies at top software firms in the past month was equal to what he had got in the preceding five months.

E Balaji, CEO of Chennai-based Ma Foi Management Consultants, said while the signs were good, firms were basically opening up positions that they had frozen earlier. “We have to wait and see how this scenario will pan out in the future,” he added. His opinion was shared by Gautam Sinha, CEO of TVA Allegis, a specialty IT/ITeS

hiring firm. He said, “The situation has improved but we are still 3-6 months away from lateral hiring going up to the pre-economic crisis numbers. The pipeline is good but big hirings will depend on the market condition in the US in coming months.”

He also explained that right now the companies were looking for professionals with 4-8 years experience. The big numbers would come when firms start looking out for professionals with 2-4 years experience, he said.

Party Time at Infosys

2009-11-13T20:59:00.001-08:00

Say cheers to this! IT behemoth Infosys has reintroduced binge benefit to its 100,000 employees, entitling them to a fixed quarterly allowance to take time out for recreation.

The company had withdrawn this perk six months ago in the wake of the economic meltdown and stagnation of its business.

There is now buzz in the campus that Infy may soon reintroduce other incentives such as interest-free home loans to needy employees, car loans and other giveaways.

The news comes close on the heels of the IT bellwether revising its full-year revenue guidance upwards and is aimed at boosting staff morale.

Nandita Gurjar, senior VP and group head of HR at Infosys, confirmed the news.

“Yes, we have reintroduced this particular scheme. This was put on hold due to economic downturn. Under this scheme, the company pays Rs 300 per person every quarter as party incentive. All employees will get this benefit,” Gurjar said.

Infoscians say the sop marks a return to good times both for the company and for the employees located at around 50 offices across the globe.

The party incentive comes as the icing on top of an across-the-board salary hike and promotions announced earlier this month. Offshore salaries have risen by 8 per cent while onsite remunerations have gone up 2 per cent.

For quarter ending September 30, Infosys reported a rise in net profit by 7.5 per cent on a year-on-year basis at Rs 1,540 crore and 3 per cent revenues growth at Rs 5,418 crore, beating street expectations.

Deloitte to Hire 15000 In India

2009-11-13T20:58:00.002-08:00

Global business consultancy Deloitte is planning to hire 15,000 people in the country over the next two to three years, the company's top official said here Tuesday.

"We are very upbeat about the Indian economy and have major expansion plans in India," said Deloitte's global chief executive Jim Quigley.

"At present, we are employing about 11,000 people in India. To increase our business, we are planning increase it by 15,000 people over the next two to three years," Quigley told reporters.

"The (global economic) crisis is also an opportunity to expand and acquire assets at attractive valuations. We believe that India and China will be leading the global economic recovery. Europe will very slow to recover. So it makes sense to invest here," he added.

"Even during the time of economic slowdown we saw a (business) growth of 30 percent in India. We are going for active acquisition and expansion plans here."

Capgemini to Up Head Count in India

2009-11-13T20:58:00.000-08:00

Outsourcing firm Capgemini is all set to increase its India headcount with the opening of a new business information centre in Bangalore, according to a report in a business daily.

The Bangalore centre will take the company's India headcount beyond 21,000, an increase from its employee strength of 20,000 in home country France.

According to the company, the new centre in Bangalore would start with a workforce of 1,000, which would scale up to 3,000 in about 18 months.

Paul Nannetti, general manager of Capgemini's global business information service line, said, "Bangalore provides plenty of application and technical skills in information management." He added, "The company can scale-up there much more quickly than in onshore locations."

India is among the most attractive outsourcing destination for global MNCs including IBM, Accenture and Microsoft, giving tough competition to domestic players TCS, Wipro and Infosys. The country offers large pool of skilled and low-cost talent for business information management services that help companies improve their collection, use and analysis of data.

Entry Level Salaries Down by 20% in IT

2009-11-13T20:55:00.000-08:00

Entry-level salaries down by 20% for software pros

Dhannanjay Kumar, a 25-year-old computer science graduate from a top engineering college in Bangalore, considers himself lucky to have found job in a year when India’s over $50-billion software outsourcing industry had to cope with falling demand and trim payroll by up to 10%.

“Not only I had to work twice as much for getting an interview, the annual salary of around Rs 1.7 lakh is much lower compared to my seniors who got Rs 3.5 lakh two years ago,” said Kumar who got hired by a Bangalore-based mid-tier software company last month.

Every year, around 3,00,000 computer science and engineering graduates seek employment with hundreds of tech firms, including big names such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro. This year, more than half of them were left unemployed because tech firms were already finding it tough to manage resources sitting on the bench.

A worsening economic crisis, increased availability of skilled workers and lower demand for software services have brought down the entry-level salaries for IT professionals in the country by up to 20%, according to experts tracking the sector.

“The entry-level salaries are down by at least 10-16%,” said GC Jayaprakash, principal consultant of Stanton Chase International.

Until two years ago, almost all computer and engineering graduates were absorbed by India’s outsourcing industry, comprising top tech firms such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro and many others. However, as customers delayed and shelved outsourcing projects, these tech firms also postponed campus hirings.

“Last year, a number of companies gave away offer letters but did not recruit. On top of that, there is a new pool of qualified professionals being churned out this year -- all this has created an oversupply in the entry-level IT job market where salaries typically sway between Rs 3 lakh per annum and Rs 5 lakh on the higher side,” Mr Jayaprakash added.

Many students had to approach potential employers directly, since companies did not visit their campuses for placements.

“We formed groups and toured companies, and agreed to settle at lower salaries because it’s better to be employed at lower salary than having no job at all,” said Srilekha Varma, who recently accepted a job offer from a Chennai-based IT firm specialising in banking software.

Recruitment firms such as GlobalHunt said the entry-level salaries may have dipped by up to 30% because of increased availability of skilled professionals.

“Earlier, companies were building bench strength and doing skill development, as they were expecting large business and didn’t want to run out of manpower. Fresh graduates used to have multiple offers and they were in a position to negotiate,” said Sunil Goel, director of GlobulHunt’s Indian operations.

In a normal year, computer science graduates were offered entry-level salaries of Rs 3.5-5 lakh. However, companies are now hiring freshers at Rs 1.7 to Rs 3.5 lakh.

Meanwhile, HR heads at tech firms, including Wipro, India’s third-largest software exporter, say professionals have become more realistic about what they want from their employers.

“I don’t think salaries have come down, but the environment has indeed helped us in containing salary hikes,” Pratik Kumar, head of human resources at Wipro said.

What has also changed this year is the manner in which salary offers are being structured.

“Due to an oversupply of qualified talent there is rationalisation at entry-level salary, which is based more on performance and are variable by nature. Cost-to-company is not necessarily a comparison of the past-drawn salary,” said Ashok Reddy, managing director and co-founder of staffing company TeamLease.

Indeed, professionals who lost their jobs during the past few months, are now being offered entry-level salaries by companies who can get experienced talent at lower salary levels.

“I was working as a software testing engineer and lost my job in February. Now I have a job, but the salary is similar to what is being offered to new recruits,” said Neelesh, who has around six-month experience.

“Companies are now preferring to hire professionals who missed jobs due to slowdown, were on the bench or were laid off, because they have some kind of training and are experience compared to freshers,” said Mr Goel.

TCS said it would do new campus hiring in January 2010 and will honour all 24,000 offers made for FY09. “Around 1,800 graduates have joined us in Q2 and another 8,000 will join in Q3, rest of the graduates will join based on the demand,” a TCS spokeswoman said.

Infosys said for FY10, it has made 20,000 campus offers and expects an 80% conversion rate i.e. 16,000 of these offers to join the company. “We are honouring all our hiring commitments,” an Infosys spokeswoman said.

India to Need 5 Lakh Project Managers

2009-11-13T20:49:00.001-08:00

According to a research by Project Management Institute (PMI), India will need about five lakh project managers in the future to complete 591 projects being carried out in the country.

About 591 projects each worth more than Rs. 100 crore were being executed in the country and it required a great number of project managers in order to finish them on time, said Raj Kalady, Managing Director (MD), PMI.

"The initial estimates of Rs. 5.25 lakh crore for the total projects have aroused to Rs. 5.85 lakh crore due to lack of proper project management," said Kaladi.

PMI will organize an all India conference starting from November 13, former MD of Maruti Udyog will be the key note speaker in the conference and NASSCOMM President Som Mittal and ISRO Chairman Dr. K Radha Krishnan are among others to attend the conference.

Kalady stated that PMI has developed 12 applications of project management on the lines of world's best practices. The institute was also negotiating with some of educational institutions to offer scholarships to students pursuing project management course.

Indian Engineers backbone of Japanese IT

2009-11-13T20:48:00.002-08:00

Indian system engineers have emerged as the backbone of Japan's IT industry and more are flocking to the country which is witnessing a steep decline in its work force.

Indian system engineers are making their presence felt in Japan's information technology industry. Around 22,000 Indians are living in Japan at the end of 2008, nearly double the number a decade ago.

"India is already the international standard in the IT world," said Kenichi Yoshida, a director of Softbridge Solutions Japan Co., a staffing company. Its founder is an Indian-American, who set up the Japanese company in 2002.

Indian engineers are sent out to Japan after studying Japanese language for five months. In addition to operation and maintenance of financial information systems, they are in charge of systems development for computers and mobile phones, Kyodo news agency reported.

"While the number of working people is decreasing in Japan, in India the number will continue to increase until 2040. Education levels are also high. It's important for Japanese industry to work together with India," Yoshida said.

His company is also providing opportunities for Japanese engineers to undergo training in India for two to four months, and major Japanese enterprises are taking advantage of the service.

"Everything is in English there. They eat curry from same bowl and return home a lot tougher," he said.

Tokyo's Edogawa Ward has the highest number of Indian residents, at about 2,200. After visa requirements for engineers working in Japan were eased in 2001, Indians flocked to the ward because it is close to the centre of Tokyo and prices are lower than in other wards.

"Until several years ago, there were only men in their 20s whose families were back home, but recently, the number of Indians accompanied by their families is increasing," said Jagmohan Chandrani, 57, a company president who came to Japan about 30 years ago.

Chandrani imports and sells black tea, runs a guest house and also serves as leader of the Indian society in the ward, assisting his countrymen in their day-to-day lives.

Many new residents are from Bangalore, known as India's Silicon Valley. Given that tandoori chicken and nan, which are popular in Japan, are northern Indian dishes, Chandrani has opened a southern Indian restaurant and a food store for engineers yearning for the taste of home.

He also participates in local events and holds an Indian festival twice a year, inviting Japanese from neighboring areas.

Chandrani says he hopes the ward will become not an 'India town' but a place serving as bridge between the two countries.

H1B Applications Lowest since 2003

2009-11-13T20:48:00.000-08:00

More than six months after the federal government began accepting petitions for work visas popular with Silicon Valley companies, thousands of spots remain open, a reflection of the nation's high unemployment and the political pressure to hire citizens, experts say.

As of last week, 46,700 H-1B visa applications had been submitted, thousands less than the 65,000 allocated for fiscal year 2010 and the lowest number since 2003. The cap for 20,000 additional H-1B visas reserved for foreign graduates of U.S. colleges with at least a master's degree was met, though applications are still being accepted.

Tech industry insiders say the recession is primarily responsible for the dearth of applications. "There is definitely a sense that there is a growing hostility toward some of the (visa) programs, but I don't think that is related to the downturn" in petitions, said Jenifer Verdery, Intel's director of work force policy. "You are not going to see big ramp-ups in hiring during the downturn."

But political pressure did affect hiring in other industries. The federal stimulus law includes provisions making it difficult for financial companies receiving money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to hire H-1B workers. The requirement forced companies
like Bank of America to rescind job offers to foreign professionals.

Julie Pearl, a San Francisco-based corporate immigration lawyer who works with valley companies, says her firm's caseload for visa work has been cut in half. "In the financial industry, H-1B (applications) are down almost 75 percent," she added.

Sen. Charles Grassley has criticized tech companies for not protecting jobs of U.S. citizens over those of foreigners as they lay off thousands of employees at a clip. The Iowa Republican and Sen. Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, in April reintroduced a bill that would require companies to do everything they can to hire Americans before seeking H-1B visas.

One technology corporate client of Pearl's declined to file petitions out of a sense of patriotism. "They felt, 'How do you hire a foreigner' " with 12 percent unemployment in California, she said.

Samta Kapoor, who will complete her master's degree in engineering management at Duke University in December, said she and other foreign-born classmates have been told by prospective employers that they are not hiring international students this year. "There are times when we are not even looked at. They say, 'We are not hiring international students this year. It's a companywide policy. Sorry,' " she said.

Silicon Valley companies, where immigrants have played prominent roles in creating startups and new technology inventions, view the H-1B visa program as a way to grab the best talent from around the world. "For most of our clients, their mantra is: Hire the best person you can," Pearl added.

Companies can spend thousands of dollars per applicant. "It's such a hard process," Verdery of Intel said. "It's a laborious, difficult, expensive endeavor to bring someone on board."

Despite the challenges, Intel has continued about the same level of H-1B hiring as in the past, she said.

In recent years, there has been some support from both parties in Congress for more H-1B visas and green cards for foreign professionals, a major goal of tech companies that has been caught up in the highly charged debate over immigration.

During the dot-com boom a decade ago, the H-1B visa cap was 195,000 a year, a reflection of the frenzied hiring of tech workers in Silicon Valley and elsewhere around the nation. That number dropped dramatically during the recession that followed.

Les French, president of WashTech, a Seattle-based union for tech professionals, which is critical of the visa program, predicts application levels will eventually rise again. "Once the economy picks up, you'll see a pickup in the applications," he said. "I think it will be lock-step with the economy."

Others, though, say the difficulties faced by foreign-born potential workers as well as the recession will deter some overseas professionals from pursuing careers here.
"The problem is, you lose the cream-of-the-crop," said Vivek Wadhwa, a researcher on immigration and labor issues at the University of California-Berkeley. "The cream of the crop can get jobs elsewhere. Before, they had to come here."

Nonetheless, students such as Kapoor say the United States is still their first choice.

"There are a lot of things happening back home," said Kapoor, who is from Mumbai, India. "There would be no lack of opportunity for me if I went back. But I've been educated here. I want to give back to the United States."

Infosys opens second development center in Mexico

2009-11-13T20:47:00.001-08:00

Infosys Technologies has opened its second development centre in Monterrey, Mexico, serving as a near shore unit to serve the regions of North America, Latin American and Europe.

The development centre will provide technology services for clients in all industries including banking, financial services, manufacturing, retail, distribution, insurance and many others, Infosys said in a notice to the stock exchanges.

“From our first development centre opening with a few clients and a dozen employees, we now have some 30 clients and 330 professionals,” said Ashok Vemuri, senior vice president, Infosys. After examining several countries in the region, Infosys chose to establish its presence in Mexico due to the broad language skills available in the region, its geographical proximity to Canada, the US and the Europe, the notice said.

Tech Firms on headhunting drive

2009-11-13T20:46:00.001-08:00

Technology firms Accenture and Infosys BPO were on Monday upbeat about hiring plans for next year, an indicator of brightening business prospects, although Microsoft India said it would go easy on new recruitments.

Information technology and consultancy were among the sectors hit by last year's global economic crisis, ripples of which are still being felt by businesses across continents.

Consultant Accenture said it would shore up its staff strength by 8,000 by next year, mainly in the analytics space. "We are 42,000 right now and we imagine we will be about 50,000 by the end of 2010," Accenture Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William D Green said on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit here.

Green added, "We believe that analytics is going to be an important trend that our customers are going to demand from us. We think India is going to be a great place for us."

Infosys BPO, the back-office unit of IT firm Infosys Technologies, said that it would hire 1,500-2,000 people by the end of the current fiscal. "We plan to hire 2,000 people in the next four-five months or by the end of this fiscal. Currently we are 16,000 people in India," Infosys BPO CEO Amitabh Chaudhry said.

Another BPO company Genpact has already hired 6,000-7,000 so far this year for its global operations. Microsoft India Chairman and Corporate Vice-President Ravi Venkatesan, however, said that "there will be no significant hiring. Microsoft has a headcount of 5,300 people in the country and had hired "a few hundreds" last year.

Most of the top domestic and transnational companies go for campus placements from the engineering and management schools around October-December.

Venkatesan said "(Steve) Ballmer (global CEO) has gone on record saying this is a period of consolidation," rather than adding to the headcount. The USD 58-billion global software leader has six business units in India, which include research centre, development centres and sales and marketing divisions.

The company, which boasts of running most of the personal computers worldwide on its operating system, has three centres in Hyderabad. The other units are in Bangaluru and Gurgaon.

Yesterday, global banking behemoth Standard Chartered said it plans to hire 3,000 employees in India by the end of 2010.

Wipro to hire sacked employees

2009-11-13T20:45:00.001-08:00

If you are a pink slip recipient from Wipro, here’s a piece of good news. Wipro plans to rehire some of the employees it fired a year ago.

"Non-performance was the reason for these separations. However, we are open to rehire some of these people who were fired by us a year ago, if they come back to us with additional skill sets. A one-year window would have been enough for them to acquire some additional skills," said Joseph John, vice-president (HR) in Wipro Infotech, the business that looks at the India and Middle-East markets.

The tech major's involuntary attrition rate has gone up by 2 percentage points in the last 16 months. Wipro Infotech said it would also resume campus hiring from January. "We are looking at hiring over 1,000 laterals during the fiscal and 1,000 freshers from campuses in January," said John.

The division, which recruited 1,000 people in the first six months of the fiscal, expects hiring numbers in the second half of the year to be more than double of that.

The additional people requirement comes with Wipro winning a slew of large projects in India and the Middle-East, and also to cater to the growing requirements of existing accounts. The company hired 200 people in Saudi Arabia and Egypt recently.

Wipro is also hiring for its Global Service Management Centre in Mysore with almost 5% jobs earmarked for differently-abled people.

Wipro Infotech is planning to raise the ratio of its women employees from 13% now to 20% in the next two years. On salary hikes, John said the company had not budgeted a hike at the start of the fiscal. "But we have decided to raise salaries in the fourth quarter across the board."

Infy to up sales staff

2009-11-13T20:44:00.000-08:00

Infosys, the country’s second-largest information technology services exporter, plans to increase its sales and client services headcount by almost 50 per cent by the end of this financial year, most of which will happen in Europe.

