According to a report the outsourcing deal is valued at up to $200 million which could cost up to 178 Qantas workers their jobs
IBM Corp. said that it has signed a seven-year outsourcing contract with Qantas, Australia's largest airline, for the provision of project delivery functions, as part of the airline's improved business efficiency goals.
David Hall, Qantas executive manager of corporate services and technology, said the agreement with IBM will enable a fast transformation, increased efficiencies, and improved customer experience.
"Qantas believes the partnership with IBM will give us access to IBM's scale, strength, expertise, and the latest tools and technologies available in the global marketplace. We are confident that IBM will deliver significant benefits to our business," he said.
Under the contract, Qantas will gain access to IBM's deep research, analytics and business optimization capabilities.
"Qantas' partnership with IBM represents a major step towards the airline's mission to lead and innovate in the competitive airline industry," said Katie Bambrick, IBM Global Business Services Managing Partner for Australia and New Zealand.
"Drawing on IBM's advanced technologies and the airline industry expertise IBM has built over the last half-century, this partnership has an exciting future," said Ms Bambrick.
According to Australian IT the outsourcing deal with IBM is valued at up to $200 million which could cost up to 178 workers their jobs.
Staff at Qantas's project delivery team are set to transfer to IBM as part of the deal. Those who do not accept new employment terms from IBM will be forced to take redundancy, the report said.
Agencies
Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Zealand. Show all posts
Friday, September 11, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
Will Aegis Buy Australia's UCMS Group?
Essar Group's back office arm Aegis Ltd has agreed to buy Australian business process outsourcing firm UCMS Group Ltd in a cash deal worth about A$54 million, the firms said in a statement on Friday.
Aegis, through affiliate firm Aegis BPO Services Australia Pty Ltd, will pay UCMS stockholders A$0.98 per share, a 133 percent premium over Thursday's closing price of A$0.42 per share, they added in the joint statement.
"Australia and New Zealand logically become a part of our growth strategy and offer an opportunity for Aegis to expand its footprint in this geography," said Aparup Sengupta, global chief executive officer and managing director of Aegis. The transaction is expected to close in in the third quarter and is subject to approvals from shareholders and the Supreme Court of Victoria and other customary closing conditions, they added.
With this acquisition, Aegis will have operations in India, Philippines, the United States, Costa Rica, Kenya and Australia. Last year, Aegis acquired outsourcing firm PeopleSupport Inc.
Agencies
Aegis, through affiliate firm Aegis BPO Services Australia Pty Ltd, will pay UCMS stockholders A$0.98 per share, a 133 percent premium over Thursday's closing price of A$0.42 per share, they added in the joint statement.
"Australia and New Zealand logically become a part of our growth strategy and offer an opportunity for Aegis to expand its footprint in this geography," said Aparup Sengupta, global chief executive officer and managing director of Aegis. The transaction is expected to close in in the third quarter and is subject to approvals from shareholders and the Supreme Court of Victoria and other customary closing conditions, they added.
With this acquisition, Aegis will have operations in India, Philippines, the United States, Costa Rica, Kenya and Australia. Last year, Aegis acquired outsourcing firm PeopleSupport Inc.
Agencies
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Do Indians lag behind in online social networking?
Internet users in the country may be growing substantially, but when it comes to networking online, India has been placed among the nations with least exposure to social networking sites in the Asia-Pacific region.
The US-based internet marketing research firm comScore in a report has said that only 60.3 per cent of internet users in India are used to social networking sites, making it one of the Asia-Pacific countries with least exposure to the activity.
In terms of the penetration of social networking sites, India is ahead of Japan (50.9 per cent), China (45.6 per cent) and Taiwan (42.4 per cent).
According to the report, Singapore has the highest number of social networking site users at 74.3 per cent in the region, followed by Australia (68.3 per cent), South Korea (68 per cent) and Malaysia (66.6 per cent).
Hong Kong and New Zealand have the same per centage of such users at 62.8 per cent, the report noted.
However, comScore said that the number of visitors to social networking sites has increased by 51 per cent in India.
In India, the number of internet users visiting such sites rose by 51 per cent to 19.37 million in December 2008, the report said. The number of visitors stood at just 12.8 million in December 2007.
