>> ISSUE #10 www.the-outsourcing.

com

RM12, S$8, US$8

KDN NO: PP14967/02/2009 (021381) MICA (P) 288/07/2008

PREMIER MAGAZINE ON BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY SERVICES INDUSTRY

ISSN 1985-1006

Satyam’s fall
from grace
Cultivating perfect
team leader
Do you value
what your
customer values?
Tech firms keep
polluting planet
Soft skills are
vital – that’s a
hard fact!

Obama
and Has Change Arrived?
Probably Not Much

Outsourcing
2pagesAD.indd 20 4/16/08 3:22:15 PM
 C O N T
6

11

16
E N T S
18
6 Satyam’s fall from grace
India reels over accounting scandal
at outsourcing giant

Malaysian ICT sector remains upbeat

8

Mumbai second most dangerous

11
location after Jerusalem
India had two regions ranked among
the top five most dangerous places for
outsourcing

Obama and Outsourcing

12
Has “Change” arrived? Probably not
much

12 22
Do you value what your customer
16
values?

18 Cultivating perfect team leader

22 The Next 5 in 5
24 A list of innovations that will change
the way people work, live and play
over the next five years

Top security concerns

24
Cybercrime and outsourcing top the
list in new study

26
Global Sourcing
26
An achilles heel or panacea in today’s
challenging times?

30 Fine art of managing external partners

Printed by: Swan Printing Sdn Bhd,

Lot 5249, Jalan BS 7/1
Kawasan Perindustrian Bukit Serdang,
43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor DE.
Enquiries: +603-8941 7723
 Editor’s note sri@wordlabs.com.my

The New Year has begun with a shocker in the form of Satyam scandal.

Perpetrated by founder Ramalinga Raju, one of the prodigal sons of

theteam India’s IT revolution, the episode has shown the dark side of Indian

capitalism.
Managing Editor/Publisher: Raju had admitted that his company’s accounts and assets had been
Sritharan Vellasamy
falsified over a period of several years, with profits inflated to the tune
Consultant:
Sundra Surian of more than one billion dollars.

At press time, with Raju languishing in Hyderabad prison, the

Indian government has formed a special fraud team to investigate the

editorial editorial@wordlabs.com.my
scandal.
Sub Editor: Simon Vella
Art Director: Steven Choo It remains to be seen if the IT outsourcing giant will bounce back from
Graphic artist: Shafie Osman
Contributors: Tamyne Menon, this financial and legal quagmire, and surely it will depend heavily on
Dorothy Llew, Mohd Arshad
a rapid liquidity infusion and the faithfulness of its clients and staff.
Coordinator: James Wee
Then, there’s this issue of the scandal’s trickle-down effect on the

credibility of Indian outsourcing industry.

sales sales@wordlabs.com.my Perhaps now, services companies from other outsourcing hotbeds will

Vikraman Visno hope that the fiasco may convince clients to bypass India when looking
Resh Nathen
to outsource their operations.

Wishful thinking? I leave that to you to ponder over.

contact admin@wordlabs.com.my While Raju has been hogging the limelight for all the wrong reasons

in the recent weeks, we have another personality on the other side of

the spectrum, Barack Hussein Obama, whose campaign message of

“Change” landed him into the Oval Office recently.

What would be his administration’s impact on the industry?