“We are going to add another 100-200 people worldwide in sales and client services by the end of this fiscal on a base of 500. This doubling is in line with our interest in Europe,” said Subhash Dhar, senior vice-president, Infosys Technologies. The headcount increase could happen for sales people in infrastructure and applications services.

Moreover, the company sees its communication, media and entertainment segment to be a cash flow driver. It currently gets around 18 per cent of its overall revenues from this area, up from single-digit in 2002-03. Infosys is bullish about this segment, as many of its customers are restarting their capital expenditure on networks, which usually accounts for half of a company’s total expenditure.

“The spend had slowed down in the last one year. But handheld devices are now driving more traffic. In the media and entertainment space, we are seeing greater activity in digital media and not conventional media,” added Dhar.

He expects budgets to be better next year, too, compared with this year. “We are servicing almost 25 clients in this space and are always in talks with 10-15 more. Usually, we sign one big client per quarter and two or three small clients,” he said.

The non-US revenue is greater than the US revenue for Infosys’ communication, media and entertainment vertical. And, though India does not figure in the top countries’ list, the IT major is seeing new business coming from within India.

Adobe Layoffs

2009-11-13T20:43:00.001-08:00

Adobe Systems, known for its Photoshop editing programme and Acrobat document software, announced that it was cutting some 680 jobs worldwide, about nine percent of its workforce.

Adobe, in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said it would incur between $65 million and $71 million in restructuring charges because of the layoffs.

Adobe said the jobs being cut only involve employees who were with the San Jose, California-based company ahead of its October acquisition of Web analytics firm Omniture Inc.

Adobe, which employed 7,564 people worldwide at the end of August, also produces the Flash and Shockwave software used in many games and Internet applications.

Adobe shares were trading 0.14 percent higher at 36.65 dollars in after-hours electronic trading in New York.

Infosys BPO to acquire US co McCamish for initial $38 mn

2009-11-13T20:42:00.001-08:00

IT bellwether Infosys Technologies on Thursday said its subsidiary Infosys BPO will acquire US-based McCamish Systems for an initial payment of $38 million (about Rs 176.6 crore).

Infosys BPO has signed a definitive agreement to acquire all the outstanding interests of McCamish Systems LLC, Infosys Tech said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

"The upfront consideration for the deal is $38 million, with up to an additional $20 million payable to the sellers if McCamish Systems achieves certain financial targets in the future," the company added.

The acquisition is expected to be completed later this year.

"We look forward to this combination with McCamish, and welcome an exceptional group of professionals with strong skill sets to the Infosys family who will enrich our service capabilities in the USA," Infosys BPO CEO & MD Amitabh Chaudhry said.

The acquisitions is expected to enhance Infosys' capability to provide complete business solutions for insurance and financial industries.

"Infosys BPO has in-depth knowledge of the insurance and financial services sector, and this deal reinforces our relationship position in providing business platform services," Chaudhry said.

The combination is likely to enable McCamish to serve larger portfolio of transactions for clients and expand into global markets.

Shares of Infosys Technologies were trading at Rs 2,336 on the BSE, up 1.18 per cent from its previous close.

Google New Look for Orkut

2009-11-13T20:41:00.001-08:00

Social networking site Orkut has revamped its look and added a host of new features as it tries to regain ground from one of its toughest competitor Facebook.

Google, which owns Orkut, said the new look has a user interface, or homepage, which is faster and easier to use.

"With the new user interface (UI), the user does not have to visit each page for viewing videos, or say posting scraps. He gets to see all updates and respond to his friends from the homepage itself," Google India Head (Products) Vinay Goel today said.

It also allows faster uploading of photos and has features like video chat, automatic face detection and a scroll down menu for viewing all friends on the same page.

"We have about 80-100 million users globally and India is the second leading market for Orkut after Brazil. India is a crucial market and we would continue to drive innovation for all our products," Goel said.

The new version would be initially available through invitation only but after a few weeks would be made available to all users. Companies, mainly in the FMCG, automobile, consumer durables and telecom space, are actively using social networking sites to connect with the youth.

Google to Buy Admob for $750 Million

2009-11-13T20:40:00.001-08:00

Google is to pay $750 million to buy AdMob, a provider of advertising on mobile phones, the internet search leader announced Monday.

The deal is the third largest ever undertaken by Google and underscores the company's strategy of extending its online advertising dominance to the mobile web, where its Android smartphone operating system is becoming increasingly popular. Google said it expected antitrust regulatory review in the U.S. but not in Europe.

AdMob has a system that serves display ads on mobile phones and its purchase could give the still nascent market a powerful boost, analysts said.

"Google could have built this itself, but this gives them a head start," says mobile analyst Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence. "It will thrust Google into the forefront of mobile display ads."

"AdMob is a great Silicon Valley story," said Google in a blog posting to announce the deal. "We are looking forward to having them join the Google team and work with us on the future of mobile advertising."

Wipro to hire Experienced Resources

2009-11-13T20:38:00.001-08:00

With an increase in business, India’s third-largest IT services company Wipro is holding recruitment drives to hire experienced IT professionals (termed lateral hiring) across the country. The company said in a statement today that it plans to organise two-day walk-in interviews for experienced IT professionals in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Noida and Kolkata, starting November 14.

The drive is a part of its regular hiring in line with business demands, the company said. Vice-President (Talent Acquisition) Pradeep Bahirwani said the company would hold recruitments simultaneously across the country to provide applicants a quick process to allow them to consider opportunities in other cities.

“We are looking to meet applicants across skill requirements in all business divisions with experience levels ranging from 2-14 years,” he said.

He added the company had released recruitment advertisements to inform applicants of the drive.

“We encourage applicants to apply directly to us and not fall prey to fraudsters misusing company names and duping candidates,” he added.

Wipro has also announced plans to hire BSc, BCM and BCA students graduating in 2010 for its Wipro Academy of Software Excellence.

TCS to hire local talent in US

2009-11-13T20:36:00.002-08:00

To expand its U.S. operation, TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) plans to hire 1,000 local workers at its new facility near Cincinnati, Ohio, by the end of 2010, reports DNA.

The company opened a $20 million delivery and software development centre in Milford, Cincinnati in Ohio, in March last year - in a bid to win federal contracts and be closer to the headquarters of its U.S. clients. Suryakant, President of TCS North America said, "The Cincinnati region is a great place for U.S. to recruit local talent to meet the demands of our customers as they grow out of the downturn."

The ohio facility is also aimed at securing what some major Indian service providrs are chasing - defence and avionics work. TCS is reportedly in talks with Boeing and Lockheed Martin for defence and aerospace contracts. This work can only be done by American citizens or green card holders.

Recently, the company bagged projects related to unemployment insurance for the states of Nebraska, New Mexico and Mississippi. "The U.S. by far our largest market and the seven hills park facility in Ohio plays an integral role in our strategy of putting our customers first," said Suryakant.

Currently, TCS employs 15,000 people in the U.S. The company has been shipping quite a bit of work to U.S, ignoring India's popular IT hubs.

AOL Layoffs

2009-11-13T20:36:00.000-08:00

There are almost certainly large layoffs coming at AOL.

in connection with the company’s pending spinoff from Time Warner , AOL said it expects to take $200 million to cover “additional restructuring activities,” with all of the hit coming from from the date of the spin through the first half of 2010.

Here’s the key paragraph from the filing, which suggests that the restructuring moves the company has made so far pale compared to whatever it has in mind in the months ahead:

We undertook various restructuring activities in the first nine months of 2009 in an effort to better align our cost structure with our revenues. As a result, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2009, we incurred restructuring charges of $10.2 million and $82.9 million, respectively, related to involuntary employee terminations and facility closures. We currently expect to incur up to $20 million of additional restructuring charges through the spin-off, which is anticipated to occur in the fourth quarter of 2009. Shortly after the spin-off, we plan to undertake additional restructuring activities to more effectively align our organizational structure and costs to our strategy. We are also evaluating the countries in which we operate as part of the effort to align our cost structure, and we may decide to cease or reduce operations in certain countries. In connection with these additional restructuring activities, we expect to incur additional restructuring charges of up to $200 million, substantially all of which is expected to be incurred from the date of the spin-off through the first half of 2010.

AOL recently cut 100 jobs, and that 1,000 or more additional cuts could lie ahead.

Why Delay AOL Layoff

2009-11-10T09:38:00.000-08:00

Everyone knows Tim Armstrong is planning more layoffs at AOL once the company is spun off from Time Warner. So why let them hang over the company's return to the markets as an independently-traded stock?
Armstrong, the former Google advertising chief (pictured), jettisoned some top lieutenants from AOL, the internet conglomerate, last month. Beyond that, he's believed to be planning major job cuts as part of a sweeping reorganization of the company. "AOL is not going to change itself by incremental movements," Armstrong recently told PaidContent. Asked if this meant "large cuts," he talked about going "deep into the employee organization... to come up with ways to structure the company... I would expect announcements about that by early next year."
Early next year would mean just after the spinoff from Time Warner, assuming it goes forward as expected late this year. An AOLer who attended a recent internal "Town Hall" meeting on the restructuring, dubbed Project Everest, confirmed the layoffs are planned for post-spinoff.
One explanation we've heard for that timing is that Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes didn't want layoffs taking place while AOL was part of his company. That makes some sense — layoffs typically carry a price tag, and Time Warner presumably doesn't want to take the hit for a move that will benefit another company over the long term. Time Warner isn't taking on debt as part of the transaction, our AOL tipster said, which jibes with the media conglomerate's statements that it is AOL that might load up on debt as part of the spinoff.
But a delayed deep restructuring means uncertainty for investors considering what to do with AOL shares in the earliest days of tradubg, which in turn means a potentially depressed price. A weak re-debut for AOL shares would not bode well for a company that has already had more than its share of struggles. Then again, if anyone can sell uncertainty, it's a consummate salesman like Armstrong.

Electronic Arts to layoff 1500

2009-11-10T09:37:00.001-08:00

Electronic Arts announced today it lost $391 million last quarter and will lay off 1,500 employees -- or 17% of its work force -- by April of 2010.
Net sales for the quarter were $788 million, a drop of 12% from the previous year.
Electronic Arts expects the fiscal year to close with a net loss.
People are Twittering the layoffs across the Electronic Art empire:

Nominal Spending US GDP

2009-11-08T01:19:00.001-08:00

QA with Laid off Employee

2009-11-08T00:43:00.001-08:00

A friend of mine got laid off just as a new report found 467,000 people got pink slips last month. That puts our national unemployment rate at 9.5 percent, a 26-year high. I talked to my friend Leah, an engineer in Los Angeles, about filing for unemployment, coping with unexpected emotions, and visiting Yosemite. Disclosure: I changed her name to protect her privacy.

What was your initial reaction when your boss told you you were getting laid off?

I sat there for a full minute, quiet, with all these things going through my head…I felt shocked and angry and betrayed and then just confused. I think I finally said “I don’t understand.”

What didn’t you understand?

I didn’t understand why because to everyone’s knowledge in the office we were safe. We had plenty of work. But I found out (in my bosses office) that a big project or two had just recently gone on hold indefinitely. Which totally messed up everything. So they had to make some changes.

Have you ever been laid off before?

No.

How are you coping, two weeks after?

Now I feel fine, comfortable. The first three days were tough. I felt sad but I felt relieved.

Why were you relieved?

In a way I had been somewhat frustrated with the way things were going at the office, personnel-wise, project-wise, and I had had some thoughts about doing something different. But no specific thoughts. I wasn’t searching for anything. The relief was now I can think about these other things in more detail.

Did you see it coming?

I remember about two or three weeks before I got laid off that 25 people in a company in San Francisco that was one of our clients got laid off. I remember being surprised, thinking “Wow I really can’t take this all for granted anymore. I don’t think it really sank in because one of those emotions that went through my head, that still does, is that I felt really foolish thinking that my history with the company and the fact that my project was strong was keeping me safe. My project still is going. It has a source of funding. I felt foolish for linking those things. I took it for granted even after telling myself that I shouldn’t.

How prepared financially were you for something like this?
I have some savings that could probably get me through a couple months so I’m not panicking yet.

Financially, have you done anything different since getting laid off?
I’ve been eating out less, drinking less, making choices that I don’t have to spend as much money. Looking back on my expenses, at least 50 percent were eating out.

Are you cutting out a few things entirely or making reductions across the board?

I will probably cut down across the board and not on anyone thing. I’ll put off big purchases that I otherwise would have gone ahead and done. For example I want a new pair of running shoes. But that’s like $100 give or take so when I got laid off, I said I can live without a new pair of running shoes.

Has your attitude about the recession changed since getting laid off?

I’m definitely more interested in unemployment benefits news and economic stimulus package news because now it actually does affect me or could affect me. I never really paid attention to that before, not for lack of interest but for lack of time.

What are you most concerned about?
To be honest I haven’t started to think very far in the future yet because I am really relived to just be able to live in the moment and relax. It’s summer and I know that I have a little bit of a cushion to take a month to just breathe.

What are you least concerned about?
I’m actually not real concerned about not ever being able to get another job because I feel the market will improve, it may just be a matter of time. I have certain knowledge and strengths and excellent referrals. My bosses have said they would be more than happy to help me out with any references. We left on very good friendly terms.

Do you still have health care?
Yes I got a severance package through the end of July and then I have to figure out COBRA.

What is your plan for the next 6 months?

I haven’t thought more than a month and a half out. I’ve got two weeks until a triathlon race and then I’m going to take about 2 weeks to travel through California, visit friends, go through Yosemite, go through Mammoth. I’ll fly back to New York, go see my parents.

Anything else you want to add?
I did file for unemployment. Haven’t heard anything back. It was easy to file online but I haven’t heard anything. It takes a while.

Questions You should ask an interviewer

2009-11-08T00:41:00.001-08:00

Trust me: it’s different now. In this economy, where unemployment is high and you have many more job seekers than jobs, you can’t afford to improvise on the interview. So yes, if you got called in to talk about a position, be psyched. But then knuckle down and do some prep work.

Find out as much as you can about the position you’re interviewing for, how the process will go, and who will be interviewing you. Research the people you’ll be talking to (use Google, LinkedIn, Facebook and real-life contacts) so you have common ground to discuss, and check out the company and the competition.

Wait, you’re not done yet. You still have to ace the interview. These five questions will pull you ahead of the pack:

1. “In the first 30, 60, and 90 days what projects would you like to have completed and taken off your list?” When candidates go on interviews very rarely do they know for sure what the hiring manager is specifically looking for. This one question will give you valuable insight as to what is most important to them. If you can ask this one question very early on in the interview you have the blueprint as to specifically what is most important to them.
2. “What one skill if mastered would add the most value to your department?” All companies now want to hire the best or someone that has the drive to be the best. By asking the question above, you show that you are driven to be the best. You will distinguish yourself as someone that is willing to go the extra mile, work hard and become a valuable asset to the company.
3. “What challenges and opportunities is the company and the department facing?” Show your possible employer that you are interested in the company and that you are up for the challenge. This also gives you the chance to differentiate yourself from the competition. You can provide valuable insight on how you would handle the situation.laid off 101 on notebook paper
4. “What are your company goals for the year and what are the department goals?” Everybody likes someone that is goal focused, so if you ask this question, you will standout.
5. “What more can I tell you about myself to let you know that I am the right person for this job?” This one question can make or break your chances with the company. Why? Because you show sincere interest in the company and that you want the job. This also shows that you care and want to make sure all questions were answered thoroughly.

How not to look desperate

2009-11-08T00:40:00.001-08:00

Desperate times can lead you to show how desperate really are to land that job. But no matter how tough a time you’ve been having—dwindling savings, unemployment running out, bills overdue—that’s the last impression you want to give a prospective employer.

Job hunting is like dating. People are attracted to confidence and turned off by the hard-up. So how can you seem self-assured while looking for work and land that job as the market heats up? Keep in mind these dos and don’ts.

DO
Remember that the more you have going on, the less desperate you will feel. So keep your pipeline full. Have a job search plan to follow. Set a goal of meeting five new people a week, whether it’s for coffee, lunch or an informational interview.

Follow up with the people you’ve met—and when you call or email, make sure to have a noteworthy topic to discuss. Stay on top of industry and company news easily with Google Alerts—go to the alerts tab in Google and set it up to send you relevant company information. When you see something interesting, forward it along with a comment. Also another way to reach out is to invite the person to connect on linkedin.com

Once you get an interview, be prepared to be asked about your down time. Don’t let the question faze you. Practice your response at home if it helps. Explain how productive you’ve been. Discuss what you’ve learned. “I’ve been strategically aligning myself with contacts that would give me access to organizations XYZ, ABC, and DEF.” “I’ve been keeping on top of the industry, and based on my research on your organization, here’s why I could add tremendous value to your team.”

Leverage a positive response. If, after a first interview you’re told you are a strong candidate, don’t act overjoyed—or to take the opportunity for granted. Follow up on the other resumes you have sent out, and send out emails to contacts and employers. Explain that you would like to make sure you’ve explored all your options before you wrap up your job search. Employers hate losing out on a good candidate.

DON’T
Call daily to follow up on a resume or an interview. Just like in relationships, that reeks of desperation.

Act non-committal or over confident—it will come back to haunt you. Any follow up conversations should be pleasant and your enthusiasm to join their organization should be transparent.

Don’t tell an employer that you took to time to find yourself, and that’s why you have been out of work so long. You will come off as lazy and not serious about your career.

Don’t try to engage a recruiter to help get you feedback at a company you already interviewed with. A recruiter only receives a commission for a candidate that has not already applied to a company.

When working with a recruiter, don’t contact the hiring manager directly. Always let the recruiter do the follow up.

Are you on the Layoff List

2009-11-08T00:39:00.001-08:00

So many people report that being laid off came as a total surprise. One morning they show up for work as usual. An hour later they’re sitting behind their steering wheel stunned, with a box of pictures and books in the backseat.

It’s bad enough to lose your job. But to have it take you by surprise is just unfathomable. How can you read the tea leaves on something like this so that it doesn’t happen to you? Or so that it doesn’t happen to you again?