Agencies
The US-based internet marketing research firm comScore in a report has said that only 60.3 per cent of internet users in India are used to social networking sites, making it one of the Asia-Pacific countries with least exposure to the activity.
In terms of the penetration of social networking sites, India is ahead of Japan (50.9 per cent), China (45.6 per cent) and Taiwan (42.4 per cent).
According to the report, Singapore has the highest number of social networking site users at 74.3 per cent in the region, followed by Australia (68.3 per cent), South Korea (68 per cent) and Malaysia (66.6 per cent).
Hong Kong and New Zealand have the same per centage of such users at 62.8 per cent, the report noted.
However, comScore said that the number of visitors to social networking sites has increased by 51 per cent in India.
In India, the number of internet users visiting such sites rose by 51 per cent to 19.37 million in December 2008, the report said. The number of visitors stood at just 12.8 million in December 2007.
Agencies
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Caretel Infotech hires 600 people for BPO operations
Dalmia group company Caretel Infotech is upbeat about the opportunities in the BPO space and has hired about 600 people, even while others are handing out pink slips to employees amid the current slowdown.
"In last 30 days, we have recruited 619 employees for our various projects from metros and even small towns like Chindwara at Rajasthan for our Kisaan Call Centre Project. For our various assignments, we will be recruiting more and more people from all over India and train them for the future," Caretel Infotech Chief Executive Officer Amit Roy said in a statement.
The company also said it is looking at the downturn as as an opportunity to bag more deals, both in the country and overseas.
"We are looking at this slowdown as an opportunity and have started international outsourcing process for some part of the US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand to manage the slowdown impact. We have also increased our national clientele as we have bagged assignments from reputed brands like DDA ... and soon will close a DTH service provider in India," Roy said.
Caretel has 13 business centres in India and employs over 6,000 people. It is now expanding its operations overseas and is targeting a significant growth from its global clients.
For our international clients, we will be hiring 200 or more people in near future, he added.
Source: Agencies
"In last 30 days, we have recruited 619 employees for our various projects from metros and even small towns like Chindwara at Rajasthan for our Kisaan Call Centre Project. For our various assignments, we will be recruiting more and more people from all over India and train them for the future," Caretel Infotech Chief Executive Officer Amit Roy said in a statement.
The company also said it is looking at the downturn as as an opportunity to bag more deals, both in the country and overseas.
"We are looking at this slowdown as an opportunity and have started international outsourcing process for some part of the US, Europe, Australia and New Zealand to manage the slowdown impact. We have also increased our national clientele as we have bagged assignments from reputed brands like DDA ... and soon will close a DTH service provider in India," Roy said.
Caretel has 13 business centres in India and employs over 6,000 people. It is now expanding its operations overseas and is targeting a significant growth from its global clients.
For our international clients, we will be hiring 200 or more people in near future, he added.
Source: Agencies
Thursday, December 11, 2008
IT spending to be on a slowdown across Asia
IT spending in Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) will drop to a growth rate of 7.1% in 2009, a decrease from 10.2% in 2008, said Singapore-based research group Springboard Research.
According to Springboard's executive brief Asia Pacific IT Market Predictions 2009 released today, all countries in the region will be affected, but the degree of fallout from the economic crisis will differ by country.
Countries at highest risk of a slowdown include the most developed economies of the region, such as Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. Less developed, emerging and boom Asian economies, such as Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam run a lower risk of a spending slowdown.
Like other regions of the world, Asia will experience an IT spending slowdown during 2009 as all organizations re-look at spending in the wake of the global economic crisis, said Dane Anderson, CEO and EVP of Research at Springboard Research.
However, even with slower growth Asia will continue to emerge as a critical region for IT vendors and we will continue to see a substantial shift in investment moving to Asia and other global emerging markets. While the crisis will affect Asia in 2009, it will also further cement the region as crucial to any global company s growth strategy moving forward, Anderson added.
According to the study, countries in the High Risk Index are Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand. However there is some good news for India as it has been placed in the 'lower risk' segment.
