Accenture signs up multi-year BPO Contract with Washington Gas
Accenture (ACN) has penned a multi-year agreement with Washington Gas Light Co. to provide business process outsourcing and service and technology enhancements to the company.
As part of the deal, Washington Gas will pay around US$ 350 million for a combination of capital expenditures and services over the 10-year BPO contract. Washington Gas expects the utility to save about US$ 170 million over the 10-year contract period.
Desh Bhagat College, Punjab starts call center for BPO courses
Desh Bhagat Institute of Management and Computer Sciences (DBIMCS) has launched a call center for training computer savvy students keen on making a career within the ITES-BPO industry. The Call centre Training Program is being offered by the College in partnership with Akiko Call Net, a New Delhi based firm.
After completing their training through Akiko Call Net, professionals can hope to get a hired within the BPO industry, with a salary package of Rs. 8,000 per month, plus perks. The Desh Bhagat Group will set up over 10 similar centers all over Punjab by next year.
MedWrite unveils BPO facility in Hyderabad
MedWrite India, a Hyderabad-based healthcare BPO recently launched its facility in the city. The company has set up a state-of-the-art center which will engage around 200 trained professionals. Plans are afoot to raise the head-count to 500 professionals by the fall of 2008.MedWrite handles medical billing and transcription services for a vast number of hospitals, clinics and physicians across the United States.
The firm would also shortly be launching a free training program for undergraduates and graduates to cater to the growing needs of skilled manpower in the industry.
Bhilwara Scribe forays BPO market.
Bhilwara Scribe, the IT arm of the Rs. 3,000-crore LNJ Bhilwara Group, has acquired two BPOs in the healthcare segment. The company is into medical transcription and data management services for clients in the US, Canada and Belgium. It has acquired US-based Benson Transcription Technologies Inc. and Bangalore-based Global Meditrans Private Ltd.
Benson Transcription, with 50 US-based employees, has a turnover of approximately US$ 2 million. The acquisition will help the company tap the huge healthcare BPO market in the US and create a strong front-end for it in the US market.
In order to complement the acquisition in the US and cater to the increased work, Bhilwara Scribe has acquired Bangalore-based medical transcription outfit Global Meditrans Pvt Ltd. Global Meditrans is a 200-seat healthcare BPO and has been providing services to the US and Canada for the last seven years.
On completion of the two acquisitions, Bhilwara Scribe’s combined headcount in India and the US will touch around 600 people.
Lake Systems sets up BPO operations in Nashik
Bangalore-based Lake Systems (LSPL), a healthcare BPO major, has established its first unit in Nashik, in the Satpur area of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC).
Lake Systems is a leading national outsourcer offering data transcription and document management services to hospitals, multi-specialty clinics and individual physicians in the UK, the US and Australia. It has close to 150 employees at its Bangalore unit, which is focused on tapping the US$ 22 billion medical transcription business opportunity.
The medical transcription BPO unit at Nashik, with a headcount of 38,will grow to around 100 people in the next four or six months as part of the company’s expansion plans.
Corporation Community College to launch BPO course
The Corporation Community College in Triplicane is all set to offer a course in BPO.
Starting this August, students can look forward to learning about how to deal with callers from different countries and aspire for a job in the BPO sector.
In a bid to revamp the courses offered in the community college, the Chennai Corporation, in collaboration with Dr. Reddy’s Foundation, is planning to offer three new courses dealing with BPO, hospitality services, and customer relations and sales.
Each student will be charged Rs..500 and trained for three months by facilitators from the Dr. Reddy’s Foundation. Life skills will also be offered as part of the course.
at the end of the course, students will be trained in interview skills, work place requirements and communicative English.
Smart city to be set up in Kochi
Plans are afoot to set up a mega information technology (IT) infrastructure project, branded Smart City, in Kochi, Kerala. The project envisages creating infrastructure for IT companies and generating 90,000 jobs. The Government of Kerala hopes this project will enable it to attract large-scale private investment.
First Financial announces plans for a captive unit in India
First Financial Bank, one of the six oldest banks in the United States, is expected to set up a captive operation in India. The facility, with a headcount of around 1,000 people will offer both IT and BPO services.
Located at Bangalore, the captive will also offer call center services.
Broadbridge to invest US$ 6 million in India unit
Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc will invest US$ 6 million in expanding its operations in India by March 2008.
Broadridge, which provides outsourcing services for the financial services industry, will set up a new facility in the southern city of Hyderabad and raise its headcount by 30 percent.. The company currently employs more than 500 people at its wholly owned Indian unit.
Maitreyi College takes the BPO route
Maitreyi College in New Delhi has begun offering a course that will teach students basic skills needed to work in a call center, such as voice and accent training. The South Campus college has tied up with IBM-Daksh, the BPO, arm of IBM Corporation for the program.
The aim of the program is to expand the pool of employable graduates in India. The course has already attracted over 150 applicants, while several others are waiting in the wings.
SPI takes over Comat Technologies
SPI, an IT and BPO services company-based in Mysore, has acquired the BPO and LPO business of Comat Technologies. The acquisition is expected to take the headcount of SPI to over 1,000. As part of the deal, SPI will take over all US and UK BPO/LPO customers of Comat being serviced from Mysore.
Over 400 Comat employees working on medical transcription, legal transcription and legal coding Services will transfer to SPI’s payroll once the legal formalities are completed. The newly acquired businesses will contribute around 15 percent of the total annualized revenues the company expects to book in 2007-08.
Cybernet SlashSupport bags deal from Virgin America
Cybernet-SlashSupport (CSS) has bagged a remote infrastructure management (RIM) services deal from Virgin America, the newest US-based domestic airline. CSS will provide remote infrastructure management for Virgin America’s IT systems.
Virgin America, which plans to start flying domestically later this summer, selected Cybernet-SlashSupport to provide network monitoring and management, incident and problem management, help desk and other technology support services, according to a company statement. The technology support will take place out of Cybernet-SlashSupport’s offshore facilities in Chennai.
CSS has around 5,000 employees working out of its offshore facilities in Chennai and Coimbatore.
Convergys pens deal with Starbucks
Convergys Corporation has announced the closure of a multi-year contract with Starbucks Coffee Company to provide global HR BPO services, beginning with Starbucks’ North American operations. Starbucks is the world’s leading retailer, roaster, and brand of specialty coffee with more than 13,500 stores in 40 countries employing more than 145,000 partners (employees). Under terms of the contract, Convergys will provide human resource (HR) administration and payroll services for Starbucks partners in the United States and Canada, along with benefits services for Starbucks partners in Canada.
ATA launches region's first industry standard
Members of the Australian Teleservices Association (ATA) will formally adopt the region's first industry standard after the launch of the Australian Contact Centre Standards (ACCS).
The ACCS was finalized after several years of consultation within the industry. Providing Gold, Silver and Bronze accreditation levels, the standards provide a framework through which benchmarks can be clearly established. By adopting the ACCS, ATA members commit themselves to a cycle of constant improvement, within which the services offered to business and engagement with the broader public is formalized within a clear, manageable and assessable framework.
Benefits to the broader public are delivered by the standards initiative because they will ensure contact operators uphold fully compliant best practice, including data integrity, privacy, complaints resolution and customer satisfaction monitoring.