Here are some signs that you might be on a list of people to be laid off:

* Your company has hit hard times and has publicly announced that it will institute “cost-cutting measures.”
* Your industry sector has taken a dive on Wall Street.
* Your company has been acquired, and there’s someone just like you already ensconced in the acquiring company.
* Your company just bought your competitor, and there’s someone just like you in the newly acquired company.
* You work for a closely held family business—and you’re not family.
* You work for a publicly traded business that prides itself on being “one big happy family.”
* You’ve been asked to research ways the business can reduce expenses.
* Your otherwise congenial boss starts avoiding you.
* Your otherwise congenial boss starts snapping at you.
* Your boss starts looking at you strangely.
* Your boss starts looking right through you.
* You inexplicably feel compelled to ask your boss if there’s about to be a layoff.
* You are one of the highest paid people in the organization.
* You are one of the lowest paid people in the organization.
* You’re somewhere in the middle.
* You wonder how your long-time coworker could be taking such a lengthy leave of absence without saying good-bye.
* There is an unusually bulky FedEx package from headquarters that’s addressed to your local HR department.
* There is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary going on in the company whatsoever.
* You have a job.

The best thing you can do:

Recognize that everyone is subject to being laid off.

The worst thing you can do:

Think it won’t happen to you.

The first thing you should do:

Keep in mind that getting laid off has nothing to do with your performance.

Love in the Recessionary times

2009-11-08T00:38:00.001-08:00

Timing-wise, it wasn’t the most promising beginning.

He was headed to the opposite coast. But the thousands of miles of separation was the least of our potential problems.

We started dating in the midst of one of the most stressful periods in both of our lives. I had just been laid off from a job I loved, and my industry seemed to be imploding. He would be gone for an unspecified period of time to reorganize his company and — he hoped — keep it from going under.

We were worried about money and questioning our careers. One of us had been stripped of title and paycheck, and was adjusting to a new identity. The other was wondering whether the enterprise he had built from scratch could survive the year.

I’m pretty certain that I would still be carrying on my relationship if I hadn’t lost my job. But it probably would have progressed more slowly.

I know people whose budding romances have sunk in similar circumstances. One friend who lost her job at a big law firm has spent months on the hunt, and her anxiety has spilled into her love life. Earlier this year she started seeing a nice, cute, bright guy — who soon suggested they put the dating on hold until she was in a better place. He didn’t want her to be the one bright spot in her life.

It’s entirely possible that they would have hit a roadblock in better times. The recession may have throw a lot of things out of whack, but romantic chemistry isn’t about the eonomy, stupid. I’m pretty certain that I would still be carrying on my relationship if I hadn’t lost my job. But it probably would have progressed more slowly. The downturn not only gave us more time and flexibility, it forced us to refocus our values and allowed us to see each other more clearly.

In the boom years, there was unrelenting competition for my time and attention. My days endurance races from breakfasts meetings to work to lunches to work to evenings full of dinners, parties, benefits and dates. My refrigerator was empty but for a stick of butter, a few bottles of Champagne and (usually) some chocolate. There was room for someone else, but not a lot of room.

So was learning more about each other. We couldn’t hide behind work or clothes or status symbols, or distract ourselves wth exciting events and activities. He got to see how I defined myself without a job, and whether I could handle not being able to buy new clothes or vacations. Early on, I made myself contemplate the possibility that he both might have to start over financially. And I realized that the recession had already shown him to be optimistic and resourceful, so that was okay with me.

I did have some worrisome moments. I panicked one evening when he said that if his company went under he would move in so I could support us both. “Please tell me you’re joking,” I begged.

Now that I am back at a full-time job, I suppose I could keep us afloat. But ironically, employment has put more stress on my relationship than unemployment did. I work long hours, am adjusting to new demands. It seems there’s a downside to the upturn.

Laid off Twice

2009-11-08T00:37:00.001-08:00

What do these three people have in common?

Susan Guldenschuh, an HR supervisor in Kentucky

Russ Singletary, a researcher now working for an Atlanta company

Attorney Inna Efimchik

Laid off? Close.

All three are victims of a phenomenon that seems particular to this downturn: The double layoff. (I should actually be on this list too—read to the bottom.)

With the recession in its terrible twos and the unemployment rate expected to rise above 10 percent, it should be little surprise that some people have taken an extra job hit from the downturn. There are probably even some triple layoffs out there.

Organizations that have managed to stay afloat are going under. Companies that weathered earlier phases of the economic storm are now running out of resources and having to downsize—maybe yet again, as my former employer did this week. And as a new hire you’re likely to be the first to go.

It can be a tremendous blow to feel like you’ve landed on your feet, only to be knocked right back on your ass. Today, the Wall Street Journal offered some advice for those laid off twice. I don’t think there’s anything in the story that specifically helps the double-laid-off, but the tips are useful for anyone seeking a job. (Check out additional advice on our Laid Off 101 page.) For example:

* Don’t let stigma get you—be up front about what’s happened. “I have been laid off twice in the worst economy in 50 years.”
* Don’t let yourself feel like a loser. It will come through in your job interviews and keep you from finding a new position. (Read How Not to Look Desperate.)
* Do take advantage of social networking. Complete your LinkedIn profile, and use Twitter to communicate your knowledge about your industry. Put the links to your profiles in your email signatures.
* Do volunteer somewhere that has a connection with a company you want to work for.

I’d add one more: Come up with a name for your situation. At the end of 2008, I was laid off from my job at magazine publisher Conde Nast. A few weeks later the company rehired me to work at Domino magazine. The beloved pub folded that very day. And voila—pre-fired enters the lexicon! And yes, I now have a job.

Could Blogging Cost You Your Unemployment Check?

2009-11-08T00:36:00.001-08:00

A laid-off lawyer’s personal blog, which brought her a total of $238.75 over the course of several months, prompted the geniuses at the New York State Department of Labor to cut off her benefits.

Seems the DOL had conflicting opinions over whether the money she “made” from her blog about meal deals constituted residual income (money made from past work, like royalties from a book) or self-employment income. So they put her checks on hold while they investigate her “business,” according to a story at Forbes.com.

Blogging isn’t the only hazard the unemployed face. A friend of mine who was laid off in November is fighting the DOL over her charity work. This enterprising woman started the New York branch of a national organization that helps teenage girls. She’s is paid not a penny for the hours she spends on the organization, but the DOL wants to withhold her benefits because she’s on the board of the chapter–a “corporation.”

Are we really going to penalize unemployed people for volunteering?

Need we elaborate on how wasteful, counter-productive and just plain stupid this is? Many employment experts are advising laid-off Americans to blog and tweet in order to stay on top of industry news, learn new skills and keep their name in circulation. If they throw some Google ads up on the site to cover costs and make $1 a day (which is often the resulting payoff), they risk losing their safety net.

The country’s non-profits have been hit hard by the downturn, but at least they’ve benefited from the high unemployment, as bright, motivated professionals offer up their free time. Are we really going to penalize unemployed people for volunteering, which could also help them find new jobs as they make connections and expand their skills?

Meanwhile, a cash-strapped state is spending precious tax dollars to investigate sums like $240–which the lawyer wasn’t even hiding. She felt obliged to declare it to the state, and got punished for her candor.

Kingfisher lays off 100 Pilots

2009-11-08T00:33:00.001-08:00

Mumbai, Nov 4 (PTI) Vijay Mallya-led Kingfisher Airlines is understood to have put close to 100 pilots, mostly trainees, on the chopping block on grounds of huge losses and capacity reduction.

These pilots have completed their probation and all endorsements, but the company has decided not to renew their service contracts in view of the huge losses and capacity reduction, sources told PTI here today.

Their contracts would not be renewed as and when they expire and hence the job cuts would be carried out in a phased manner, they said.

The pilots, who are planned to be phased out, belong to both Kingfisher and the erstwhile Air Deccan, the sources said, adding that they were grounded last year after the merger.

When contacted, a Kingfisher spokesperson denied "sacking" of any pilot. Such measures are "however inevitable due to the market conditions," a company official said.

Nelson: Bad Economy Means We Should Wreck Economy, Destroy Planet, Let Health Care Languish

2009-11-08T00:32:00.000-08:00

I suspect we’re going to be hearing a lot more of this sort of thing in the weeks to come:

Democrat Ben Nelson, a Senator from Nebraska, said the slumping economy and rising joblessness will be factors as Congress considers climate change and health care legislation. They are also driving concerns about the budget deficit, which widened to a record $1.42 trillion in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, he said.

“When the economy’s not strong there’s a lot of interest in controlling spending,” Nelson said.

This really makes no sense. If Nelson thinks the health care and climate legislation before congress would have a ruinous economic impact or something, then of course he shouldn’t vote for either bill. But that’s independent of the current state of the labor market. In reality, neither bill will have much of any impact on a 12-18 month time horizon since their provisions take time to phase-in. Both are aimed at long-term problems—the economic devastation wreaked by an out-of-control health care system and the environmental devastation wreaked by out-of-control greenhouse gas pollution. There’s never a perfect day to tackle a long-run problem, but delaying action doesn’t help the economy in the short-run and only makes it harder to tackle the problem.

On controlling spending, this is nuts. With the economy weak Nelson wants to do . . . what? Lay off teachers? Halt infrastructure projects? Make sure that kids whose parents are unemployed end up malnourished? The economy is suffering from a catastrophic collapse in overall spending with households, businesses, states, and municipalities all pulling back. If the federal government pulls back too we’re going to go down the drain.

November : Unemplyment rate in US at highest 10.2 percen

2009-11-07T23:33:00.001-08:00

Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The unemployment rate in the U.S. jumped to 10.2 percent in October, the highest level since 1983, casting a pall over the prospects for a sustained recovery and risking further erosion of President Barack Obama’s popularity.

Payrolls fell by 190,000 last month, more than forecast by economists, a Labor Department report showed today in Washington. The jobless rate rose from 9.8 percent in September. Factory payrolls dropped by the most in four months, and the average workweek held at a record low.

Treasury two-year notes rose on bets the Federal Reserve is more likely to maintain its pledge to keep interest rates near zero. The figures prompted Obama, who signed a bill today extending jobless benefits, to promise fresh measures to help put some of the 15.7 million unemployed Americans back to work.

“We will certainly have very bad payroll numbers in November and December,” said Harm Bandholz, an economist at UniCredit Global Research in New York, whose forecast for a 10.1 percent unemployment rate matched the highest among economists surveyed by Bloomberg. “We don’t foresee businesses going on a hiring spree anytime soon.”

Two-year note yields fell four basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 0.84 percent at 4:45 p.m. in New York. The yield touched 0.83 percent, the lowest since Oct. 2. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index closed up 0.3% to 1069.30 after falling as much as 0.7 percent.

Steeper Drop

Payrolls were forecast to drop 175,000 after an initially reported 263,000 decline for September, according to the median estimate of 84 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The jobless rate was projected to rise to 9.9 percent.

Obama signed into law a measure extending a tax credit of up to $8,000 for homebuyers and benefits for unemployed workers, and he promised to pursue further measures to create jobs.

“My economic team is looking at ideas such as additional investments in our aging roads and bridges, incentives to encourage families and business to make buildings more energy efficient,” additional tax cuts, and more steps to ease the flow of credit to small business and promote exports, he said today at the White House.

Jason McKinnon, 34, a San Francisco resident, is among those who could benefit from the measure Obama signed today to add up to 20 additional weeks of unemployment insurance.

Expired Benefits

McKinnon lost his $18-an-hour job in April as a video-game software analyst, and last month his benefits ran out. He said he has sent out hundreds of resumes to companies such as Facebook Inc. and Sony Corp., received about 50 responses and no offers. “I’m feeling like there’s less jobs out there and more qualified people,” he said in a telephone interview. Now he plans to take night classes at City College of San Francisco to improve his chances.

For congressional Democrats facing challengers in midterm elections next year, the continuing erosion in the job market puts them at political risk. Voters on Nov. 3 overwhelmingly cited unease with the economy and worries about jobs as they ousted the Democratic governor of New Jersey and installed a Republican governor in Virginia after eight years of Democratic rule there. Obama carried both states in 2008.

The entire House of Representatives, 34 senators and 37 governors are up for re-election in 2010.

Since Obama took office in January, the economy has lost 3.49 million jobs. The U.S. economy has lost 7.3 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, when the unemployment rate stood at 4.9 percent.

The administration said last week that the $787 billion stimulus package plan signed into law in February was directly responsible for saving or creating about 640,000 jobs.

Under-Employment Record

The so-called underemployment rate -- which includes part- time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking -- reached a record 17.5 percent from 17 percent in September, today’s report showed.

“We’ve got lots of people just giving up and leaving the labor force,” said Julia Coronado, a former Fed economist who now works at BNP Paribas in New York. “Consumer incomes are under pressure, and that raises questions about the sustainability of the improvement we’ve seen in consumer spending.”

Some people are pulling up stakes and moving to where they think the job prospects may be brighter. Beth Rubin, 41, lost her position as a receptionist at the law firm Goldstein Bershad & Fried, PC in Southfield, Michigan, in October. The resident of Ferndale, a Detroit suburb, is now selling her furniture and moving to Georgia. “I’m looking to get a job in Georgia, and I don’t know about the job market there, but I can tell you Michigan is horrible,” Rubin said in a telephone interview.

Average Work Week

The average work week held at a record low of 33 hours in October, while average weekly earnings rose to $617.76 from $616.11 a month earlier. Workers’ average hourly earnings were 2.4 percent higher than October 2008, the smallest gain since 2004.

Some companies are cutting payrolls amid concern spending will cool as government-assistance programs wane. The New Brunswick, New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest health-products company, said Nov. 3 it will shrink its workforce by as much as 7,000 workers.

Factory payrolls dropped 61,000 after decreasing 45,000 in the prior month, today’s report showed. The median forecast by economists called for a drop of 42,000. The decline included a gain of 4,600 jobs in auto manufacturing and parts industries.

Auto Sales

Sales of cars and light trucks rebounded last month after plunging in the wake of the government’s so-called cash-for- clunkers incentive plan. Vehicles sold at a 10.5 million annual pace in October, up from a 9.2 million rate in September.

Inventories at U.S. wholesalers dropped in September for a 13th consecutive month, a separate report today from the Commerce Department showed, clearing the way for a pickup in orders as sales improve.

Today’s report contained some bright spots. Revisions added 91,000 to payroll figures previously reported for September and August, and the number of temporary workers rose by 34,000, the third consecutive gain.

Payrolls at temporary-help agencies often turn up before total employment because companies are not certain increases in demand will be sustainable enough to warrant the expense of taking on permanent staff.

‘Very Ugly’

“The rise in the unemployment rate is very ugly,” Ethan Harris, head of North America economic research at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in New York.

The U.S. economy expanded last quarter for the first time in a year, growing at a 3.5 percent pace as government incentives spurred consumers to spend more on homes and automobiles.

Some companies are gaining confidence. Deere & Co., the world’s largest maker of agricultural equipment, said last week it’s recalling 452 workers, the majority of manufacturing employees dismissed earlier this year at a factory in Iowa.

Fed officials met in Washington this week and signaled that a return to economic growth alone won’t result in higher interest rates. Economist Joseph LaVorgna of Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. in New York said in a note to clients that the central bank “has never raised rates with unemployment rising.”

Productivity gains may be bad news for job seekers

2009-11-07T23:32:00.001-08:00

Productivity gains may be bad news for job seekers

WASHINGTON — Companies across the economy are finding ways to do more with fewer workers, dimming hopes that hiring will take off anytime soon.

Employers became leaner and more efficient in the third quarter. Wages, meantime, remain flat or falling. The result is that productivity — output per hour of work — jumped at the fastest pace in six years.

The good news for companies, though, may be bad news for the jobless. As long as companies can get their workers to produce more, they have little reason to hire — at least until consumer spending picks up. And the squeeze on incomes could depress consumer spending, putting the economic recovery at risk.

Still, some economists were encouraged by the productivity report. They say that eventually, employers won’t be able to squeeze more from their staffs. They will then have to ramp up hiring — something that could happen next year, even though the jobless rate is expected to hit double digits.

Productivity rose at an annual rate of 9.5 percent in the July-September quarter, the Labor Department said Thursday. That was much better than the 6.4 percent gain economists had expected. Unit labor costs fell at a 5.2 percent rate.

While companies aren’t doing much hiring, they’re not cutting as many workers, either. The number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits last week fell to the lowest level in 10 months.

On Wall Street, the better-than-expected jobless claims report and an upbeat forecast from Cisco Systems Inc. buoyed investors. The Dow Jones industrial average added nearly 204 points to 10,005.96, and broader indexes also gained.

The 9.5 percent productivity rise followed a 6.9 percent surge in the second quarter and was the fastest since a 9.7 percent increase in the third quarter of 2003.

The gain reflected that the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, grew for the first time in a year — at an annual rate of 3.5 percent. The higher output came as companies continued to lay off workers. That meant employers produced more with fewer workers.

The 5.2 percent drop in unit labor costs marked the third straight decline and was larger than the 4 percent decrease economists were expecting.

Productivity is the key ingredient to rising living standards. It lets companies pay their workers higher wages. Those increases tend to be financed by increased output, rather than higher costs for products.

But as they struggled with the recession, companies boosted productivity while continuing to lay off workers. Many produced more goods; others kept their output down but slashed costs. Companies kept wages down by freezing pay or imposing unpaid furloughs.

“Survival meant cutting costs as rapidly as possible and fulfilling orders with the fewest number of workers,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors.

Some companies in hard-hit sectors have managed to boost productivity despite job cuts. They’ve had to find ways to stretch their remaining workers to keep up with demand.

Fein Tool North America, a Cincinnati company that supplies auto parts manufacturers, has cut about 100 workers, or 33 percent of its staff. But Fein president Ralph Hardt said the company can still fill its orders by using more overtime shifts and temporary workers.

“We are asking more of our people than ever before,” he said.

Fein also has made technical changes, including increasing their presses’ strokes per minute so they can stamp more metal.

Hardt said he plans to rehire once the economy picks up again. But he’s hesitant to do so quickly.

“If I see signs of recovery, I am going to hire back, but I am going to be very prudent,” he said.

Elsewhere, Union Pacific has found ways to reduce the number of crews it needs and is using more fuel-efficient locomotives. The rail company also rewarded train engineers who saved fuel on their routes with free gas cards for their personal vehicles, all while furloughing nearly 10 percent of its 45,000 workers.