WORDlabs MEDIA (001645509-W) Well, our Cover Story takes a in-depth look at this interesting issue.
27-1, Metro Centre, Jalan 3/146,
Bandar Tasik Selatan, Be sure to find it out. – Sritharan Vellasamy
57000 Kuala Lumpur;
Phone: +603 90564770, 90580971;
Fax: +603 90564771, 90580972
3(CIMA-Ad).indd 1 10/20/08 12:43:11 PM
Outsourcing | news bits
Satyam’s
fall from grace
INDIA reeled over a false accounting
scandal at outsourcing giant Satyam,
likened to that at US energy giant Enron,
amid fears for jobs, foreign investment
and the country’s economic credibility.
The irony, you ask? – “Satyam” is
Sanskrit for “truth”.
The Satyam affair could not have
come at a worse time, analysts said,
with growth in India slowing and the
government struggling to revive the
flagging economy.
News agency AFP reported that were
even fears the Hyderabad-based company
– India’s fourth-largest IT exporter – could
go to the wall, as existing clients run
scared and potential bidders shy away
from being associated with a tainted
firm.
As news of the billion-dollar fraud
broke, Satyam’s advisory consultants DSP
Merrill Lynch, which had been scouting
for merger bids, said it had ended its
engagement with the firm, citing “mate-
rial accounting irregularities”.
Satyam, India’s fourth largest software
company, built single-handedly by entre-
preneur B. Ramalinga Raju, plunged into
a financial quagmire last week, after he
confessed to fudging figures to the tune
of Rs7,000 crores (RM3.5 billion) over the
last five years.
Raju resigned in early January, admit-
ting in a letter to the industry regulator
and stock exchange that company ac-
counts and assets had been falsified and
profits inflated.
Raju …
confessed
to fudging
figures.
India names new board for fraud-hit giant
Indian authorities has installed three
prominent business leaders to run scandal-hit
software giant Satyam Computers in an
effort to salvage the country’s international
business image.
The government appointees replaced the
company’s own interim board of directors
who took charge after Satyam founder and
 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009
He said he had tried to cover his tracks
but was unable to as the situation spi-
ralled out of control.
India’s media picked over the scandal,
suggesting parallels with the fall of Enron,
where executives hid company losses and
hyped the stock’s value while secretly
selling their own shares.
However, Raju insisted that neither
he nor senior officials profited from the
fraud.
With the company’s future uncertain,
and its reported 53,000 employees uneasy
about their jobs, a potential merger or
takeover of Satyam appears difficult
as the deal may not be approved by
shareholders of the potential buyer,
analysts said.
Earlier, commentators suggested that
the affair would hit the Indian economy
and foreign investor confidence, denting
the perception that corporate governance
in the country was better than in China,
which has also seen rapid growth.
Earlier,
commentators
suggested that the
affair would hit the
Indian economy
and foreign investor
confidence.”
chairman B. Ramalinga Raju admitted that
his company’s accounts and assets had been
falsified.
The new board would “provide necessary
vision and accountable leadership in this
hour of crisis to restore credibility, customer
confidence and employee morale,” Company
Affairs Minister P.C. Gupta told reporters.
Tremors
in South
East Asia
over
fiasco
Malaysia has expressed
concern over Indian computer
giant Satyam’s financial fraud issue,
as it could affect its worldwide
operations, including that in
Malaysia.
Satyam Computer Services,a
software outsourcing firm, has
a sizeable number of workers in
Cyberjaya, Malaysia.
“Things are just unfolding,
the company is unsettled and
unable to give a clear picture
on its direction but its current
status is definitely an issue.We
are concerned of the subsequent
direction of the company as it will
affect its presence in Malaysia,”
Human Resources Minister Datuk
Dr S. Subramaniam told Malaysian
reporters.
Satyam is one of Cyberjaya’s
biggest employers and has an
estimated 800 employees at its
newly built office, named the Global
Solution Centre.
It has also been very supportive
of Malaysia’s IT ambitions and has
trained dozens of students and
university lecturers under a special
programme with the government in
a bid to raise IT competency levels
in the country.
Meanwhile, IANS news
agency reported that top Satyam
Computer Services officials were
busy meeting the company’s more
than 400 clients in Singapore,
including several government
agencies, to reassure them that the
company would continue to fulfill
its contracts and that it would be
business as usual, a senior company
official said.
KitAD-layout.indd 28 10/20/08 12:30:50 PM
Outsourcing | news bits
Eyes on China,
Middle East
MSC Malaysia will make more
efforts to pave the way for local ICT
industry to explore more opportuni-
ties in China and the Middle East.
Multimedia Development
Corporation’s (MDeC) CEO Datuk
Badlisham Ghazali said: “MSC
Malaysia’s presence in the Middle
East and China over the last few
years had begun to yield positive
results for local ICT companies.
“MSC Malaysia has found a
niche demand for ICT solutions and
services in these regions and there
are plenty opportunities for local
ICT companies to do well there,” he
said in a statement.
Badlisham said local ICT compa-
nies were ready to face global chal-
lenges as demonstrated by several
companies already successful in the
two regions. He said the ventures
to the Middle East and China were
focused on software and e-solutions
for e-government as well as for the
financial and telecommunication
industries.
He said MSC Malaysia made its
Cisco targets small
businesses
Networking company Cisco will
launch its first products developed
specially for small businesses in
January.
The new products are for video sur-
veillance, data storage and wireless
office communications, the company
said in a statement recently.
Cisco said to reach small and me-
dium businesses (SMBs), the company
will embark on a campaign focusing
on business capabilities and the
benefits of complete solutions rather
than on products and technologies.
The six-month integrated cam-
 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009
MSC Malaysia
has found a niche
demand for ICT
solutions and services
in these regions
and there are plenty
opportunities for local
ICT companies to do
well there.”
presence known at the Malaysia
Services Exhibition (MSE) in Sharjah
and Global IT Exhibition (GITEX)
Dubai this year and showcased 30
MSC Malaysia Status companies.
“In total, the companies secured
RM300 million in sales and invest-
ment opportunities over the next
five years,” said Badlisham, adding
that more deals were expected to
materialise when the companies
begin to explore the market.
paign called “One Voice” comes on
the back of Cisco’s recent announce-
ment of a US$100 million invest-
ment in its global small business
initiative.
“Small businesses are the lifeblood
of today’s economy and in today’s
challenging economic environment,
it’s critical that small-business own-
ers have a technology partner that
they can trust to help them find
and deploy the right solutions to
grow their businesses,” said Cisco
Malaysia’s managing director Anne
Abraham.
Malaysian ICT
sector remains
upbeat
The information and
communications technology (ICT) industry
in Malaysia remains upbeat in the face of
lackluster growth in technology expenditure
expected in 2009.
Most ICT companies are confident
that the government’s RM7 billion stimulus
package will help boost the economy
throughout the year.
ICT will continue to be the key enabler
and strategic tool for cost savings and
productivity improvement during challenging
times, according to the Association of the
Computer and Multimedia Industry of
Malaysia (PIKOM).
Its chairman David Wong Nan Fay
told Bernama that PIKOM has projected
ICT growth next year to be lower at 5%
compared to its forecast of 7% for 2008.
The organisation expects some spending
to take place within the Malaysian Islamic
banking sector, given that liquidity flowing
in from the Middle East to Malaysia could
increase ICT spending.
Wong said the government and
telecommunication companies (telcos)
will continue to lead in ICT investment
in education and e-governmentas well as
consumption activities in education and
e-government projects through the roll-out
of the High Speed Broadband Infrastructure
(HSBB) and WiMAX nation-wide.
“We see an increase in contributions
from shared services and outsourcing,
content development, e-commerce solutions
and Internet-based services activities to be
new generators of the industry,” he said.
Basis+Matrade.indd 21 4/16/08 5:19:12 PM
Outsourcing | news bits

