The Outsourcing Week in Review: August 10, 2021

Welcome to Inside Outsourcing: The Outsourcing Week in Review

THE WEEK IN REVIEW

Indian leading IT firms are expected to post a 9%-12% revenue growth by 2022.  According to independent credit rating agency ICRA, next fiscal year’s growth could jump as high as 12%, due to higher demand for digital technologies and supported by pent-up demand from the prior year.  FY2021 growth was considerably lower due to the impact of the pandemic. For FY2023, the anticipated growth will be around 6-9%.

Despite India’s brutal second wave of the pandemic, the country’s IT-BPO (Information Technology-business Process Outsourcing) industry reported a whopping 47% boost in hiring activity in Q2, according to a report by Indeed’s ‘India Hiring Tracker.’ The IT sector reported a 61% quarter-on-quarter growth, with large businesses dominating the hiring activity. This hiring splurge gas resulted in more companies turning to apprentices to meet the growing job demand and attrition rate in the BPO industry. Sumit Kumar, Business Head at National Employability through Apprenticeship Program (NETAP), said that “hiring of apprentices has surged by 36% in June despite the partial shutdowns.” Kumar added that apprenticeships have increased for roles in “back-end operations, telecallers, sales, voice and non-voice customer support, medical transcriptionist, accountants, and many more” – yet more evidence of the BPO industry being countercyclical!

A Swedish business community is looking to explore investment opportunities in Davao City, Philippines, which includes BPO, manufacturing, and dealership ventures. The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP)-Southern Mindanao Business Council also showcased agriculture, light manufacturing, information technology, and Smart City technology in an online roadshow organized by the Davao City Investment Promotion Center with ECCP, Embassy of Sweden in Manila, Philippine Embassy in Stockholm, and the Department of Trade and Industry. Meanwhile, Pakistan is also looking forward to numerous commercial investments from Japanese companies. In a forum, Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan Kuninori Matsuda hinted at Japan’s interest in investing in the food processing and automobile sectors, which are already the priority sectors of Pakistan in terms of incentives.

French multinational IT firm Atos is reportedly considering a sale of its legacy information technology businesses, which includes several outsourcing operations. In a statement, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Tamlin Bason said that the French company plans to boost its digital services and lessen its reliance on legacy services. In line with this, Atos announced its recent acquisition of three digital services providers: US-based cloud platform provider Nimbix, India-based management consultant Visual BI Solutions, and Finland-based digital solutions firm Ideal GRP.

Remote employment platform Deel recently acquired Germany-based software startup Zeitgold, a partnership that came just months after Deel raised a $156 million Series C funding for their international expansion. According to CEO Alex Bouaziz, the firm is currently looking at a few near-term acquisition targets, with M&A being one of the main reasons for its recent Series C financing. Also making news, Swedish BPO firm Transcom acquired Croatian omnichannel outsourcing firm City Connect. In a report, Novac.hr stated that Transcom’s goal is to “position itself as the leading BPO service provider in the wider Adriatic region.”

Amid the pandemic, outsourcing firms continue to provide employment opportunities to workers across the globe. The US firm, ibex, is planning to hire 400 employees as it opens a new customer experience (CX) delivery center in Pennsylvania. The firm’s new 33,000-square-feet center, which will start operations on October 1st, is projected to bring over US$ 3.5 million of capital investments into Allegheny county.

Indian BPO organization Eureka Outsourcing Solutions (EOS) is ready to set its footprints across a global market. The firm recently launched a new office in the United States to expand its operations, including the provision of extensive BPM and ITeS (Information Technology Enabled Services) services for both onshore and offshore operations for various businesses in the country.

In other news, a new study released by home improvement marketing firm CraftJack revealed that 38% of Work From Home (WFH) employees in the United States are regularly working from their beds. The survey, which had 1,520 respondents, also showed that 45% of American teleworkers work from their couch, while 20% work outside their houses. In addition, 19% of the respondents said they work from a closet regularly. While these statistics are from the US, can you imagine what it’s like for the average Indian or Filipino home that might not have as much space as the average US home.

If you were wondering about bringing your team back into the office – maybe it’s a good idea…

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

NEWS THIS WEEK

9 August 2021

• Scottish outsourcing firm to open 100 new jobs – read article…
• Indian BPOs to hire more trainees due to growing demand – read article…
• Intuit to hire over 350 employees in India – read article… 
• EOS launches US office – read article…

6 August 2021

• Indian IT firms to achieve up to 9-12% revenue growth in FY2022 – read article…
• More Japanese investments coming to Pakistan – Ambassador – read article…
• Atos acquires three IT companies – read article…
• Serco’s revenue increased by 19% in 1H – read article…

5 August 2021

• Outsourced Qantas workers unlikely to be reinstated – read article…
• Commerzbank’s Q2 loss due to restructuring costs – read article…
• Amber gains new CEO as it explores game dev outsourcing – read article…
• Global hiring platform Deel acquires Zeitgold – read article…

4 August 2021

• Atos planning to sell its legacy operations – read article…
• India’s hiring activity increased by 11% in June – read article…
• ibex to hire 400 workers in new Pittsburgh CX center – read article…
• 38% of WFH employees work from their beds, says survey – read article…

3 August 2021

• Swedish biz community plans to invest in Davao, PH – read article…
• Transcom acquires City Connect – read article…
• Outsourcing Inc.’s revenue increased by 53% on H1 – read article…
• Staffing 360 Solutions requires vaccines for employees – read article…