Naroff said hiring could remain sluggish for months. But other analysts are more optimistic. They were encouraged by the productivity report, noting that companies are starting to reach the limits of how much they can produce with their shrunken work forces.

“We believe businesses will have to start to increase hours worked and payrolls around the turn of the year since they cannot expect their current work force to sustain such rapid productivity growth,” said Michelle Meyer, an economist at Barclays Capital.

The problem is that consumer demand could falter once the government removes the stimulus programs it has put in place, such as record-low interest rates and homebuyer tax credits. Companies could stop hiring if they think demand will slump again.

Temporary surges in labor productivity tend to follow the end of a downturn, said Cliff Waldman, an economist with trade group Manufacturers Alliance.

“You’re having a turn in output from negative to positive with a significantly depleted labor force,” he said. “It gives the illusion that productivity has increased. It’s really just arithmetic more than reality.”

In a separate report, the Labor Department said first-time claims for jobless benefits last week fell by 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted 512,000. That’s better than economists’ estimates of 523,000.

Economists closely watch initial claims, which are considered a gauge of the pace of layoffs and an indication of employers’ willingness to hire new workers.

The four-week average of jobless claims, which smooths fluctuations, dropped to 523,750, its ninth straight decline. That’s 135,000 below the peak for the recession, reached in early April.

Despite the improvement, initial claims remain well above the roughly 400,000 that economists say will signal job creation.

Another 4.1 million people claimed extended unemployment benefits in the week ended Oct. 17, the latest data available, an increase of about 100,000 from the previous week. Congress has added 53 weeks of emergency aid on top of the 26 weeks typically provided by states.

Still, as roughly 7,000 Americans run out of extended benefits every day, Congress has approved legislation that would add another 14 to 20 weeks. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill.

The National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group, estimates that up to 1.3 million people would exhaust their benefits without the extension.

Economists expect the nation lost a net total of 175,000 jobs last month, adding to the 7.2 million lost since the recession began in December 2007. And many expect the jobless rate could rise as high as 10.5 percent before the recovery gains enough steam to start pushing it down next summer.

what happens to your emails after you die?

2009-11-06T09:42:00.001-08:00

Melbourne, Nov 4 (ANI): Saving that parting e-mail from your first love in your inbox? Well, chances are, after you pass away, your spouse and the entire family will know about the long held secret.

This is because web email services like Hotmail and Gmail do not let users specify what should happen to their messages when they die.

In fact, email services owned by Internet giants like Google and Microsoft have a policy of keeping your data after you die and letting your next of kin or the executor of your estate access it. These services can hold tens of thousands of messages.

Accounts with Google's Gmail can hold up to 7GB - or roughly 70,000 emails with a small to medium picture attached to each and they archive the messages you've written as well as received.

When it comes to deleting the data, Microsoft's Hotmail will remove an account if it is inactive for 270 days, while Gmail leaves the responsibility to the next of kin.

Of the top three providers, only Yahoo! refuses to supply emails to anyone after the user has died. The user's next of kin can ask for the account to be closed, but cannot gain access to it.

A Yahoo! spokesperson said the only exception to this rule would be if the user specified otherwise in their will.

Meanwhile, social-networking site Facebook has recently publicised a feature called memorialisation that lets the family of deceased users keep their profile page online as a virtual tribute.

MySpace, on the other hand, says it addresses the issue of family access to sensitive data on a "case by case basis".

A spokesperson for MySpace could not rule out letting a user's next of kin log into their profile - potentially giving them access to private messages. (ANI)

infosys ahead of the world sonia gandi

2009-11-06T09:31:00.003-08:00

Software major Infosys is a "stunning reminder" of what Indian talent, ingenuity and hard work can accomplish, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi said today.

"You have shown to India and the world that an Indian company Cannot just be world class, but be ahead of the rest of the world", the Congress President said after inaugurating the company's Global Education Centre-II here.

She said the success of Infosys, India's second largest software exporter, should not be measured in Dollars alone, but in the difference it makes in transforming a society for the better.

Praising the Indian IT industry, Gandhi said the success of Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and other companies had changed the lives of millions of Indians and propelled the country's economy to a record-breaking growth.

Gandhi also spoke of the enabling environment created by the state government for the growth of Indian IT companies.

She recalled the "temples of modern India" established by former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and the groundwork laid down by her husband Rajiv Gandhi for the "revolution" in Communication and Information Technology.

Rajiv Gandhi faced "bitter political opposition" to his vision, not just in introduction of computers, but his greater challenge was on the "mindshift" of people in terms of accepting new ideas, she said.

Infosys Wipro in race for deals

2009-11-06T09:31:00.001-08:00

Infosys Technologies, Wipro and HCL Technologies are among the software service providers that are laying foundation for the next round of multi-million dollar orders from the big US corporations, by pitching for low-value, but politically important US state governments’ orders.

Infosys, which counts JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley as clients for its services, bids for Arizona Public Service’s (APS) 400 positions, who work in its information-services department, and another 400 or so contractors to raise the staff strength for undisclosed amount.

Nine other US states, some from where politicians opposed offshoring work, are looking to outsource their healthcare operations worth over $2 billion, said Wipro chief strategy officer KR Lakshminarayana, and the company hopes to get a slice of these.

“The discussions are not about offshore outsourcing, but more about working with newer outsourcing vendors, who can deliver locally and keep the jobs here at lower rates,” said a senior executive at one of the Bangalore-based tech firms exploring this opportunity. Many US states such as Missouri, Virginia and Arizona, which are battling falling revenues amid the worst economic slump in their country since the 1930s, are attempting to reduce costs and at the same time want to increase employment opportunities for their citizens. So, they are including clauses such as recruitment of minimum number of staff from their states.

Indian companies, which were used to contracts of hundreds of million-dollars at one go, are bidding for these low-value orders since their traditional clients are cutting down on technology spending and at the same time provides visibility, which would be helpful in getting big orders when tech spending recovers.

“The marketing muscle that comes from such contracts is huge and working with the US state governments send out a signal of importance to other customers,” said Siddharth Pai, managing director of outsourcing advisory firm TPI’s India unit. “For the Indian IT companies this is not a core business, but it creates a halo effect,” he added.

While the global government IT outsourcing market is estimated to be around $100 billion, experts tracking the sector said the US state governments could outsource projects worth up to $5-6 billion this year. States, which in the past opposed the outsourcing of work to Indian companies by the likes of Microsoft and Citigroup, are now turning to the same Indian companies, as their mission now is in line with that of the companies cut costs.

Rodney Nelsestuen of US-based research firm TowerGroup, said state governments in the US are suffering from a reduction in tax revenue due to high unemployment and lower spending on taxable items by the US consumers. “Significant budget cuts are making it difficult for states to maintain the level of services that residents expect. Outsourcing has become an option that governments are looking at,” he added.

The orders from these state governments are for maintenance of records, accounts, healthcare and other administrative jobs, said a consulting firm engaged with a few governments.

Indian companies are not worried about the fact that they may be at a disadvantage to their US peers such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard, which are more familiar with the functioning of the local governments. “As long as you have the competency and ability to deliver what they want and from where they want, you are as competitive as your local peer,” said Wipro’s Mr Lakshminarayana. Wipro already has a $407-million deal from the state of Missouri for application, maintenance and development (AMD) and BPO work for the state’s healthcare division, which it bagged in December 2007.

“They always ask us how many local jobs will we create and that sometimes is an important factor,” he added. TCS, Wipro, Infosys and Cognizant are among a few vendors, who have already hired local citizens. TCS has hired 120 people for its centre in Cincinnati.

“The level of success that India-based outsourcers will have in the future rests on their ability to add local talent, their ability to be viewed as global service companies and not just India-centric, and how quickly they assimilate government requirements – something India-based companies should be good at given their outsourcing history on a global and multi-industry scale,” said Mr Nelsestuen.

Infosys Overhired

2009-11-06T09:30:00.003-08:00

Infosys Technologies Ltd, India's second-ranked software exporter, said the business environment is challenging and clients are cautious in spending, although pressure for price cuts has eased.

The company, which employs more than 100,000 people, is not seeing any reason to accelerate hiring at this point of time due to the uncertain business environment, Chief Operating Officer Shibulal said.

" We are very honestly over-hired ," he said. "There is a very slight blip of activity, but there is nothing to tell me it (a recovery) is secular in nature."

Hopes of a pick-up in demand for outsourcing, which had been hit by the global downturn, increased after major Indian IT firms including Infosys beat street estimates in their April-June earnings and announced some large deals in the recent months.

But Infosys officials said that decision making by clients continued to be slow. "The situation is still quite challenging," S D Shibulal said. "If you look at our customers, they are not really seeing any increase on their revenue side. And because they are not seeing any increase on their revenue side, they will continue to be concerned."

The head of Nasscom, India's leading IT industry lobby, said signs of recovery in the United States were yet to translate into real business growth for outsourcing firms, though a pick-up was expected in the second half of the year.

Infosys Chief Executive S Gopalakrishnan said he expected technology spending by the company's clients to be flat in 2010 from the previous year. Ahead of the news, shares in the company valued at about $27 billion, closed up 0.9 per cent, underperforming a 1.5 per cent rise in the benchmark index. The company's shares have doubled so far in 2009, outperforming a 70 per cent rise in the broader market.

Large deals yet to come
Infosys has forecast its first annual revenue fall for the year to March 2010 on demand for fee cuts by its overseas clients. Most negotiations with clients on price cuts was over and the company was not seeing a second round of such talks, Shibulal said, but large deal flows were yet to resume.

"Overall, deals above $500 million which used to be there before the downturn, they have not reappeared in significant manner," he said. Infosys and local rivals Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro last month won IT services contracts from oil and gas major BP Plc.

Shibulal said Infosys' share of the contract was worth $116 million over five years.

Indian Outsourcing Workers stressed to the limit

2009-11-06T09:30:00.001-08:00

The outsourcing industry has brought jobs and prosperity to India - but, asks Saritha Rai, at what cost to workers' well being?

The cheery, chatty voice at the other end of your customer care helpline may be a stressed-out, sleep-deprived and depressed twenty-something in Bangalore.

As many young people in India's outsourcing industry are beginning to discover, underneath the heady promise of an exciting job, a good paycheck and attractive career prospects lie long spells of night shifts, ruthless targets and the dreadful monotony of writing code or pacifying angry customers.

The outsourcing industry has long been hailed as a key driver to India's rise as a global economic power. Now, that growth is beginning to take its toll on its workers who labour for long hours in stressful work environments to meet tight deadlines for customers thousands of miles away.

Workers are suffering from obesity, sleep disorders, depression and broken relationships - problems which can lead to more serious conditions such as diabetes or heart disease. In a country where a public healthcare system is virtually non-existent, overworked outsourcing employees could present a health crisis in the making.

The troubles have worsened since the start of the global economic downturn last year. Employees are now particularly worried about job security. They watch anxiously as colleagues get axed from their jobs and their own salaries get slashed.

Karuna Baskar, director at 1to1help.net, a Bangalore-based counseling firm, says there is a recent rise in the number of workers coming in with mental issues like depression, bi-polar disorder and suicidal tendencies.

Many workers struggle to make the transition from the college campus to the office environment and find they cannot cope with the stress, says Aashu Calapa, executive vice president of human resources for outsourcing firm Firstsource Solutions. The industry loses a slice of its workers solely to work stress, he says.

Ash (not his real name), an employee with a multinational firm's captive outsourced unit in Bangalore, has just been discharged from a week's stay in the hospital. Ironically, he prides himself for being near-religious about eating correctly and getting adequate sleep and exercise.

But in the end, all it took was a schedule that went out-of-whack for a week for him to land up in the hospital with acute gastric problems. The doctors advised him to ease off alcohol and better manage work stress.

Ash, who has worked night shifts during his entire four-year career at the back office firm, believes he got away lightly.

His friends suffer from migraines, backaches, insomnia and anxiety attacks. The causes are a combination of long work hours, disrupted eating and sleeping schedules, a fondness for junk food and deadline pressure, he says.

Many outsourcing workers are in their early 20s, just out of college and in their first jobs, and often feel they are invincible. But partying, shopping and living a reckless life on new found economic freedom soon begin to take their toll.

During the weekends, to relieve a week's pressure at work and to keep up with peers, they often indulge in chain smoking and binge drinking.

Not everybody is tough enough to handle the pressure and the lifestyle. Along with health, the invariable casualty is family and relationships, says Baskar whose confidential counseling service sees a surfeit of 19- to 29-year-olds with issues like loneliness, relationship problems and marriage breakdowns.

Globalization and the outsourcing industry in particular have brought rapid and enormous changes in the culture of India cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune. In the homes of outsourcing workers, clashes over the traditional system of arranged marriages and the working woman's domestic role are common.

The industry is concerned, says Firstsource's Calapa. Firstsource provides on-call counselors and quality checks on food served to workers - and is currently considering a proposal to offer workers options for their work hours and workdays.

Other companies are doing their bit too, providing counselors, doctors and nutritionists, as well as gym facilities and medical insurance. However, many young workers simply ignore the help available to them.

Outsourcing worker Ash looks back and rues that he entered the job market so young. He now thinks he would have liked to pursue graduate studies. But now he is in, he feels there is no quick exit from the outsourcing industry and wants to stay healthy and get ahead.

Foreign Banks Cut Workforce in India

2009-11-06T09:29:00.001-08:00

Foreign and private banks have been cutting down on their workforce in India, according to the profile of banks that Reserve Bank of India released on Wednesday.

The report on the key financial indicators of the bank shows how banks those were on a hiring spree until 2007-08, sacked people to contain costs and improve profitability.

In the case of foreign banks, some such as Standard Chartered, HSBC and ABN Amro have cut their workforce by a few hundred numbers, while private banks, such as ICICI Bank, reduced its workforce by almost 5,500 from 40,686 employees in 2007-08 to 34,597 in 2008-09.

The economic downturn that hit major financial institutions in the country in the past year also affected banks. With the rise in non-performing assets and reducing loan growth, banks were forced to implement a series of cost cutting measures, including trimming of workforce.

According to the report, banks like HDFC and Axis have, however, been recruiting people as their total number of employees has gone up year-on-year. The report that highlights business figures of all the scheduled commercial banks showed a rise in the employee force of all the nationalised banks. Reduced workforce reflected in higher number of business and profit per employee for all the major scheduled commercial banks.

Some Hiring Some Firing

2009-11-06T09:28:00.003-08:00

The economic downturn may have led to heavy job losses in many sectors, but the situation perhaps isn't that gloomy when looking at all the industries together as an average of five companies expanded their workforce for every four cutting down on their staff size.

An analysis of regulatory disclosures about workforces made by companies in India shows that more than half of them hired employees- some in thousands and many in hundreds- even as many others pruned their employee-strength last fiscal.

Out of close to 450 companies for whom employee figures are available for the past two fiscals, the workforce grew for nearly 250 firms, according to an analysis of workforce details compiled by financial data provider Capitalline, which tracks these details from annual reports and other regulatory filings by the companies for their financials.

Together, these companies added more than 1.5 lakh employees during the latest financial year to their workforce, representing a growth of about 7 per cent from about 19.7 lakh in the previous fiscal.

However, this analysis does not take into account the changes in workforce in the current fiscal year which began in April 2009 for a majority of the companies and in January this year for some. There have been reports that many job losses have occurred in the current fiscal year also and these are not reflected in this analysis.

Hiring tools for Firing

2009-11-06T09:28:00.001-08:00

With a dip in recruitments in the face of economic slowdown, skill assessment tools have now assumed a new and more ‘structured’ role — to help companies internally gauge the capabilities of an existing employee and decide whether he should be trained further, promoted or sacked.

Though the use of these tools for recruitment purposes has taken a back seat now, their demand for internal assessment tests has gone up, said Madan Padaki, CEO of MeriTrac Services. “The ball is now in the employer’s court. He has more choices as the availability of talent in the marketplace is more,” he said.

Skill assessment solution providers are witnessing a 20 to 25 per cent increase in demand from employers for assessing their workforce despite the fact that many of them have become leaner during the downturn, said R Kannan, CEO of Assess People.

“MertiTrac has been handling 90,000-125,000 assessments a month for the past two years. The firm has noticed a sharp rise in enquiries from IT/ITeS, BFSI and retail companies during the past six months. From around 10 enquiries in a quarter, a year ago, MeritTrac has received 25 enquiries for internal assessments each during the last two quarters,” said Padaki.

“Looking at the nature of questions framed for assessment tests, it is evident that at least 25 per cent of them were used to find non-performers, which could be used for downsizing purposes. This trend started only post-October last year,” said Padaki.

Almost 60 per cent of the demand is from IT and ITeS companies.

Organisations are focusing on three areas — effectiveness of training, a framework to determine employee retention and promotion and mapping their career path.

siemens to Layoff

2009-11-06T09:27:00.001-08:00

German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG is planning job cuts "in some business areas or at some locations," its CEO was quoted as telling weekly Welt an Sonntag today.

Siemens CEO Peter Loescher said that because of the financial crisis, "some parts of our business areas have had a decline of orders by up to 70 per cent."

"In this case, one can't just stand on the sidelines and watch," Loescher said, adding that the Munich-based company had to take the necessary steps to react to the crisis.

He did not elaborate where or when the company would lay off employees or how many people would be affected.

"It will take a long time until there will be an expansion of our capacities again, like the one during the boom years of 2007 and 2008," Loescher was quoted as telling the paper.

Infosys BPO 22 Centres in AP

2009-11-06T09:26:00.001-08:00

Infosys BPO Limited, a subsidiary of IT major Infosys, signed an agreement with the Andhra Pradesh government to set up rural BPO centres in 22 districts of the state.

Infosys BPO Limited CEO and Managing Director Amitabh Chaudhry and State Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty CEO T Vijaya Kumar signed an MoU in this regard in the presence of Chief Minister K Rosaiah.

"The first such BPO centre will be set up in the next six weeks which will provide a testing ground for this model. The capital expenditure and other details will be worked out subsequently," Chaudhry said adding that all the 22 districts would have one BPO each.

"Over 1,000 people would get direct employment through the rural BPO centers in the next 12-15 months. Statistics suggest that direct employment generates 1.4 times indirect employment as well," he added.