Philippines’ call centres

cautiously optimistic
VOICE-BASED business process
outsourcing (BPO) companies in
Philippines expect to grow by a
fifth this year despite the threat
of a global economic crisis.
But industry leaders said call
centres should enter 2009 with
caution, noting that the local
offshoring industry was not
immune to the negative effects
of the economic crunch.
“You never really know
what’s going to happen,” Bene-
dict Hernandez, president of the
Call Centre Association of the
Philippines reportedly said.
“Despite the forecast, we still
have to be more careful ... We
cannot say that there won’t be
an impact.”
Her nandez noted that
according to a survey by the
group, call centre companies,
which make up around 70% of
the local BPO industry, expect
to grow by an average of 23%
this year.
He noted that this would not
be as fast as the 30% to 40%
growth the sector had been
experiencing in the past three
years.

Big Blue’s
sweet deal
with Sara Lee
Thailand enters
IBM announced that it has signed
a seven-year agreement with Sara
Lee Corporation to manage and
maintain pieces of the consumer

Gartner’sTop 30 list
Thailand is one of four new countries
in Gartner’s Top 30 in its latest survey
that assesses the suitability of 72 coun-
tries as offshore locations. The analysis
shows that the dynamic nature of the
market has seen a number of countries
position themselves as credible alter-
natives to the BRIC countries (Brazil,
Russia, India and China).
“Countries such as Mexico, Po-
land and Vietnam have continued
to strengthen their position against
leading alternatives, while others have
forced their way into the Top 30,” said
Ian Marriott, research vice president
at Gartner. “These countries will be
seeking to take advantage of the op-
portunity created by the increased focus
that many organisations now have
on cost optimisation, as a result of the
current economic crisis,” he added.
In summing up the results of its
survey, Gartner said that during the past
year there had been significant activity
in many countries to consolidate or
grow their positions as leading locations
for offshore services.
“As a result of this, four countries
have dropped out of the Top 30 and
have been replaced by four that were
just outside the ‘Top 30’ 12 months ago.
This does not mean that the four “rel-
egated” countries have underperformed
this year, but the dynamic nature of the
market has seen others making strong
progress,” Marriott said.
The four countries leaving the Top
30 this year are Northern Ireland, Sri
Lanka, Turkey and Uruguay. Along
with Thailand, the other new entrants
as leading countries for offshore services
are Egypt, Morocco and Panama.
Ten countries from the Asia-Pa-
cific region were represented in the 30
leading countries. These included the
undisputed leader in off-shore services
India and China.
The rest were a mix of mature envi-
ronments that offer limited cost benefits
such as Australia, New Zealand and
Singapore and emerging countries with
a variety of challenges, but attractive
costs such as Malaysia, Pakistan, the
Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
products company’s global back
office operations. IBM will manage
a portion of Sara Lee’s North
American and European Finance
(transaction processing) and Global
Information Services (applications
development and maintenance)
groups, as well as the company’s
global indirect procurement
activities.
As part of its long-term strategy,
Sara Lee is building on leading
market share positions, leveraging
opportunities in emerging markets
and driving efficiencies to spur
worldwide growth.
The company is simplifying
its organisation to achieve
efficiencies through process
discipline, functional centers of
excellence, integrated supply
chains and outsourcing work
where appropriate.Through IBM’s
proposed integrated approach, Sara
Lee will look to drive additional
cost and efficiency improvements.
The transfer of activities will
happen in a phased approach in
accordance with local consultation
requirements.

10 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009


Mumbai has been ranked second
to Jerusalem on a list of the most
dangerous places for outsourcing
– even before the recent terrorist
attacks plunged the city into chaos.