"As illustrated in our predictions, we expect that most organizations in the region will be modifying their IT strategy from a focus on supporting revenue generation to an approach aimed at improving efficiencies," said Ravi Shekhar Pandey, manager - Syndicated Research at Springboard Research. There will be a continued focus on reducing operational expenditure, both from business and IT perspectives. On the positive side, while technology spending will definitely be affected by this crisis, it will be more resilient than other areas that are often easier and quicker to cut.
Technology will be more resilient than other areas of spending among enterprises and will be difficult to cut, according to Springboard.
According to Springboard's executive brief Asia Pacific IT Market Predictions 2009 released today, all countries in the region will be affected, but the degree of fallout from the economic crisis will differ by country.
Countries at highest risk of a slowdown include the most developed economies of the region, such as Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand. Less developed, emerging and boom Asian economies, such as Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Vietnam run a lower risk of a spending slowdown.
Like other regions of the world, Asia will experience an IT spending slowdown during 2009 as all organizations re-look at spending in the wake of the global economic crisis, said Dane Anderson, CEO and EVP of Research at Springboard Research.
However, even with slower growth Asia will continue to emerge as a critical region for IT vendors and we will continue to see a substantial shift in investment moving to Asia and other global emerging markets. While the crisis will affect Asia in 2009, it will also further cement the region as crucial to any global company s growth strategy moving forward, Anderson added.
According to the study, countries in the High Risk Index are Australia, Hong Kong, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand. However there is some good news for India as it has been placed in the 'lower risk' segment.
"As illustrated in our predictions, we expect that most organizations in the region will be modifying their IT strategy from a focus on supporting revenue generation to an approach aimed at improving efficiencies," said Ravi Shekhar Pandey, manager - Syndicated Research at Springboard Research. There will be a continued focus on reducing operational expenditure, both from business and IT perspectives. On the positive side, while technology spending will definitely be affected by this crisis, it will be more resilient than other areas that are often easier and quicker to cut.
Technology will be more resilient than other areas of spending among enterprises and will be difficult to cut, according to Springboard.
Friday, December 5, 2008
As crisis drags on; layoffs mount globally
Credit Suisse and Nomura Holdings announced big job cuts on Thursday, further evidence the global financial crisis is unrelenting for an industry battered by heavy losses and weak markets.
The 5,300 layoffs by the Swiss bank and a further 1,000 in London by Japan’s biggest broker are the latest in the global financial sector which has now seen over 150,000 jobs culled since September when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.
Of these, more than 50,000 were at Citigroup, which has made more writedowns than any other bank in the world during the crisis.
While the axe had been falling for months in the industry, Lehman’s fall sparked carnage in financial markets and reshaped the industry landscape, resulting in job losses from New York to Singapore to Mumbai. “I don’t think people really know what’s next. It depends on sentiment, which will in turn drive credit markets, which in turn will weigh on banks or not,” said a London-based equities trader.
From the United States to Asian export giant Japan to European powerhouse Germany, the world’s top economies are now in recession as the global crisis deepens.
They are not the only ones with Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong also joining in. The losses at banks are increasing. Credit Suisse said on Thursday it made a net loss of about 3 billion Swiss francs ($2.5 billion) in October and November.
It has already cut 1,800 jobs this year and said this week it would cut 650 investment banking jobs in Britain. “Investment banking had a significant pretax loss, reflecting the challenging conditions in the financial markets in the quarter and the costs associated with risk reduction,” the bank said.
Credit Suisse’s shares jumped 8% in European trade in a broader market up 1.6%.
In Asia, Nomura, Japan’s biggest brokerage, said the decision to cut as much as 22% of its London staff followed an internal review after the purchase of the Asian, European and Middle Eastern assets of Lehman Brothers.
Nomura had said the purchase of parts of Lehman Brothers would help the Japanese brokerage achieve its profit target despite poor financial market conditions. “This is a natural move,” said Azuma Ohno, a brokerage analyst at Credit Suisse Securities in Japan.
“Once Nomura bought Lehman, it cannot continue Japanese-style life-time employment. It needs to be flexible in costs to be profitable.”Australia’s top investment bank, Macquarie Group, is cutting 10 to 15% of its jobs in Asia, two sources said last week.