Noting that Andhra Pradesh would be the first state where Infosys would be setting such facilities, Chaudhary said, "We are in talks with some other states as well for similar ventures but I can't disclose the names at this stage".

Google Chrome Leaked

2009-11-06T09:25:00.005-08:00

Google asked people not to believe the leaked version of Chrome operating system. Recently, Google announced that it is coming up with its own OS, and after that there have been rumors about a leaked version being available for download. The 'leaked version' is a fake that is not related to Google at all.

Even a trusted source like Gizmodo has perpetuated the myth that Chrome is available. Its tough when there is so much pressure to be the first to publish a breaking news story. Gizmodo recently reported a story of alleged Chrome operating system screen shots, but later updated the story to state that it was verified as a fake. Gizmodo pushed the story of the fake download with a story titled Google Chrome OS Now Available, Go Get It .

The number of sites and individuals who are propagating the story is lending credibility to the false rumor. A quick scan of Twitter or a quick search of the Web will lead to all sorts of seemingly reputable sources talking about the availability of the Chrome OS beta. Most of the excitement though can be traced back to Gizmodo. It is a trusted source of breaking tech news and it doesn't take much for an announcement on Gizmodo to go viral on Twitter and blog sites.

The site in question appears legitimate in so much as it is actually on the google.com domain. The site lists features like a GNOME desktop, Google Picassa integration, and a Flash Player plugin. It comes complete with a few Google logos scattered about.

However, it is actually a product of Google Sites. Basically, someone created a page with Google Sites which points to sites.google.com and populated it with basic information about the Chrome OS which could be extracted from publicly available details Google has shared, then added a link to download some other completely unrelated tool.

To be fair, the site owner did include a disclaimer at the bottom stating "Chrome OS is not related to Google. Service is provided by SUSE Studio. Seethe license." Google has since disabled the site for violating the Google Sites terms of service.

Chrome sounds like it has promise, although the operating system market is a tough sell that is already filled with dominating players like Microsoft and Apple. Of course, Google hasn't shied away from head-to-head battles with either of those companies in other arenas like Web search, mobile phone operating systems, or web browsers.

In the meantime, if a guy in a dark alley whispers that he has an early version of Chrome OS available, there is good reason to be suspicious. Google may have shut down this fake Chrome OS site, but others are sure to follow. If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, its probably a duck. Check your sources and exercise some common sense before you rush to download a fake, and potentially malicious, Chrome OS.

Premji Assures French Employees

2009-11-06T09:25:00.003-08:00

Wipro Chairman Azim Premji today assured the French government that the 60-odd employees working with the company’s wireless IT division in Sophia Antipolis would receive support, even as it plans to exit the wireless intelllectual property (IP) product business.

During his discussion with Christian Estrosi, ministry of industry (Paris), Premji said: “We reiterate our commitment to France, a key growth market for Wipro. We look forward to growing our presence, serving our customers effectively and creating employment opportunities in the country.”

He explained that his company had implemented exemplary social measures to support the employees at the Sophia Antipolis centre who were affected due to Wipro’s worldwide exit from the IP connectivity business. These measures include support to encourage employment and entrepreneurship, as well as financial benefits.

During the discussion, Estrosi reiterated a “strong attachment to the fact that all the employees of Sophia’s centre can find again a professional future as quickly as possible, through solutions of employee take over and/or of company creation carried by employees”.

Talking to mediapersons during the company’s quarterly results announcement this week, Wipro officials had stated that the company had come to an amicable settlement with the affected employees in France. As a part of this, Wipro had offered the IP developed at the centre to the affected employees at Sophia Antipolis free of charge. Besides, the company had offered its office space and equipment free for charge to those employees for one year.

Since the last three years, Wipro has implemented its development plan for its IT services in the French market. Christophe Martinoli, head of France, Wipro Technologies, said the company intended to double its staff base and revenues in France in the next 18 months.

Mahindra Satyam Bags 300 Million USD Deal

2009-11-06T09:19:00.001-08:00

hyderabad: Mahindra Satyam has won an IT outsourcing contract from Swedish defence and aerospace firm, Saab, to develop its operations for the global defence and security market in India in a deal valued at around $300 million.

The contract, which is spread over a period of five years, encompasses engineering services and technology maintenance and will enable both the companies jointly to address the Battlefield Management System (BMS) for the Indian Army.

Mahindra Satyam has already initiated the setting up of a centre of excellence for network centric warfare (CoE - NCW), which will offer comprehensive skills and a repository of tools, systems, middleware, integration platforms and system showcases in the field of NCW.

The company through the CoE hopes to tap the high potential market for nationwide security, for which the Indian government has large investment plans. "This relationship will jumpstart our foray in mission critical areas of defense. Our commitment in the domestic market will be reaffirmed by this collaboration and also set the stage to enter uncharted territories in the global arena," said C P Gurnani, CEO, Mahindra Satyam.

The centre, which will be accessible to both the partners, is for mission critical applications and Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence solutions for global opportunities. The capabilities of the centre will also span areas of homeland security to provide end to end security solutions.

"We view this relationship with Mahindra Satyam as a strategic meeting of two highly skilled teams believing in technical and engineering excellence," said Ake Svensson, President and CEO for Saab. Mahindra Satyam, which counts Citigroup, GE, GlaxoSmithKline, Cisco Systems and Nissan among its top five clients, has over 430 clients now.

Outsourcing Rises: Captives

2009-11-06T09:18:00.001-08:00

Mumbai: The top multinationals banks continue to set up new back office units or expand their existing captive operations in India, even as the model is under criticism for being high cost and less efficient than third-party vendor operations.

Organizations such as Wells Fargo, Ingersoll Rand and Standard Chartered are setting up or expanding their back-office centres in India, reports The Economic Times.

For example, Standard Chartered is setting up a new Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) centre in Bangalore, while Wells Fargo is expanding its captive operations in India for technology services and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

According to MarketVista, a Dallas based Everest Research Institute, these three are among the 11 firms that have set up new units or added more staff to their existing units in India during the September quarter, taking the number of captives being set up globally to an 18 month high. Around 28 firms are setting up captive operations in Asia, Europe, and Latin America with India being the most popular destination.

"The numbers of new captives being set up are far more than divestures, indicating a revival in the market," Ameet Singh, Vice President, Global Delivery, Everest. German firm Kontron, one of the world's largest manufacturers of embedded computer technology and a supplier to Original Equipment Manufacturers, is also setting up a contact centre in Bangalore to provide sale and tech support to its Asia-Pacific operations.

"Near-term economic pressures that were there earlier have been reduced. But organisations that reviewed their global sourcing agenda could still be looking at the same outcome, a modified strategy or a more intensive one," said Singh.

The September quarter also saw four captive divestures; UBS' captive to Cognizant Technology Services, AIG's to Mphasis, Schneider Logistics to EXL Services and Kyocera Wireless to MindTree.

According to Singh, the market for outsourcing transactions is seeing two counter forces; lower business volumes and opportunity to reduce costs.

"The companies are attempting to push the envelope further in terms of costs leading to offshoring and outsourcing," said Singh. Based on publicly disclosed transactions, the overall numbers of transactions have fallen to 422 in the September quarter from 467 in the past quarter but contracts from sectors such as financial services have almost doubled from the previous quarter, according to Everest's research.

Apart from financial services, sectors such as healthcare, travel and energy and utilities are also seeing significant rise in demand for offshoring.

"Although there was a marginal decline of 10 percent in the reported global transaction volumes (BPO volumes decreasing by 14 percent and IT sourcing activity reducing by 8 percent), there were signs of improvement in key geographies and verticals," said Everest in the study.

Microsoft Lays off 800

2009-11-06T09:17:00.001-08:00

Seattle: Microsoft is going to sack at least 800 emoployees across its operations, on top of the 5,000 jobs it already eliminated under a plan to reduce costs that was announced in January. A spokesman for the software giant said that the latest job cuts are spread across the company's global operations, but about 200 are in and around its headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

According to Reuters, Microsoft originally had planned to cut 5,000 jobs, or about five percent out of 96,000, before June 2010. The Microsoft Spokesman said that the plan has been expanded with the new layoffs and is now complete, well ahead of schedule.

As of October 23, Microsoft had 91,005 employees worldwide, according to its website.

IT Biggies after Foreign Grads

2009-11-06T09:16:00.001-08:00

Mumbai: Indian IT companies are attracting talent from German, Swiss and Austrian universities to work in India as paid interns. Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant and Mindtree are among the nine companies that have taken the lead by joining hands with the Frankfurt-based Vibe Internships to create 50 paid internship positions in Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, said Dr Karl Kurbel, Project Supervisor of Vibe Internships and Head of the Business Informatics Chair at the European University Viadrina (EUV) to Business Line.

The interns will be paid between 150 euro and 600 euro (approximately Rs. 10,000-Rs. 40,000) a month for three- to six-month projects for business development, test automation, software development. Unlike U.S., European countries have been a bit reserved when it comes to sending people to India due to cultural issues and linguistic barriers.

Indian IT firms are evaluating this initiative in the context of their market development and brand building strategy for Germany. "As part of our brand building initiatives in Germany, we will get these interns to work out of our centers here as a result of which they will gain considerable exposure to the global delivery model. Our endeavor is to hire the best of these interns for client facing operations in Germany," said Nandita Gurjar, Senior Vice-President and Global HR Head, Infosys Technologies.

As of 2008, the market for IT services in Germany was 33 billion euro. While the case for offshore services is slowly registering in the minds of German managers, only a very few really believe it is a strategic imperative.

This program could help clear misgiving about offshoring causing job losses, as the participating offshore firms will create a significant number of new employment opportunities for top talent in Germany, said Peter Schumacher, President and CEO of Value Leadership Group, a strategic management consultancy firm, which advised Prof Kurbel and Vibe Internships for the initiative.

Puneet Jetli, Head, People Function, at the Bangalore-based Mindtree Consulting, said the company was still working out the stipend details for the initiative. "We will try to structure the stipend in such a way that the interns can help recover the costs as well as see a bit of India," he said.

Cognizant, Hexaware and L&T Infotech have also agreed to participate in this internship program.

IT Sector 80000 Grads

2009-11-06T09:15:00.003-08:00

Kolkata: Software industry body, Nasscom expects at least 70,000-80,000 engineering graduates who passed out in June 2009 and were offered jobs in their 5th and 6th semesters by TCS, Infosys and Accenture, among others, to get absorbed by March 2010. Not too long ago, there were apprehensions that the appointments of these tech grads could get deferred till 2011 in the aftermath of the global slowdown. However, the perception appears to have changed.

Speaking to Economic Times, Nasscom Vice-President Sangeeta Gupta said, "There's some amount of pick-up in IT spending and clients have become active in the decision-making process. This augurs well for the IT industry and is likely to result in hiring by IT companies. Companies like TCS, Infosys and Accenture, among others, are expected to start honouring the offers they made. As a result, at least 70k-80k engineering graduates, who were issued offer letters, are expected to get absorbed by March 2010."

For instance, the country's biggest software firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) had made some 24,000 offers in 2008-09, according to its Q2 analyst call. The company had indicated that it would honour these offers this fiscal. In Q3, TCS is expected to absorb about 8,000-odd, and the balance, in the following quarter. Till Q2, the company had absorbed some 1,800 people.

Similarly, Infosys, in its Q2 earnings call, indicated that it would add 20,000 people instead of 18,000 indicated earlier. The additional 2,000 would be partly in BPO while the rest would make up laterals at Infosys Technologies.

Incidentally, Nasscom has urged member companies to recruit those who've completed their eighth semester to ensure that hiring is closer to the need of companies. For this fiscal, Nasscom has projected a mere 4-7 percent export growth. It is likely, that with IT sector showing signs of recovery, Nasscom will review the export target. "We can review the export target by end- December," she added.

McKinsey in its report titled 'Perspectives in the IT industry by 2020', has noted that with the current pace of reforms and expected constraints in talent and infrastructure supply, the exports component of the Indian IT industry is slated to reach $175 billion in revenues by 2020. The domestic component will contribute $50 billion in revenues by 2020, which is larger than the total export revenues for India now.

L&T Infotech In talks to acquire Patni

2009-11-06T09:15:00.001-08:00

Bangalore: L&T Infotech, a part of Rs. 40,000 crore engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T), is in advanced talks to acquire a majority shareholding in Patni Computer Services, the country's sixth largest software firm. According to sources close to the development, L&T has already completed the necessary diligence and form of the deal is being worked out, reports The Financial Express.

"L&T Infotech has been in talks with Patni for some time now. We have already completed due diligence," confirmed a senior L&T source, requesting anonymity.

The development has come after all three Patni brothers - Narendra Kumar, Gajendra Kumar and Ashok Kumar, finally decided to sell. The Patni brothers together hold around 48.30 percent stake.

In 2007, talks for a similar sale had ended in a standstill, as only Gajendra and Ashok were willing to give their holdings. Narendra has been actively involved in running the business, was not willing to give his share.

Another factor for a sale at this time is that General Atlantic also wants to exit from the company. The private equity firm has about 18 percent stake and had invested $100 million in Patni in September 2002.
The sources from industry said Patni hired Ambit Capital to conduct a valuation of the company.

The analysts said the size of the deal could vary around $1-1.5 billion. The share price of the company has been hovering at around Rs. 450 and it is likely to get Rs. 550-600 per share. Patni's scrip closed at Rs. 456.95, up 4.70 percent, on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Wednesday.

"The company has $380 million in cash and equivalents on its books, so an offer price in the range of $1-1.5 billion would be fair," said an IT analyst. Patni had reported revenues of $718.9 million in the last financial year.

"This is a rumor and we do not comment on speculation," said Surjeet Singh, CFO, Patni Computers in an email response.

"I do not want to comment on speculation in the media," said Sudip Banerjee, CEO, L&T Infotech.

According to sources, if L&T Infotech acquires Patni, it would make the combined entity the fifth-largest software firm in India. L&T Infotech is currently stands at 11th place.

However, after been hit by TechMahindra in the bidding for fraud-hit Satyam Computer Services in April, L&T Infotech is being cautious about the Patni deal. But according to analysts, it could not afford to step too cautiously. "L&T Infotech has to move fast. Once the market goes up, say beyond the 20,000 mark, Patni or any other IT company will become a difficult buy," said a source.

AM Naik, Chairman and Managing Director, had said in an interview that he plans to make L&T Infotech a $1-billion company. Facing pressure on revenues from the infrastructure and construction sectors over the last one year because of the economic slowdown, L&T has focused on new drivers of growth, including infotech, power and oil and gas.

Wipro buys Yardley's byusiness

2009-11-06T09:13:00.003-08:00

Bangalore: Wipro has brought 229 year old British brand Yardley's business in select markets such as India, Asia, Australiasia, Middle East and north and west Africa to stretch its personal care portfolio to the premium range.

Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting, the consumer products arm of the software firm, has taken up Yardley business across these areas for $45.5 million (Rs. 215 crore), continuing its takeover spree that included Unza.

"We picked up a lot of debt from Unza's balance sheet when we acquired it. Yardley is a profitable brand and will add to our operating margins which are at 10-13 percent," said Vineet Agrawal, President, Wipro Consumer Care.

Being controlled by British billionaire Mike Jatania, Lornamead had acquired the Yardley brand in September 2005 for 60 million pounds. It will retain the Yardley business in Europe and America. Funded by internal accruals, this deal will enable Wipro straddle different price points and give it greater bargaining power for key accounts in certain markets.

"Yardley is a great fit for Wipro if it wants to go beyond Santoor to include more premium brands. Synergies will improve if Wipro took a bottoms-up approach of gearing its sales force and partners towards this change to premium range," said Anand Ramanathan, FMCG Analyst, KPMG.

Yardley's Lavender talcum-to-soap range is priced around 50 percent higher than the costliest brand in Wipro's existing portfolio, Unza's Enchanteur range. This move will also strategically surge Wipro Consumer Care's foothold in high growth markets such as the Middle East where its overall revenue is projected to double to $30-35 million. The Middle East contributes 70 percent to the acquisitions revenues, with 20 percent coming from India and the remainder from other Asian markets.

Wipro is also in plans to increase the product range under the Yardley brand. "We see certain gaps in Yardley's product range such as body washes and deodorant roll-ons, which we feel could be added to increase relevance with the youth. We are also evaluating the manufacture of Yardley products such as soaps through our factories," said Agarwal.

The company plans to leverage its distribution reach across 50,000 outlets in metros and tier-I cities to grow the brand in India and sees cost efficiencies rising out of merging common suppliers. Wipro Consumer Care has made a series of acquisitions in the past six years.

Wipro arrived on the acquisition stage in 2003 by picking up Hindustan Unilever's glucose drink brand Glucovita. It bought Kerala based ayurvedic brand Chandrika after one year and Delhi based North West Switchgear's switches business in 2006.

Wipro Consumer Care division came into limelight in 2007 with its $246 million purchase of Singapore based personal care firm Unza Holdings, which has a significant presence across South-East Asian markets. This deal will see Wipro Consumer Care's contribution to the parent's top line growing by 50 basis points. In the second quarter, the consumer-care division notched up eight percent of Wipro's overall revenues. Wipro's stock closed at Rs. 598.30 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, a rise of 0.42 percent on Thursday.

Wipro buys Yardley's byusiness

2009-11-06T09:13:00.001-08:00

TCS Hires 300 for US Center

2009-11-06T09:12:00.001-08:00

Mumbai: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has hired around 300 associates for its North America Domestic Delivery Center, TCS Seven Hills Park. Seven Hills Park provides a wide-range of IT solutions, consulting, business process outsourcing and engineering services for TCS customers across industries including banking and financial services, life-science and health care, as well as manufacturing and retail.

"I welcome these new associates into the TCS family and am sure they will help our customers achieve even greater success in the future," TCS's Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, N Chandrasekaran, said.

TCS Seven Hills Park is also the location of TCS's new North American Training Center. Over the last several months, more than 225 associates have joined the company from top universities throughout the country, the release said. TCS has over 1,40,000 trained IT consultants in 42 countries.