In fact, India had two regions
ranked among the top five most
dangerous places for outsourcing,
according to a survey of 448 corpo-
rate development and outsourcing
destination specialists conducted by
Black Book Research and Brown-Wil-
son Group. The survey ranked 50 of
the largest established and emerging
offshore locations - from the safest to
most dangerous - based on threat of
terrorism, crime, climate hazards,
and other factors (locations in the US
and the UK were excluded).
The results were not overly sur-
prising. Jerusalem, Mumbai, Rio
de Janeiro/Sao Paulo (Brazil), Ma-
nila/Cebu/Makati (Philippines) and
Delhi/Noida/Gurgaon (India) were
ranked as the most dangerous places
for outsourcing in the report.
The safest outsourcing locales?
Singapore, followed by Dublin
(Ireland), Santiago (Chile), Kra-
kow/Warsaw (Poland) and Toronto
(Canada).
The terror attacks in Mumbai,
along with the prospect that Presi-
dent-elect Barack Obama could
follow through with policies that
could penalise outsourcers with
tax disincentives, have many US
corporate executives rethinking their
offshore outsourcing strategies.
That could spell trouble for several
Unisys and Dr Pepper
extend IT deal
US beverages group Dr Pepper
Snapple has extended its IT
outsourcing contract with Unisys.
The two first began their
partnership in 2005 and have
increased their collaboration
for another year, with Unisys
managing IT services for 5,000 Dr
Pepper staff.
It will provide IT support
in areas such as equipment
maintenance, installation, moves,
adds and changes, as well as
hardware and software assistance.
“Partnering with Unisys for
outsourcing services helps Dr
Pepper Snapple Group keep
IT costs in line and streamline
operations,” said Virginia Guthrie,
chief information officer at Dr
Pepper Snapple Group.
By outsourcing the IT
operations to Unisys, the firm
can focus on improving efficiency
and helping staff to better serve
distributors and customers, she
added.
news bits | Outsourcing
Mumbai
second most
dangerous
location
The Most outsourcing locations, particularly locations may begin influencing
Dangerous 10 India. American companies alone corporate decisions to outsource
1. Jerusalem are expected to spend around to vendors at home or in locations
(Israel) US$25 billion this year on IT out- that are closer to home.
2. Mumbai (India) sourcing contracts with vendors on “Outsourcing buyers are now
3. Rio de the subcontinent. keenly aware they can no longer
Janeiro/Sao Study authors Doug Brown justify offshore cost savings where
Paulo (Brazil) and Scott Wilson noted that the their business continuity is in
4. Manila/ risks involved with many offshore jeopardy,” they noted.
Cebu/Makati
(Philippines)
5. Delhi/
Noida/Gurgaon
(India)
6. Kingston
(Jamaica)
Wipro business: World
7. Kuala Lumpur
(Malaysia)
8. Johannesburg
(South Africa)
9. Bangkok
(Thailand)
Bank cracks the whip
10. Bogota In another blow to India’s option to purchase its Ameri-
(Colombia) already-reeling technology can Depository Shares at its
industry, the World Bank Initial Public Offer (IPO) price
The Safest 10 disclosed it had barred two through a Directed Share Pro-
Indian outsourcing firms, gramme. However, the Bank
1. Singapore Wipro Technologies and in June 2007 determined
2. Dublin (Ireland) Megasoft Consultants Ltd, that this was a conflict of
3. Santiago (Chile) from doing work with the interest.
4. Krakow/ bank’s headquarters. Meanwhile, Indian
Warsaw Earlier, the bank revealed industry body Assocham
(Poland) it had blacklisted Satyam today threw its weight behind
5. Toronto Computer Services Ltd. for Wipro.
(Canada) eight years. “ Wi p r o d i d n o t h i n g
6. Prague/Brno The World Bank said in wrong,” Assocham Secretary
(Czech Republic) a news release that Wipro General D S Rawat said in a
7. Budapest Technologies, a unit of Wipro statement.
(Hungary) Ltd, had been banned in June He said companies such
8. Monterrey 2007 for four years for “pro- as Wipro, TCS and Infosys
(Mexico) viding improper benefits to practice the highest standards
9. Beijing (China) bank staff”. of business ethics and “India
10. Cairo (Egypt) The company, in 2000, Inc would back the leading
had provided the Bank staff software firm”.
January – February 2009 | Outsourcing | 11
Outsourcing | Cover Story