Banks are axing jobs across Asia and even in countries such as India, where investment bankers were snapped up feverishly in the last few years in anticipation of strong initial public offerings and M&A markets. “The layoffs will come in phases and will stretch into 2009,” said Singapore-based Will Tan of Webbe International, an executive search firm specializing in the financial sector.
The job cuts from Nomura and Credit Suisse came a few hours after a report of layoffs at Bank of America. Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis said the bank is in the “final stage of our analysis” for planned job cuts following its purchase of Merrill Lynch, the Charlotte observer said on its website on Wednesday. Layoffs have also gathered pace at fund management firms.
State Street, one of the world’s biggest institutional money managers, said on Wednesday it plans to lay off as many as 1,800 people, or 6% of its staff, in the first three months of 2009. Private equity firm Carlyle Group is cutting about 100 jobs — around 10% of its staff — a source familiar with the situation said. The reductions are the first major cuts made by a large US private equity firm since the global economic crisis hit.
Middle market investment bank Jefferies Group will slash nearly 15% of its employees worldwide and close offices in Dubai, Singapore and Tokyo as it contends with heavy losses for 2008.
Source: Reuters
The 5,300 layoffs by the Swiss bank and a further 1,000 in London by Japan’s biggest broker are the latest in the global financial sector which has now seen over 150,000 jobs culled since September when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.
Of these, more than 50,000 were at Citigroup, which has made more writedowns than any other bank in the world during the crisis.
While the axe had been falling for months in the industry, Lehman’s fall sparked carnage in financial markets and reshaped the industry landscape, resulting in job losses from New York to Singapore to Mumbai. “I don’t think people really know what’s next. It depends on sentiment, which will in turn drive credit markets, which in turn will weigh on banks or not,” said a London-based equities trader.
From the United States to Asian export giant Japan to European powerhouse Germany, the world’s top economies are now in recession as the global crisis deepens.
They are not the only ones with Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong also joining in. The losses at banks are increasing. Credit Suisse said on Thursday it made a net loss of about 3 billion Swiss francs ($2.5 billion) in October and November.
It has already cut 1,800 jobs this year and said this week it would cut 650 investment banking jobs in Britain. “Investment banking had a significant pretax loss, reflecting the challenging conditions in the financial markets in the quarter and the costs associated with risk reduction,” the bank said.
Credit Suisse’s shares jumped 8% in European trade in a broader market up 1.6%.
In Asia, Nomura, Japan’s biggest brokerage, said the decision to cut as much as 22% of its London staff followed an internal review after the purchase of the Asian, European and Middle Eastern assets of Lehman Brothers.
Nomura had said the purchase of parts of Lehman Brothers would help the Japanese brokerage achieve its profit target despite poor financial market conditions. “This is a natural move,” said Azuma Ohno, a brokerage analyst at Credit Suisse Securities in Japan.
“Once Nomura bought Lehman, it cannot continue Japanese-style life-time employment. It needs to be flexible in costs to be profitable.”Australia’s top investment bank, Macquarie Group, is cutting 10 to 15% of its jobs in Asia, two sources said last week.
Banks are axing jobs across Asia and even in countries such as India, where investment bankers were snapped up feverishly in the last few years in anticipation of strong initial public offerings and M&A markets. “The layoffs will come in phases and will stretch into 2009,” said Singapore-based Will Tan of Webbe International, an executive search firm specializing in the financial sector.
The job cuts from Nomura and Credit Suisse came a few hours after a report of layoffs at Bank of America. Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis said the bank is in the “final stage of our analysis” for planned job cuts following its purchase of Merrill Lynch, the Charlotte observer said on its website on Wednesday. Layoffs have also gathered pace at fund management firms.
State Street, one of the world’s biggest institutional money managers, said on Wednesday it plans to lay off as many as 1,800 people, or 6% of its staff, in the first three months of 2009. Private equity firm Carlyle Group is cutting about 100 jobs — around 10% of its staff — a source familiar with the situation said. The reductions are the first major cuts made by a large US private equity firm since the global economic crisis hit.
Middle market investment bank Jefferies Group will slash nearly 15% of its employees worldwide and close offices in Dubai, Singapore and Tokyo as it contends with heavy losses for 2008.
Source: Reuters
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