Google better than Microsoft say students

2009-11-03T19:52:00.001-08:00

Bangalore: Google is more attractive employer than Microsoft according to the first global index of employer attractiveness by Universum. Google tops the list of Global Top 50 Business and the Global Top 50 Engineering employer. As compared to Google, Microsoft is on the third position on the Global Top 50 Business for attractive employers. After Google, PricewaterhouseCoopers is on the second spot in the Global Top 50 Engineering employers list.

Universum's global index of employer attractiveness is designed to assess the world's most powerful employer brands. Google is, by far, the ideal company to work for according to 120,000 students from top academic institutions worldwide. The positions occupied by the Google and Microsoft are clear indications of their success related to talent attraction and retention.

"These companies in the Top 50 really work with employer branding strategically. The Big Four, for example, are all in the top 10 business ranking, as they have employer branding as part of their business strategy. Many associate their corporate brands to people. This is normal for the service industry, but it's a new approach for other companies. These companies are in the Top 50 because they are focused, consistent and differentiate themselves in their communication." said Michal Kalinowski, CEO of Universum to Softpedia.

Students from U.S., Japan, China, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Russia, Spain, Canada, and India have helped define the world's top 50 most attractive employers, Universum explained. In this regard, the list with the best employers to work for emphasizes the globalization of the talent market. Google, Microsoft and IBM are, in this context, attractive employers because students are aiming for an international career with multinational companies capable of offering secure employment.

But what can be other reasons to be attracted more towards Google. Here are few good reason: The campus in Mountain View strictly follows the company's founders, Sergei Brin and Larry Page, orders that food (it's free) should not be away more than 150 feet from the employees. So, Google runs 11 free gourmet cafeterias and scores of snack rooms, which contain cereals, candy, nuts, yogurt, carrots, fresh fruit and other snacks, and dozens of drinks, including soda and make-your-own cappuccino.

If an employee wants to buy a hybrid car, Google pays up to $5,000 to the employee for environmentally friendly effort. If employee has a baby, Google pays $500 to buy baby stuff. Drop off laundry and get it dry cleaned for free. Get onsite free massage and haircut, and an oil change or wash for the car. Work is such a cosy place that it's difficult for Google employees to leave office.

Mid Tier IT Companies eye local deals worth 2 Billion USD

2009-11-03T19:51:00.001-08:00

Mumbai: As the big companies are chasing the lucrative domestic market, the mid tier technology firms like Patni Computer Systems and Hexaware are attempting to enter the market by jointly bidding with experienced bidders, reports The Economic Times.

The Indian government departments and other state owned firms will spend around $2 billion on IT during the next 12 months. Hexaware, MindTree and Patni are among the many mid-tier technology firms seeking to explore new business with an experienced partner.

For instance, Hexaware is pursuing some large deals as part of a consortium and several smaller ones on its own. Its strategy for the Indian market will be different from its strategy for overseas markets, said Hexaware's Vice Chairman and CEO, PR Chandrasekar.

"If we treat India as just another location for our services, it will not work. It will need fairly dedicated focus and some innovation on how we source talent and price our offerings. You also need to leverage your niche capabilities, especially if you are not one of the big players," said Chandrasekar, who was earlier with Wipro.

For putting better focus on the Indian market, companies such as Hexaware and Patni have recently formed focused business units. As Narendra Upasani heads Hexaware's India business, Deepak Khosla is responsible for growing Patni's revenues from the country.

Hexaware will work as part of a consortium because the large contracts in the government and public sector projects usually require the bidder to have a track record in executing similar projects.

Guru Malladi, a Partner at Ernst & Young said it will be challenging for mid tier technology firms to take on bigger rivals. "A Rs. 5,000 crore project, for example, can never be delivered by a single player. But I do see an element of challenge for mid-size players who have so far not operated in the domestic market. Large players have to sometimes rely on small players but they may not see value in mid-size players in terms of cost or efficiency arbitrage," said Malladi.

"Globally, this kind of scale is not available anywhere, even if it may not be the largest in revenues," said Jeya Kumar, CEO, Patni Computer.

Like Hexaware, Patni is also chasing contracts in the domestic market as part of a consortium. "With the kind of large deal sizes we are seeing, you have to have a multi-vendor strategy," added Kumar. Apart from the government, Hexaware will focus on sectors like travel and transport, insurance, hospitality and logistics, and technology offerings across sectors.

According to Malladi, the mid size players have to be more strategic in their outlook using their skills to enter the market. Hexaware, along with others like Patni and MindTree are turning towards India, drawn by the large opportunity and significant growth potential.

Entry Level Salaries Down by 20% in IT

2009-11-03T19:50:00.001-08:00

Bangalore: One may boast of being employed in IT in the current scene, however they have to work twice as much for getting an interview and the annual salary is peanuts compared to earlier days. A worsening economic crisis, increased availability of skilled workers and lower demand for software services have brought down the entry-level salaries for IT professionals in the country by up to 20 percent, according to experts tracking the sector.

Every year, around 3,00,000 computer science and engineering graduates seek employment with hundreds of tech firms, including big names such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro. This year, more than half of them were left unemployed because tech firms were already finding it tough to manage resources sitting on the bench, according to Economic Times.

"The entry-level salaries are down by at least 10-16 percent. Last year, a number of companies gave away offer letters but did not recruit. On top of that, there is a new pool of qualified professionals being churned out this year - all this has created an oversupply in the entry-level IT job market where salaries typically sway between Rs. 3 lakh per annum and Rs. 5 lakh on the higher side," said GC Jayaprakash, Principal Consultant of Stanton Chase International.

Until two years ago, almost all computer and engineering graduates were absorbed by India's outsourcing industry, comprising top tech firms such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro and many others. However, as customers delayed and shelved outsourcing projects, these tech firms also postponed campus hirings. Many students had to approach potential employers directly, since companies did not visit their campuses for placements. "We formed groups and toured companies, and agreed to settle at lower salaries because it's better to be employed at lower salary than having no job at all," said Srilekha Varma, who recently accepted a job offer from a Chennai-based IT firm specializing in banking software.

In a normal year, computer science graduates were offered entry-level salaries of Rs. 3.5-5 lakh. However, companies are now hiring freshers at Rs 1.7-3.5 lakh. However, human resources heads at tech firms, including Wipro, India's third-largest software exporter, say professionals have become more realistic about what they want from their employers. "I don't think salaries have come down, but the environment has indeed helped us in containing salary hikes," Pratik Kumar, Head of Human Resources at Wipro said.

But few companies have not forgotten the offers made. TCS said it would do new campus hiring in January 2010 and will honor all 24,000 offers made for financial year (FY09). "Around 1,800 graduates have joined us in second quarter (Q2) and another 8,000 will join in Q3, rest of the graduates will join based on the demand," a TCS spokeswoman said. Infosys said for FY10, it has made 20,000 campus offers and expects an 80 percent conversion rate i.e. 16,000 of these offers to join the company. "We are honoring all our hiring commitments," an Infosys spokeswoman said.

Hiring Goes up In India

2009-10-24T09:36:00.001-07:00

New Delhi: Hiring activities in the Indian companies rose by 4.1 percent in September with IT, BPO and real estate sectors turning bullish after a long time. The monthly 'JobSpeak index' by naukri.com stated an increase to 729 in September as compared to 701 in August this year.

"The secular trend is positive across sectors. Had it not been for an early festival season we may have seen further improvement in the index. The good news is that the IT and BPO sectors which are big employers especially at entry and junior levels seem to be in positive territory after a long time," said Hitesh Oberoi, COO and Director, Info Edge (owner of naukri.com).

The index moved from 715 in August to 719 in September. The companies' hiring activity saw a positive trend with 14 out of 41 sectors covered showing a double digit rise in hiring activities.

According to the report, IT-enabled Services (ITeS) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), real estate and retail sectors witnessed a significant push in September as compared to August.

The ITeS and BPO sector saw an increase of 18.3 percent in hiring activity in September, while real estate and retail witnessed a rise of 36.8 percent and 12.2 percent respectively

Sun to cut 3000 jobs

2009-10-24T09:35:00.001-07:00

New York: Sun Microsystems will cut 3,000 jobs over the next 12 months because of the delay in its takeover by software giant Oracle. The company is waiting for the verdict an European Union (EU) probe regarding the takeover.

Sun Microsystems in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said that the layoffs are part of a restructuring plan brought in by the delay in its acquisition by Oracle. The company said the move will result in charges of between $75 million and $125 million over the next several quarters.

The $7.4 billion deal, for a one-time Silicon Valley star and developer of the Java programming language, was approved by its shareholders in July and the U.S. Department of Justice in August. The EU is still investigating the case, and a decision is due by January 19, 2010.

Oracle had said last month that Sun was losing $100 million every month as it waited for the probe.

The EU is concerned that the deal, if approved, could breach competition rules, which will lead to rise in prices and less choice for customers. The major concern lies on Oracle having control over Sun's MySQL database business.

EU Competition Commissioner, Neelie Kroes, said the EU is obliged to investigate "when the world's biggest proprietary database company proposes to take over the world's leading open-source database company".

On the other hand, Oracle maintains that MySQL did not compete against each other, and said it would not sell MySQL to get the deal approved.

Oracle will look to strengthen its position against rival IBM, which gave up on its own attempts to buy Sun earlier this year.

Infosys Narayan Murthy sells share to set up VC Fund

2009-10-24T09:34:00.001-07:00

Bangalore: Infosys Technologies chief mentor and chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy has sold 800,000 shares, valued at Rs.177 crore (Rs.1.77 billion/$37.9 million), from his holding in the company to fund young entrepreneurs with brilliant ideas.

"Murthy intimated to the company that the proceeds of the sale will be used as seed capital for the proposed venture capital fund to be set up in India," Infosys said in a regulatory filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Thursday.

The blue chip company's share of Rs.5 on par ended at Rs.2,211 on the BSE Thursday, an increase of 2.13 percent over Wednesday closing.

"The fund will primarily invest in India and may on a case-to-case basis consider investing overseas," Infosys said in the statement.

As one of the co-founders of the global software major, Murthy's holding in the company post-selling will be around 2.38 million shares.

"Murthy wants to encourage young entrepreneurs to start companies to transform India. I am sure it will inspire other industry leaders to start such funds," Infosys director T.V. Mohandas Pai told IANS.

Terming Murthy's proposal a path-breaking initiative, Pai said the venture fund would help budding entrepreneurs to set up innovative start-ups that can capitalise on the emerging opportunities.

"Murthy believe that entrepreneurship creates jobs and that is the only way to escape cycles of poverty for a country like India," Pai added.

Murthy, who is travelling in the U.S., was unavailable for comment.

Wipro bags deal from DIAL

2009-10-24T09:33:00.001-07:00

Bangalore: Wipro has bagged a 10-year total outsourcing contract from Delhi International Airport (DIAL) to provide information technology infrastructure and services for the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA). The award followed a globally competitive process which attracted several global and Indian IT partners. The company, however, declined to disclose the value of the contract.

DIAL is a joint venture comprising the Bangalore headquartered GMR Group, Airports Authority of India, Fraport and Malaysian Airports. IGI airport's new integrated terminal (T3) will be the gateway for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi next year. IT is expected to be the driver for critical airport operations, including flight management, terminal management, ground handling and property management.

Wipro and DIAL have also signed an agreement to form a joint venture with focus on emerging business models and airport-specific applications. To be known as Wipro Airport IT Services, 74 percent of the JV will be owned by Wipro, while the rest will be held by DIAL.

Suresh Vaswani, Joint CEO and Board member, Wipro, said, "Airports and aviation industry in India require a massive infusion of IT and this unique partnership will create new industry standards in modern airport management based on world class IT and business processes powered by innovation."

As per the agreement, Wipro would be responsible for end-to-end IT management in the IGI airport's new integrated terminal (T3), which will be one of the largest terminals in the world, for 10 years.

"We are delighted to have a strong partner like Wipro with proven capabilities in delivering superior business value as our partner in realizing that vision for us," GMR Group Chairman (Airports) Kiran Kumar Grandhi said.

Aricent, Sapient to Hire

2009-10-24T09:32:00.001-07:00

Bangalore: Aricent, a global innovation, technology and services company, and Sapient, a business and IT consulting firm are planning to hire around 1500 professionals in the next three to nine months. While Sapient will hire around 800 professionals, Aricent plans to hire at least 700.

Mid-tier and niche technology companies are returning to the employment orbit as they plan to take in 25,000 to 30,000 experienced hands in the next three to nine months, reports Economic Times. The renewed demand has been spurred by a spurt in outsourcing, better order positions and companies expanding their India operations and moving up the value chain. Other companies on the lookout for trained hands are GlobalLogic India, MindTree, CPA Global, Symphony Services, Citrix, Adobe, Persistent Solutions, nVidia, Amazon, Agilent and Vertex.

"Customers are stretching their dollars, and outsourcing helps them do that. That's what's driving demand for fresh talent at present," says Prashant Bhatnagar, Director-hiring, Sapient. "Lateral hiring is back and there's plenty of demand for those with three to eight years experience," adds Rishi Das, CEO, CareerNet Consulting, a Bangalore-based headhunter which recruits for over 200 technology companies.

Many companies which are now hiring, had no bench staff or have increased their utilization and hence now need more staff as more work is being offshored. "It's like a food chain. Mid-level companies which have invested in niche skills and started with basic tasks like technology support are now capable of delivering complex work like product design," says another Mumbai-based Head Hunter, who did not wish to be named due to client sensitivity.

"Offshoring complex work helps global customers cut costs significantly. That's driving the current demand for experienced professionals."

Companies like Applied Materials, Volvo, Boeing, Bank of America, Amazon, the United Health Group and Societe Generale have farmed out work for new enterprise applications development, R&D, engineering services and professional services - like customised software development - among others, driving demand.

TCS using UK as BPO Expansion Strategy

2009-10-24T09:31:00.001-07:00

TCS uses the UK as a BPO expansion strategy template
Tata Consultancy Service's UK division, the flagship for its BPO services business, provided a strategic update on BPO last week. TCS generates $680 million in annualised revenues from its BPO division - with more than $250 million coming from its $2.5 billion, nine-and-a-half-year deal with Citigroup, taking its global BPO delivery capability to 27,000 and boosting its financial services BPO expertise.

The template for BPO expansion
The UK, accounting for 29% of revenues, is TCS's most important market because it contains prominent clients on platform BPO deals: Pearl Group on TCS's BaNCS financial services software; media business Emap on its finance and accounting platform; Deutsche Bank on TCS investment reconciliation utility Aspire; and IATA using a proprietary data extraction hosted solution.

These impressive deals were won thanks to its focus on building a domestic business development team in the UK that can engage at a senior level with clients. TCS has also acquired onshore delivery capability. Heartened by its success, the company wants to replicate this model in the US and continental Europe.

A cautionary note on platform BPO
TCS should be proud of what it has achieved in the UK BPO market. Against its many doubters, it has managed to develop and begin the rollout of its BaNCS-based life & pensions (L&P) platform after three years of development. Though this software is the keystone for generating operational and cost efficiency in L&P BPO, the company has already achieved profitability with the Pearl operations through better people and process management, thus proving its non-IT-related BPO management skills. The platform BPO deals with Emap, IATA and Deutsche Bank further support TCS's commitment to its software-led BPO approach.

However, TCS is also more aware of the challenges of selling platform BPO and, in our view, slightly de-emphasising this part of its strategy as it contends with the realities of the market. For the vast majority of BPO clients, a transition to a new software platform is not appealing. There are more contractual complexities and a broader range of stakeholders (internal and external) involved in negotiations. In most cases, BPO clients look to achieve quicker and larger cost savings through offshoring of delivery staff, leaving any significant IT transformation out of the picture.

Indeed, two of the deals came in unique circumstances. Emap was looking for a new finance and accounting platform, as the part of its business that owned the system had been sold off by its parent. Pearl Group was a strategic deal in which TCS took on the risk of IT transition, treating this as an investment that enabled it to develop a UK platform it could resell to additional L&P clients. As further proof of the difficulty in selling a platform proposition, Sun Life of Canada, TCS's only other UK L&P client win since Pearl, chose to stick with its existing platform rather than use TCS's BaNCS.

Replicating the UK model will be challenging
Mirroring the UK success in new countries will involve significant investment in local sales and delivery teams. The UK is one of the fastest-growing BPO markets, and TCS has already had to invest considerably to kick-start its BPO business there. Achieving the same in the slower-growing continental European markets, such as Germany and France, will arguably cost more.

It's worth noting that, despite its UK success, we estimate TCS's global BPO revenues to have grown by 5% organically - which is hardly groundbreaking. Most of this growth has come from winning smaller deals that rely more on offshore provision than IT platform expertise. TCS is doing the right thing by investing ahead of the curve in platform BPO, but it's going to be a long slog before these investments bring significant returns globally. We expect organic growth of the BPO business to be steady rather than stellar over the next two years.

Wipro Expands UK Office

2009-10-24T09:30:00.001-07:00

LONDON: Wipro Technologies
, the global IT services business of Wipro Limited, announced the expansion of its facility in Reading and opening of a
new office in London.

The center at Reading was inaugurated by The Right Worshipful the Mayor of Reading. This center is an extension of the existing development center facility. This facility will be used for building centers of excellence, delivering customer projects and training purposes.

Speaking on this occasion the Mayor of Reading, Councilor Fred Pugh, said, “It is very encouraging that an international company is ready to invest in Reading in these difficult times. Wipro is a major employer in Reading and a major player in the business community the Council is pledged to support.”

Continuing its business expansion in the UK, Wipro is also inaugurating its new office premises in London. This office would be the headquarters for Wipro’s UK operations. The facility will serve as a sales office with state-of the art infrastructure.

Laxman Badiga, Chief Information Officer, Wipro Technologies said, “Taking on the ownership of the facility at Reading is the first of its kind for Wipro overseas and hence makes this occasion special. The Reading center started with just one floor and had a little over 30 employees when we began. The expansion in Reading and opening of the new office in London has only reinforced our commitment to the region.”

Ayan Mukerji, Head of Europe Operations, Wipro Technologies said, “Today, Wipro has grown to become a leading IT Services company in the UK. Both the centers at Reading and London will be a key hub for recruiting, training of local staff and also gives an opportunity to offer an onsite development center premises to more customers.”

