RayooTech – IT Outsourcing

With the outsourcing industry continuing to experience 10 percent growth, the need for outsourcing professionals to stay up to date on the latest trends and standards is more pertinent than ever, fueling an increase in professional certification training programs.

In response to the increased need and demand from individuals and companies employing outsourcing professionals globally, the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals(R) (IAOP(R)) has continued to expand its educational offerings in its Certified Outsourcing Professional(R) (COP) program.

New offerings include the Service Provider Business Development Workshop, a one-day live or online program that earns 15 points towards the COP certification and qualifies candidates for the new Certified Outsourcing Professional – Business Development (COP-BD) certification.

“Outsourcing is a highly strategic, complex and ever-changing process that requires constant governance, due diligence and monitoring on the part of clients and service providers,” said Jim Shea, CEO of CDI Online Management Services, who holds the designations of COP-BD and COP-GOV. “Keeping up with changes in the field and implementing best practices is critical to outsourcing success.”

The number of professionals gaining the COP designation that validates expertise in the end-to-end process of outsourcing continues to rise. More than 325 professionals from 22 countries have received COP designations, while over 650 applications for award of the certification are now under consideration by the Outsourcing Standards Board, IAOP reports.

“Being a COP is a differentiator,” says JoAnn Martin of Pitney Bowes, COP, PBI and PMP. “Gaining this certification has allowed me the expanded scope of knowledge learned, experienced and gathered from my peers to help guide my company in outsourcing maturity. The COP certification goes beyond the validity a certification brings. COPs help align customers, vendors and consultants in outsourcing in order to achieve company success in the global economy.”

Master Class Participation Increases

IAOP also has seen a 25 percent increase from 2010 to 2011 in its COP Master Class training, a comprehensive learning experience for improved outsourcing outcomes.

Over 1,000 professionals have undergone the COP Master Class training globally and report high satisfaction with the program with 92 percent of attendees saying they gained skills specific to their position and also gathered new ideas to bring back to their companies and more than 75 percent responding that it met or exceeded their expectations of improving their outsourcing ability.

To offer greater flexibility, IAOP has changed the Master Class format from a four to three-day class held at prestigious executive conference centers and also increased options for companies to hold on-site private classes. In North America, the Master Class and one-day Governance workshop can be combined to give executives more training in one business trip, reducing travel expenses. All IAOP training also is available online for universal accessibility.

“IAOP provides state-of-the-art instructor led and online training on outsourcing best practices for both clients and service providers,” Shea says. “The COP training delivers the knowledge and skills outsourcing practitioners need to keep up with the ever-changing field of outsourcing.”

Among the upcoming COP Master Classes being held globally are sessions April 16-19 and June 11-14 in Kuala Lumpur; May 9-11 in Hong Kong; and June 25-28 in Toronto combined with the one-day Governance workshop. For a schedule of Master Classes and professional training, see IAOP.

source:

http://www.theoutsourceblog.com/2012/04/iaop-expands-outsourcing-professional-certification-training-globally/

Infosys Ltd. (INFO), which sits on the largest cash pile among India’s computer-services providers, is prepared to spend as much as $500 million on a single European acquisition.

Infosys may make another attempt to acquire a company of that size after it walked away from a plan to buy U.K.-based Axon Group Plc for 407 million pounds ($645 million) in 2008, said Chandrashekar Kakal, the company’s global head of business IT services.

“We do have cash, but we are looking for a company which adds to our capability and becomes complementary to our growth rather than becoming a laggard,” he said in an April 13 phone interview.

Infosys’s war chest of about $4 billion is more than twice the size that of bigger peer Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS) Indian software companies, after a decade of growth fuelled by the outsourcing of jobs from the U.S., are turning to acquisitions to expand into Europe, currently the second-largest source of their revenues. Making purchases in Europe may help Bangalore-based Infosys achieve a target of getting 40 percent of its sales from the region, up from about 22 percent.

In 2008, Infosys decided against further pursuing a plan to buy Axon after its bid was trumped by New Delhi-based HCL Technologies Ltd. In 2006, Infosys spent $115 million to purchase Citigroup Inc.’s stake in Progeon Ltd., a back-office service provider controlled by Infosys.

Bidding Competition

The company may also make a number of smaller purchases worth about $30 million to $50 million each, Kakal said, adding that such companies would be easier to integrate. He declined to identify any potential targets or specify sectors where acquisitions may be made.

Infosys, which designs and builds software programs and provides back-office support to clients including U.K. phone company BT Group Plc (BT/) and oil company BP Plc, was founded by seven engineers in 1981 with $250 they borrowed from their wives.

Kakal, who joined the company in 1999, oversees Infosys’ development, maintenance, testing and infrastructure management services with about 60,000 employees, according to the company’s website.

While Forrester Research Inc. (FORR) forecasts that western and central Europe will have the world’s slowest growth in technology spending in 2012, Infosys says that Indian outsourcing companies could benefit as businesses in Europe need to cut costs.

European Push

Infosys Chief Financial Officer V. Balakrishnan said in a Feb. 29 interview that opportunities for acquisitions are increasing because more European companies have “broken” cost structures. India’s second-biggest software exporter is looking to buy companies that own intellectual property as well as niche consulting firms and corporations that will boost business in France and Germany, he said at the time.

Companies and governments in France and Germany spent a combined $178 billion on information-technology goods and services last year, according to Forrester Research. Together, that made them the world’s third-largest technology market.

The Indian service provider has made inroads into the German market after switching from a sales approach that used almost exclusively English speakers to one that employs 20 percent local consultants, with offshore staff being limited to about 60 percent, Franz-Josef Schuermann, who heads Infosys’s operations in the country, said in the joint interview with Kakal. The company is currently benefitting from the growth of online retailing in the region, he said.

Growth Needed

Worldwide spending on information-technology services will rise 1.3 percent to $856 billion in 2012, slowing from a 6.5 percent increase last year, according to an April 5 report by Stamford, Connecticut-based research firm Gartner Inc.

Infosys also needs to boost growth after the company last week forecast sales that missed analysts’ estimates.

Sales in the year that began April 1 may be between 384.3 billion rupees ($7.5 billion) and 391.4 billion rupees, Infosys said in a statement April 13. Analysts expected revenue of 396.3 billion rupees for the period, the median of 64 estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The company also reported fourth-quarter sales that were lower than analysts predicted.

Source:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-15/infosys-may-spend-up-to-500-million-on-european-deal.html