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Xerox Buys Its Way Into BPO With $6.4B ACS Deal September 28, 2009 
Xerox said Monday that it will buy Affiliated Computer Services for $6.4 billion in cash and stock. Best known for its copying and printing business, Xerox said the move answers a growing need to better link document management to the processes that produce them -- including finance, human resources, transaction processing and customer support.
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The Shifting Call Center Paradigm September 16, 2009 
What is it about customer service that drove three major CRM companies to make announcements about their service products within days of each other last week? Oracle and Salesforce.com each announced new or completed development of functionality, and RightNow said it bought HiveLive, a social networking solution provider.
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At Home in the Virtual Office September 10, 2009 
Today's volatile economy is pushing more companies to consider the merits of a virtual workplace for some or all of their employees. Often, however, the idea fails to go anywhere because neither managers nor their workers are sure how to get started. Also, attitudes among some old-school managers pose hurdles that block workers from pursuing virtual workplace opportunities.
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The BPO Outlook: Mostly Cloudy With Patches of Sun August 17, 2009 
Five years ago, megadeals were all the rage in the business process outsourcing (BPO) world. Global players such as IBM, Accenture, ACS and CSC were racking up billion-dollar multiyear contracts, mainly for accounting, human resource and procurement functions. Now that's changing.
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Target Dumps Amazon to Steer Its Own E-Commerce Course August 07, 2009 
Target is taking control of its e-commerce operations and striking out on its own. The discount retailer plans to build and manage its own platform for Target.com when its current contract with Amazon.com runs out in 2011. Target has outsourced its Web site's platform and fulfillment operations to Amazon for the last eight years.
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Efficiency Through Outsourced Marketing: Q&A With Quaero Founder Naras Eechambadi July 27, 2009 
It may seem that CSG Systems, a provider of customer interaction and billing management software, acquired marketing company Quaero in the nick of time. The deal was announced at the end of the year -- just as it was becoming painfully clear that the recession was likely to be much deeper than initially feared.
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Should You Outsource or Keep IT In-House? July 22, 2009 
Maintaining the network. Ensuring remote users have access to resources. Updating virus definitions. Troubleshooting email problems. Any number of IT issues can arise on a daily basis. So does it make sense for small businesses to hire a full-time IT staffer or outsource their IT needs? That depends.
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Sprint Hands Off Network Management to Ericsson in $5B Deal July 10, 2009 
Sprint Nextel and Ericsson startled the telco world with the announcement that Ericsson would take over managing the day-to-day operations of Sprint's CDMA, iDEN and wireline networks. "Network Advantage," as they've termed the seven-year outsourcing deal, is valued between $4.5 billion and $5 billion.
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Outsourcing's No Longer In June 30, 2009 
Companies used to turn to outsourcing during tough financial times. The current global recession, however, has curtailed outsourcing as much as it has other parts of the economy. "Oddly enough, the global recession has hurt outsourcing significantly," said Chad Hahn, principal owner of Hahn Consulting.
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Outsource or Keep It Home? Have It Your Way: Q&A With Alpine Access CEO Chris Carrington June 08, 2009 
Not that long ago, the outsourcing of customer service to home-based agents was a small niche category, viewed as not quite on par with a bricks-and-mortar call center operation. For a number of reasons, that perception is changing -- starting with the lower costs involved and ending with the growing number of quality providers that have highly qualified staffs on hand.
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The Battle for US Tech Jobs May 21, 2009 
A while back, someone convinced businesses that if they outsourced work overseas, costs would fall off a cliff. The Wall Street lemmings jumped, believing they could fly, but instead plummeted to the depths of a global recession. Many of them are still falling, yet they continue to outsource their work offshore.
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Outsource Your Processes, Keep Your Customers May 08, 2009 
Driven by the housing market landslide and seizure of the global credit markets, economies the world over have slipped into retrenchment and recession. Many organizations are tightening capital and expense budgets, closing locations, shortening hours or reducing staff. Still others are tempted to reduce the level of service and support they extend to customers.
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Tech Mahindra Swings In to Snap Up Stake in Scandal-Wracked Satyam April 13, 2009 
The four-month-long process to find a strategic investor for Satyam -- the India-based outsourcer that rattled the global business community with its ex-chairman's confession in January of longstanding accounting fraud -- is apparently over. Venturbay Consultants, a unit of Tech Mahindra, is acquiring 31 percent of Satyam for $351 million, or 302.76 million Satyam shares.
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Transparency in Outsourcing, Part 2: Mum's the Word April 07, 2009 
As the ongoing global economic crisis continues to impact the technology sector, many employees who once thought their jobs were secure are being given pink slips and shown the door. Giants like Microsoft, IBM and Sun Microsystems have cut tens of thousands of jobs in just the first quarter of 2009, according to a recent report from Challenger, Gray and Christmas, a Chicago-based outplacement firm.
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Transparency in Outsourcing, Part 1: Silent Shrinkage March 31, 2009
Layoffs are an unfortunate but predictable byproduct of an economy in decline. As the global economic crisis stretches into yet another month, companies in nearly all industries continue the painful process of purging employees in an effort to reduce costs. After the automotive and manufacturing sectors, one of the hardest hit areas of the economy has been the IT sector.
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Sharing the Load: The Co-Sourced IT Maintenance Operation March 27, 2009 
An October 2008 DLA Piper Technology Leaders Forecast survey talks about the impact of the financial and economic crisis within IT circles. Overall, the survey found that while industry leaders have a host of concerns, they are fundamentally optimistic about future opportunities within technology.
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