Revenues from Wipro’s European operations account for approx 26% of the IT major’s overall IT Services revenue. UK is one of the key markets for Wipro with a large customer base. The establishment of the new offices will now facilitate Wipro’s growth strategy in the UK and the overall growth in the European region.

Wipro ties up with oracle for co development

2009-10-24T09:29:00.003-07:00

Indian IT services giant Wipro Technologies has entered into a master co-development agreement with Oracle to develop multiple industry solutions using Oracle Application Integration Architecture (AIA) - an open, standards-based platform for business process integration across Oracle, third-party and custom applications.

Under the arrangement, both partners will co-develop end-to-end industry process solutions for five different industry verticals, including communication, retail, consumer products, hi-tech, and industrial manufacturing.

Reports revealed that co-developed Oracle Process Integration Packs include campaign to cash for hi-tech, order to activate for communications and design to release for process manufacturing.

The scrip of Wipro Limited closed on Friday at Rs 567 on BSE. The counter has made 52-week-high and low of Rs 583 an Rs 182 respectively. (dpa)

Google Docs adoption Increasing

2009-10-24T09:29:00.001-07:00

ome big companies are starting to move their spreadsheets, word-processing and other productivity programs off of PCs and on to the Web.

About 20% of respondents to a study by researcher IDC say Google's (GOOG) Google Docs offering is widely used in their organization, up from 5.8% a little more than a year and a half ago.

This good news for Google has not gone unnoticed at Microsoft (MSFT). The software giant last week said Office Web Apps — lightweight versions of Office programs delivered through the browser — will enter a limited technical preview. Invited participants will test Word Web App, Excel Web App, PowerPoint Web App and OneNote Web App through Windows Live.

Google markets free and paid versions of Google Docs. IDC analyst Melissa Webster surveyed 262 respondents in diverse roles at a broad range of companies; 27% said they are either already widely using Google Docs or expect to be a year from now.

The suite is proving popular as a tool that enables several co-workers to edit content in real time.

"A healthy percentage of Google Docs adoption is coming from ad hoc use," Webster says. "It's the classic case of employees making use of free consumer (online) services to get their work done, without asking permission."

No one knows how fast the market for online productivity programs will grow. IBM sells Lotus Symphony and Lotus Live as an online suite; Zoho offers free Office-like tools popular with students.

One thing is clear: Microsoft has a lot at stake. Its business division, made up primarily of Office, generated revenue of $18.9 billion and operating income of $12.4 billion in 2008.

Chris Capossela, Microsoft's business division senior vice president, says Office 2010, due early next year, will have versions that work on Web browsers — and on Windows Mobile smartphones. "We believe the future is about delivering the best experience on the PC, mobile phone and the browser," Capossela says.

Still, Microsoft must walk a fine line between staving off Google and not cannibalizing sales of its bread-and-butter Office desktop software, says Matt Rosoff, tech industry analyst at research firm Directions on Microsoft.

You can bet Office Web will work with Microsoft servers that drive many corporate networks. The look and feel will be familiar to Office desktop users. For corporations already holding Office and SharePoint licenses with upgrade rights, adding Office Web might be inexpensive, Rosoff says.

HP to ourpace the market in 2010

2009-10-24T09:28:00.001-07:00

Hewlett-Packard executives expect sales of IT products to rebound in the coming year and they said the company is positioned to outpace the market and record overall sales growth between 3 and 4 percent in 2010.

"We think we have the best portfolio of technologies and services in the industry," said CEO Mark Hurd, speaking at a securities analyst meeting Thursday. "We're pretty well-positioned to go out in the marketplace and win. I think HP's best days are ahead of it, not behind it."

"Our current view is that the IT market returns to growth in fiscal 2010. And given the strength of our portfolio and ongoing investments in market coverage, we do expect to grow faster than the market," said CFO Cathie Lesjak.

HP is in the midst of its fourth fiscal quarter that ends Oct. 31. For the third quarter ended July 31, the company reported a 2 percent decline in sales to $27.5 billion and a 19 percent drop in earnings to $1.6 billion.

But the focus of the analyst meeting was fiscal 2010. Hurd said HP's addressable market, including PCs, servers, storage, printers, networking, software and services, is $1.3 trillion.

Hurd said he expects sales growth in the IT market to resume in 2010, then added: "We will grow faster than the IT market."

HP predicts that its sales in fiscal 2010 will reach $117 billion to $118 billion, up 3 to 4 percent over fiscal 2009, Lesjak told analysts. Earnings will be between $3.60 and $3.70 per share.

The CFO said HP is forecasting that sales from its personal systems group will grow between 3 and 5 percent in fiscal 2010, but sales from its imaging and printing group will be flat by up to 2 percent.

Enterprise systems and storage technology sales will grow between 2 and 4 percent in fiscal 2010, as will HP services. HP software sales will grow between 7 and 9 percent.

Hurd said HP's cost structure is "much improved from several years ago," but later added: "We don't quite have HP operating as effectively as we can." He said there is still "material opportunity for us" to improve the company's operating efficiencies.

One place HP is still cutting costs is in its EDS services unit, which it renamed HP Enterprise Services this week. So far this year, HP has cut $900 million in operating costs out of the operation through the company's integration efforts, Lesjak said, with plans to cut another $1.2 billion through 2010.

UK to cut spending

2009-10-24T09:26:00.003-07:00

Peter Clarke

UK public spending: Prime Minister pledges to protect 'front-line public services'
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has spelt out the UK government's policy for public spending until the general election and, if he wins, for the fourth term of the Labour government. Speaking at the Labour Party Conference on Tuesday, and in subsequent interviews, he confirmed that the UK government would cut public spending in order to reduce Britain's fiscal deficit “while maintaining and indeed improving front-line public services.” He claimed this was a caring approach which would protect schools, hospitals and the police. The Prime Minister announced that the government's flagship ID card scheme will be dramatically curtailed.

What will this mean to S/ITS companies?
Gordon Brown did his best to steady the public sector's nerves on the issue of public spending, but has conceded that there will be cuts in spending. Local governments, for example, are assuming that their budgets will be cut between 10% and 20% and are planning their 2010-11 budgets accordingly. Lower public spending reduces opportunities and revenues for S/ITS companies. Suppliers selling into 'front-line services', education, health and social services, the police and armed forces have less to worry about as these services are, for the moment at least, protected by the government's plans. Plans to spend over £1 billion over the two years from September 2010 to provide free care for the elderly (in England) in their own homes could provide a boost for telehealth suppliers. (This has applied to the elderly in Scotland for the past three years.)

The Prime Minister announced a Deficit Reduction Plan aimed at both increasing revenues and controlling expenditure. He said that his government “will raise tax at the very top, cut costs, have realistic public sector pay settlements, make savings we know we can and in 2011 raise National Insurance by half a percent. That will ensure that each and every year we protect and improve Britain's front-line services.” Building the post-recession UK economy as a green economy is seen as a priority.

The Conservatives have been calling for cuts in spending for some months in order to reduce the public sector's deficit, and have already announced that if they win the general election they will not stick to Labour's spending plans but will introduce their own Emergency Budget.

Sticking to the Efficiency Programme

The government has already set out its plans for the next 12 months in the November 2008 pre-budget statement and the 2009 Budget (which announced plans for 3-4% cuts in back-office and IT spending). Each of these built upon the Efficiency Programme that has been in place since 2004. Its focus has been to cut back-office costs to release funds for front-line services. The government has consistently claimed that this is the best way of protecting front-line services. Further details will be announced in November in the pre-budget statement. However, in the current febrile political atmosphere we expect a series of hints and announcements in the intervening weeks. The Chancellor of the Exchequer will announce the parameters for drawing up the Debt Reduction Plan “soon”.

The Prime Minster's announcement takes the government's spending plans beyond the current Efficiency Programme. This will confirm the suspicions of many, especially the opposition in Parliament, who have been pointing out that this is inadequate in the current circumstances. The Prime Minister is now saying that “choices have to be made”. Public sector managers know that this is the signal to prioritise their spending plans. The government wants a well thought out plan for achieving efficiency savings in 2010-11 and beyond.

'Front-line services' will be protected. These are defined as education, the health service, the police and the armed forces. Specifically, the Prime Minister pledged that the three armed forces will “always have all the equipment they need.” He also pledged to increase investment in education, which must mean that the Building Schools for the Future programme is safe.

No detail is available, but delivering these priorities will be a big task as it will involve some of the public sector's biggest budgets. It has become known that despite the Prime Minister's announcements there will be no net increase in public spending, which must mean that there will be even bigger cuts elsewhere.

Some large projects will become sacrificial lambs
The Prime Minster's announcement on ID cards indicates that other large projects could become sacrificial lambs within the Deficit Reduction Plan. Indeed the First Minister, Lord Mandleson, made it clear two weeks ago that nothing was sacrosanct.

Accenture profit falls 41 %

2009-10-24T09:26:00.001-07:00

NEW YORK — Consulting and outsourcing firm Accenture PLC posted a 41 percent drop in fiscal fourth-quarter profit Thursday, as revenue fell across nearly all business groups and the company recorded a hefty restructuring charge.

Accenture also said it will raise its cash dividend by 50 percent to 75 cents per share. Payments will be semiannual, instead of annual, starting in the third quarter of 2010, the company said. The board also authorized the repurchase of $4 billion additional shares.

For the three months ended Aug. 31, the company earned $254.7 million, or 39 cents per share. That compared with $434.8 million, or 67 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding a restructuring charge of $253 million, or 24 cents per share, the company earned 63 cents per share.

Quarterly revenue slid 14 percent to $5.15 billion from $6 billion last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 63 cents per share on higher revenue of $5.44 billion. Analysts typically do not include one-time charges in their estimates.

The restructuring charge was related to "the realignment of the company's work force" and to global real estate consolidation, the company said in a release. In August, Accenture said it would cut some 336 senior-level executive positions, totaling about 7 percent of its senior executives, and reduce office space.

Revenue in the fourth quarter fell across nearly all groups as a result of the global downturn, the company said in a release. In all, consulting revenue totaled $2.91 billion, a decrease of 19 percent from last year. Outsourcing revenue fell 7 percent to $2.23 billion.

For the full year, the company earned $1.59 billion, or $2.44 per share, down from $1.69 billion, or $2.65 per share, a year ago. Revenue slid 8 percent to $21.58 billion from $23.39 billion.

Accenture expects net revenue for the first quarter to range between $5.3 billion and $5.5 billion, but did not provide an earnings per share estimate. Analysts have forecast earnings of 69 cents per share on higher revenue of $5.54 billion.

For fiscal 2010, Accenture forecast profit of $2.64 to $2.72 per share. The midpoint matches analysts' $2.68-per-share average estimate. The company is targeting new bookings for the year in the range of $23 billion to $26 billion.

"We expect the first half of fiscal 2010 to be challenging year on year," Chief Financial Office Pam Craig said on a conference call with analysts. "We are assuming that the global economy and our business will improve in the second half of the fiscal year, even though it is still an uncertain and unpredictable time."

Craig said the company expects fiscal 2010 revenue to range from a 3 percent drop from 2009 levels to a 1 percent increase, as it expects the first half of its fiscal year to trend below 2009 results. That would imply a range of $20.93 billion to $21.8 billion.

Analysts have forecast higher full-year revenue of $21.99 billion, on average.

Shares of Accenture slid 56 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $35.97 in after-hours trading, after falling 74 cents to close the regular session at $36.53.

Xerox boosts BPO Buys ACS

2009-10-24T09:25:00.001-07:00

Xerox boosts BPO offering with ACS buy

A week after Dell announced plans to acquire Perot Systems, another Texan services firm has been snapped up by a large hardware manufacturer. Xerox is paying $6.4 billion for Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), following not only in the footsteps of Dell, but HP and IBM too.

The purchase of ACS will more than triple Xerox's services revenues to an estimated $10 billion in 2010, from $3.5 billion in 2008. The combined operation, to be known as 'ACS, a Xerox Company' and led by ACS CEO Lynn Blodgett, will comfortably rank as one of the 20 largest global IT services providers, ahead of the newly expanded Dell services business, which should generate yearly sales of around $8.5 billion.

Xerox and Dell now join other hardware vendors such as IBM, HP, Fujitsu and Unisys in the list of the top 20 biggest global IT services providers. This further underlines the increased investment in services by major hardware manufacturers.

ACS finally gets the takeover deal it wanted
ACS has been flirting with potential private equity acquirers for several years now. Most recently, in 2007 founder and chairman Darwin Deason, backed by investment group Cerberus Capital Management, tabled a series of offers culminating in a bid of $62 per share. However, the proposal met shareholder opposition and did not pass.

Almost two years on, and in a very different economic environment, Xerox has succeeded in pushing its bid through and it is not difficult to see why the deal is attractive to both sides. As with Dell, IBM and HP, Xerox is looking to keep pace with the converging IT market. Simply put, hardware vendors with services arms are able to cross-sell both hardware and services, as well as diversifying their business away from hardware refresh cycles.

For ACS, which generates over 90% of its revenues from the US, Xerox intends to help it expand globally - something it did not achieve alone, despite several years of trying. ACS said in 2006 that it was planning a major expansion in Europe, but the expected large-scale acquisitions failed to materialise. Instead, the company preferred to make a number of small purchases, including UK-based infrastructure services firm Anix for $50 million and Germany's SDS Business Services for $67 million. It is therefore not surprising that Xerox intends to use its brand name and existing client relationships to grow ACS's business in Europe, Asia-Pacific and South America.

More a BPO than an IT move
What makes ACS really attractive to Xerox is its business process outsourcing (BPO) capability. Of all the global IT services vendors mentioned above, ACS generates a higher proportion of its revenues from BPO (79%) than any other. It also has expertise both across horizontal functions (such as finance and accounting outsourcing) and in vertical-specific areas such as healthcare payer and insurance transactions.

The ability to further automate ACS's services using Xerox document management technology has been singled out as a major advantage for the combined company. This should result in lower cost of service and potentially the introduction of new types of BPO service where the combined company can remove or lessen manual processing.

However, the challenge of internationalising the combined business should not be underestimated. Recognisable as the Xerox name may be, it is not automatically associated with the delivery of business-critical services, especially outside North America.

India to Receive Big Pay Hike in 2010

2009-10-24T09:23:00.003-07:00

Hong Kong: Companies in Asia are set to offer bigger pay rises next year as the region continues to rebound from global recession, notably in India where base salary levels are poised to jump nearly 10 percent. According to a survey by Hewitt Associates, salaries in Indonesia and China will also surge, by 8.7 percent and 6.7 percent respectively, whereas workers in Japan can expect a paltry 2.1 percent pay rise.

The survey, which covered more than 2,000 local and joint-venture companies in the Asia-Pacific region, also states that salaries or annual guaranteed pay this year in Asia's fast-growing economic powerhouses China and India, at 4.5 percent and 6.3 percent respectively, were the lowest since 2005.

Salaries barely grew at all in Hong Kong and Japan, this year as companies cut staff, reports Reuters. More than 60 percent of companies surveyed in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore froze wage levels, compared with only 26.1 percent in India and 30.8 percent in China.

Next year, only six percent of companies in India and 8.3 percent in China expect to freeze pay compared with 12-14 percent of companies in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia.

Mahindra Satyam may Layoff 5000

2009-10-24T09:23:00.001-07:00

Chennai: Months after assuring that there would be no further lay offs, Mahindra Satyam may just lay off another 5000 benchers. Many employees on the Virtual Pool Program (VPP) of the company have been sent a formal notice of two months by e-mail.

According to the Times of India, the mail dated October 19, reads: "In our earlier communication dated June 11, 2009, you were placed on VPP for a period of six months and accordingly, your Virtual Pool Leave is due to end on December 18, 2009. It is rather unfortunate that due to the continued economic constraints and business outlook, we do not anticipate that we will have the ability to recall many of our valued associates within the VPP period."

On June 11, the company had announced the creation of the virtual pool, placing around 8,000 associates on the bench. "The surplus employees will be put in the VPP and paid basic salary, PF and medical insurance," Vineet Nayyar, CEO, Tech Mahindra, had said while ruling out any retrenchment.

However, with the six-month period of the VPP set to lapse in December, the company has served a two-month notice, as required by the employment contract, reportedly on over 5,000 employees. Sources said that the company did not have enough projects on hand and was not able to recall many associates.

A Mahindra Satyam spokesperson said that the company had absorbed about 1,500 associates from the virtual pool. The spokesperson also denied that the company was "laying off" people, even as the mail speaks of "separation of employment".

"We have given these employees an option of availing outplacement services. We will try to help them to the best of our abilities," he said.

Cisco to acquire Tandberg

2009-10-01T23:21:00.001-07:00

Oslo (Norway): Cisco Systems will acquire Norway's video conferencing equipment maker Tandberg ASA for $3 billion (17.2 billion Norwegian crowns) in cash, the companies informed on Thursday.

"Tandberg's board of directors have unanimously decided to recommend its shareholders to accept the offer," informed Tandberg.

The analysts had different opinions about the offer price, as some stated it fair while others said that it was too low. "This sounds like a pretty good price so I would think it will end up there. But the bid will stand for four weeks and there might be other offers," said Martin Hoff, Analyst, Arctic Securities.

"The probability for a competing bid was low, but not impossible. From an industrial perspective, this is right for the company," said Espen Torgersen, Analyst, Carnegie. He also added that the price was "highly acceptable".

Tandberg's share price rose up to 12.8 percent to a high of 156 Norwegian crowns before getting back to 154 Norwegian crowns. The shares of Cisco trading in Frankfurt were one percent lower at $23.28 (15.98 euros).

Cisco Systems informed that Fredrik Halvorsen, Chief Executive Officer, Tandberg would continue to lead the unit.

BPOs in India to Deplete

2009-10-01T23:20:00.000-07:00

Bangalore: About one quarter of the top Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) operatives will not exist as separate entities by 2012. The rise of new vendors, acquisitions and market exits will change the BPO provider landscape in the coming years. The enterprises should look for warning signs while evaluating BPO vendors to lessen risks, states a recent report by analyst firm Gartner.

"As providers are exposed to the economic crisis, loss making contracts and an inability to adapt to standardized delivery models, many will struggle to survive in their current form. Some will be acquired and some will exit the market completely to be replaced by dynamic new players delivering BPO as automated, utility services," said Robert H. Brown, Research Vice President, Gartner.

The report "Assess and Manage Vendor Risks to Protect Your Business" has identified six key points to watch for, that might announce the predicted market shakeout. The report also identified the BPO vendors which may be the candidates for acquisition or for instant market exit.

The report suggests to look out for unprofitable portfolio BPO deals, as some BPO providers are carrying unprofitable contract portfolios, largely stemming from too much, too soon pursuit of the deals, without much thought as to how to transition them to a standardized, rationalized, profitable state of ongoing operations.

The enterprises have also been asked to gain insight into the vendor's track record of winning new businesses, particularly over a sustained period of two to three years. The report suggests that the loss of a major customer can be a leading indicator of trouble, especially if the remaining portfolio of business is small. The report suggested that some heavily leveraged vendors may be unable to obtain the necessary investment needed to bid on a business opportunity despite of attractive propositions.

The financial services sector accounts for about one-third of the total BPO market globally and provides significant amount of BPO revenue. The banking sector was the first to be exposed to the credit crunch resulting to financial meltdown. The mergers and acquisitions saw both current and prospective buyers of BPO getting out of play and this exposure could still leave many BPO providers vulnerable for long term.

Also, as per Gartner's previous BPO survey report, cancellation rates rose in 2008 as compared to 2007 data. On this basis, the report advises buyers to build exit strategies into contracts and develop contingencies for contract termination, especially before signing the deal.

More HR work to be outsourced to India

2009-10-01T23:18:00.001-07:00

Bangalore: India is likely to get a large amount of offshored HR work in the next three years. According to a study by Everest Group, a global consulting and research firm, some 111 global HRO (human resources outsourcing) contracts worth $6 billion are nearing term end in 2010-12 and 75-85 percent of these engagements are likely be extended while 15-25 percent will be repatriated or transferred to new suppliers.

The study says, "Given the maturity of India as an offshore delivery location and presence of high number of HRO suppliers, more work is going to come to the country." In the next three years, contract restructuring is likely to play a significant role as early adopters of HRO services face impending renewal cycles. HRO clients will increasingly evaluate how to drive incremental value for their organizations through the end-of-term process.

"The areas of restructuring range from modifying the number and type of in-scope processes, to enhance delivery models through global sourcing, to introduce alternative pricing models," says the study. The mid-market and large market HRO buyers, who used to be reluctant to take services from offshore locations, are expected to leverage offshoring much more in their second generation deals due to increased cost pressures in recent times.

TCS bags multi million dollar deal from Singapore Govt

2009-09-30T00:22:00.001-07:00

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has signed a multi-million dollar deal with Singapore’s People’s Association, a statutory board under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports. TCS will provide annual application management services for two years to the association.

Under the agreement, TCS will develop and maintain People’s Associations' business and citizen-centric applications including mission-critical applications

Pressure on India Other Markets take marketshare in BPO and IT

2009-09-30T00:06:00.001-07:00

The global information technology and business process outsourcing market will end 2009 with total revenues of $373 billion, 14.4 per cent higher than the $326 billion recorded in 2008.

India and China will remain at the top of the list, with expected revenues amounting to $48 billion and $28 billion, respectively.

India would have 44.8 per cent of the total outsourcing pie and China 25.9 per cent, according to Canadian-based ICT research and advisory firm XMG Global.

The growth rate for 2009 will be, however, less than the 19 per cent that the industry recorded in 2008 over 2007, XMG said in its annual year-end prediction of where the offshoring and global outsourcing industry will finish.

“The market share of India is similar to 2008 and has mostly to do with the Satyam accounting adjustments and the shifting of work to other offshore countries. In other words, we are seeing new levels of normalcy in which the recession has provided the opportunity to rationalise and shift work to offshore destinations other than India,” XMG Global’s Senior Analyst, Mr Vincent Altez, said in the report.

The Philippines is expected to close the year with $7.3 billion or 21.7 per cent growth — lower than the 24 per cent growth forecast due to the slower growth for IT services and the delay in expansion plans of several captive players. Foreign direct investment is also expected to slide this year as investors are streamlining capital.

Pressure on India

While South Africa, Egypt and Mexico are emerging as alternative destinations for offshoring, the Chinese and Vietnamese governments continue to attract foreign investors and build advance infrastructure, putting pressure on mature offshore countries such as India..

infosys hikes pay

2009-09-28T09:07:00.001-07:00

New Delhi: Infosys Technologies sprung a surprise for its employees by announcing that they may expect an increment in their salaries. The nations second largest software firm , Infosys also told its employees to expect limited promotions by October 1,2009.

Infosys initiated the salary increment strategy against all the other major firms in the IT sector like TCS, WIPRO, HCL Technologies who have stuck to the strategy of salary freezes in order to bring down the costs.

The company sent out an email statement on 18 September, 2009 to its workforce informing them about the firms decision of increasing salaries and offering need - based promotions . Infosys had so far abstained from extending any sort of salary increase to its employees . It had also skipped its promotion cycle in April as the employee utilisation rate was low. But with stabilising markets and better utilisation rates since then the firm planned to reward its employees.

The better utilisation rates were the result of the increased demand thereby also pushing up the operating margins of the company ahead of the target set of 30 percent.

On one hand Infosys has initiated the performance appraisal process for its 1,00,000 employees,on the other hand companies like Wipro , HCL are very strict on their actions of pay hikes. They have restricted the salary increments only to the best performers of the firm.

Training Staff still on the agenda of Indian Companies

2009-09-28T09:06:00.001-07:00

Indian IT majors may have tightened their belts in various areas to contain costs as a fallout of the global economic slowdown. However, most of them see continuing value when it comes to employee training, even though it skims crores of rupees off their top-lines.

Top tier IT firms — including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys Technologies, Wipro and HCL Technologies — have identified the need to train the brains they handpick annually from India’s top engineering colleges and technical institutes as a critical task, even as the industry is seeing a degree of upturn in client demand.

India’s largest IT services provider, TCS, for instance, spends 2 per cent of its revenue every year on training new entrants. Bangalore-headquartered Infosys recently announced the opening of a grand training facility at its Mysore campus. Infosys annually spends over Rs 800 crore on training alone. Wipro spends about 2 per cent of its net sales in providing training to employees.

While Infosys and TCS have, to a certain extent, tried to centralise their training resources, Wipro’s strategy has been of a federal nature to cater to local manpower requirements. Wipro has set up an archipelago of training centres in proximity to its competency centres all over India and overseas.

“Wipro believes in taking learning as close as possible to the learner. Hence, for fresh recruits, training is conducted at the development centres where the employee is to be placed. Training happens primarily at our Talent Transformation Centres in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata and Kochi,” says Sreekala Ramamurthy, GM (talent transformation), Wipro Technologies. Overseas recruits, she says, are either provided training at the company’s global centres like the Atlanta Development Centre or “...recruits are flown down to our India offices”.

HCL, too, has decentralised its training infrastructure across the globe because its employees are no longer confined to a particular geography or location. According to Anand Pillai, senior V-P and global head (quality, talent transformation & intrapreneurship development), HCL Technologies: “Since learners are spread across the globe, the entire training department is also spread across the world. Our programmes are standardised to cater to global learning challenges and simultaneously manage different cultural nuances and local sensitivities.”

TCS provides an Initial Learning Programme (ILP) at the company’s corporate learning centre in Thiruvananthapuram. “We invest heavily in world-class training for our employees. ILP training is primarily conducted at our corporate learning centre at Thiruvananthapuram for Indian and non-Indian trainees. We replicate our fresher training programme at Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore and Baroda, as well as overseas, to bring scalability to our training model,” says Ajoy Mukherjee, V-P & head (global HR), TCS.

TCS’ new facility, the Peepul Park, is spread over 12 acres of newly acquired land in Technopark. The 3.5-lakh square feet Peepul Park is snazzily designed and also houses a Leadership Development Institute. The ILP Learning Block can accommodate 1,000 employees at a time, a hostel block accommodates 500 people, with a recreation centre and library thrown in. The facility has a capacity of 1,500 people.

The ILP is replicated in overseas geographies for new hires from countries like Australia, China, India, Hungary, Uruguay, the UK and the US. TCS also ensures that it hires people with diverse educational backgrounds and across geographies.

Infosys recently expanded the company’s global training centre, located at its 337-acre Mysore campus, by setting up another dedicated facility (GEC-II) for training. However, Infosys also maintains training infrastructure at all its development centres. The company recently extended the training duration for new recruits (freshers).

“We consider training as an investment in the future. Our investments to enhance our training capabilities are in keeping with future requirements,” justifies S Gopalakrishnan, CEO and MD, Infosys Technologies.

Wipro lays off 300 non performers

2009-09-27T01:35:00.001-07:00

To power its growth during the present slowdown, Wipro, the third largest IT services company in India, has resorted to certain stringent measures. Last week, according to company sources, an indefinite number of employees have been laid off by the company. An employee, who has been laid off says, "Last week, around 300 employees were laid off on one single day."

Some had to wait for a long time to get back their documents, after being told about the company's decision. The employee illustrates, "I had to wait for more than eight hours to get back my documents, because of the long queue of employees."

Few days back, Wipro had outperformed its larger rivals Infosys and TCS both in terms of profit and revenue growth, in its Q4 results.

The move by the Bangalore-based company comes in the wake of an announcement made by Girish Paranjpe, Joint CEO of Wipro's IT business. Paranjpe had said, "For FY09, we probably have seen five to seven percent of our manpower employed with the IT business being released, as against two to three percent a year back."

According to Paranjpe, the performance criteria have become tougher now, because of the slowing economy. Last year, the company had announced, to put four to five percent of its workforce that is about 3,000 employees, under the performance scanner. Based on their performance some would be given counseling to help them improvise, while others would be asked to quit.

The spokesperson said, "Those who don't clear the ï¿½testsï¿½, are the ones who are sent off." Pointing out to similar kinds of measures by other companies, she added, "This type of a move is taken by many companies these days, due to the economic downturn."
Courtesy: siliconindia

Adobe freezes pay, cuts variable

2009-09-27T01:29:00.001-07:00

Adobe Inc, the world’s biggest maker of graphic-design software, will freeze pay this year as the recession crimps sales, said Chief Financial Officer Mark Garrett. “Clearly, we aren’t going to have salary increases,” he said in an interview. “The bonus plans and variable compensation plans will pay out less. We have set ourselves up for what we think we need to do -- from a costs perspective -- for the rest of this year.”

Adobe also has cut about 8 per cent of its workforce, curbed travel and reduced its use of contractors. While US demand is now steady, overseas sales may still be dropping, Garrett said. That revenue accounted for almost 60 per cent of Adobe’s total last year.

TCS Drops plans to raise headcount in australia

2009-09-27T01:28:00.003-07:00

Global IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is understood to have shelved plans to increase its headcount in Australia to around 2,000 by the end of this year. The reason: The ongoing financial crisis.

TCS had dropped plans to boost its headcount in Australia even though it recorded double-digit revenue growth, according to reports and blog posts from the country.

The Tata group company employed around 950 people in Australia at the end of the previous year, but around 50 have since been relocated to India. This puts TCS’ total employee base in that country at around 900, reports say.

A TCS spokesperson said: “Australia continues to be a significant growth market for TCS. Given the uncertainty in the global economy, TCS will grow its staff strength in line with the business growth there. Under the current context, with customers looking at offshoring as an effective value proposition, we are likely to see an increase in people servicing Australian customers in India.”

In January, TCS Asia-Pacific Head and Regional Director, Girija Pande, had said that the company planned to double the number of workers in Australia by the end of the year.

In Australia, TCS provides near-shore, high-profile technology services.

Top Outsourcing Comanies of the world

2009-09-27T01:28:00.001-07:00

he International Association of Outsourcing Professionals has announced the world's best outsourcing service providers in 2008.

The Global Outsourcing 100 list has 6 Indian companies among the top ten. In the global 100 ranking, Infosys is ranked third, followed by Capgemini and TCS at fifth and sixth positions, respectively.

'Global Outsourcing 100' is an international list of companies that provide the full spectrum of outsourcing services. The selection criteria include the size and growth of the company, customer experience, depth and breadth of competencies and management capabilities.

Following are the top 10 global outsoucring companies, excluding the Indian firms in the list:

The Top 10 global outsourcing companies
Accenture (Rank 1)-- Key strength: Customer testimonials
IBM (Rank 2) -- Key strength: Size & growth
Sodexo (Rank 4) -- Key strength: Global presence
Capgemini (Rank 5) -- Key strength: Achievement recognition
Hewlett Packard (Rank 8) -- Key strength: Outsourcing experience
EDS (Rank 12) -- Key strength: Outsourcing experience
ACS (Rank 13) -- Key strength: Balanced performance
CGI group (Rank 14) -- Key strength: Customer testimonials
SPi (Rank 17) -- Key strength: Customer testimonials
Colliers International (Rank 18) -- Key strength: Global Presence

No pay hike at wipro

2009-09-27T01:27:00.001-07:00

Wipro has announced that it will not be giving its employees any wage hikes this fiscal year. The company also said that it would honor its commitments to fresh graduates it hired last year but on a staggered basis. The students will have to wait longer before being absorbed in the company.

Wipro had issued offer letters to over 7000 students from various universities who have graduated this year.

Pratik Kumar, vice president (human resource) at Wipro said, "We will honor our commitments made to the students last year but it will be on a staggered basics since we don't want them to sit in the bench. We will also have no wage hike during this fiscal."

Since we are not sure how many we can absorb this fiscal, some of the freshers could spill over next fiscal, he said.

Wipro will be going for fresh recruitments only during Jan-Feb of 2010. Kumar also said Wipro would go for lateral hiring depending on business generation.

The company has also made it a policy to approach students only during their last semester unlike earlier when it approached them during the 6th semester.

IBM has 36% market share in India

2009-09-27T01:25:00.003-07:00

IBM, the world’s biggest software services provider, continues to gain more business in the domestic information technology market, and is set to control almost half of the domestic outsourcing market by 2010.

At least two experts tracking India’s $5.6-billion market for software outsourcing said, requesting anonymity, that IBM currently has around 36% share, and is set to control almost half the domestic outsourcing market by 2010.

“In terms of revenues, IBM’s share will be 50-60% already,” the expert helping Indian enterprises plans their IT spend told ET. “In terms of number of contracts, the company should be able to achieve 50% share in a year or two.”

Top Indian software exporters such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro are also attempting to address the lucrative Indian market for services at a time when their key markets, the US and Europe, are seeing a slump.

However, Indian tech firms will find it tough to challenge IBM’s strengths in offering hardware, software, outsourcing and consulting, as an integrated solution to clients.

Apart from mega outsourcing contracts worth anywhere between $500 million and $1 billion from telcos such as Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone, IBM has been able to remain aggressive when it comes to smaller, but strategic deals from companies like Tata Sky and HPCL.

“We helped Tata Sky differentiate and achieve a competitive positioning by offering innovative services such as prepaid recharge options for subscribers,” said Ponani Gopalakrishnan, vice-president of IBM’s India Software Labs.

Indian companies, like their counterparts in the US and Europe are seeking to bring down their operational costs by 10-30%. Customers such as Tata Sky and HPCL are increasingly turning to IBM for innovative solutions that help them achieve competitive edge.

The HPCL contract worth around $2.2 million, for implementing radio frequency identification device, will help the petroleum company streamline its processes of bottling, supplying and tracking over 500,000 LPG cylinders in the first phase.

Ms Gopalakrishnan who holds over 20 patents granted by the US patent office, along with a few hundred researchers at the lab are solving business problems and helping new businesses such as Tata Sky raise entry barriers for new entrants through innovative solutions.

“We helped Tata Sky integrate its back-end capabilities with IT infrastructure using SOA,” said Ms Gopalakrishnan. SOA, or service-oriented architecture, helps enterprises integrate their business processes, and deliver flexible IT-based services to users. Tata Sky aims to have around eight million subscribers by 2012.

While some of these outsourcing contracts are smaller in size when signed, IBM is able to evolve these engagements into bigger, multi-year contracts.

No Hikes at Infosys

2009-09-27T01:25:00.001-07:00

Top IT companies such as TCS, Wipro and Cognizant have kicked off promotions and salary hikes for some employees but the country’s second largest software exporter Infosys prefers to wait and watch till the environment becomes more stable, according to the company’s CEO and MD Kris Gopalakrishnan.

Talking on the sidelines of ICT event Connect 09, Gopalakrishnan also shared his views on the 3-year extension of tax benefits on STPI units proposed by Union Minister A Raja and also a possible solution to counter the recent changes in UK’s immigration norms. Excerpts from the interview:

Some companies in the top five have announced promotions and hikes. When can Infosys employees expect something similar?

The thing is the industry is still facing uncertain times. We would like to look at the situation. As it develops, as it evolves, we are constantly looking at it and then when we decide we will let you know.

Union Minister for IT and telecom A Raja said that he plans to extend the tax benefits on STPI units by another three years from 2011 to 2014. What are your views on the same?

If it is done properly, it is going to help the industry. So, what is needed is extension of the 10-year holiday to 13 or 15 years. Then it will help, because most of the STPs have come out of the 10-year holiday. The 3 year extension will also help but in a smaller way.

As the law stands today, the tax break is available for new units. When you create a SEZ it’s a new unit, when you create a STP, it’s a new unit. So the benefits are available only for new units as it stands today. You need to extend the benefit to existing units by extending the term to 13 years or 15 years.

Recently, there’s also been a lot of noise about stricter immigration norms in UK, where lobbyists are trying to work out rules that will benefit local workers. How will this impact Infosys, for which UK & Continental Europe is the second-biggest revenue generator after US?

Till now, the impact has been minimum. But definitely there is a change in attitude because unemployment is going up in these countries. So, they are looking at how they can tighten their immigration rules. This is also targeted towards illegal immigrants. And what is needed is to make sure that you work with these governments to reduce the impact. India is becoming a very attractive location for overseas people, for foreigners to work in. So we can have a counter agreement with these countries.

And we need to canvass for a different kind of visa, which is a work permit visa. Today immigrant visa is used for work permit. So, it’s confusing the issue, because most employees going there are not going to immigrate. They are just going to work and come back.

Nasscom, CII are working with the govt of India, with these governments to make sure that our perspective, our voices are heard and a proper solution is found. This is also part of the WTO discussions.