Obama and Outsourcing

Has Change arrived? Probably not much

By Alan G. Downe

B
ernard Chin is the
founder and CEO of BPOA-
sia in Kuala Lumpur, a
recently-launched provider
of call centre and business process
outsourcing services in the IT, telco,
financial services and gaming in-
dustries.
Over on the other side of the
planet, Joseph A. Barna is the
founder and CEO of CDE Services
Inc, an Atlanta-based company
that repairs and manufactures point
of sales and office equipment. CDE
designs and manufactures its own
plastics, lenses, keypads, overlays
and other components, with much
of the work outsourced to its facility
in Shanghai, China.
Bernard and Joe have some-
thing in common. They’ve become
Obama-watchers.
And, they’re not alone. Since
Barack Obama’s historic victory in
November’s American presidential
election, world-wide attention has
been focused on the 47-year-old
attorney and former Illinois senator
whose campaign message of “change
we need” catapulted him into the
Oval Office.
Keen among these observers has
been the global sourcing industry.
While the previous American election
in 2004 turned outsourcing into a
point of bitter debate between Demo-
crat and Republican candidates,
policy positions were significantly
more muted in 2008.
But, still they persisted. During a
June 27th rally in New Hampshire,
then Democratic candidate Obama
made it be known that he would
oppose the outsourcing of jobs – “We
can keep giving tax breaks to com-
panies that ship jobs overseas, or we
can give tax benefits to companies
that invest right here.”
That theme was repeated several
times in debates with presidential
hopeful Hillary Clinton, who said
in February that, “We’re going to
stop giving a penny of your money
to anybody who ships a job out of
Texas, Ohio or anywhere else to
another country.”
With President Obama moving
into the White House and Clinton
becoming the new US Secretary of
State, it is not surprising that jittery
outsourcing proponents have taken
to scrutinising policy statements and
analysing the political positions of
Cabinet appointees.
“The new administration in the

12 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009


US could definitely be a concern,”
said Chin. “Not so much to me as a
business owner, but in terms of how
it shapes American views about the
shared services industry around the
world. This could have a long term
impact on how we position Malay-
sia, and on the extent to which we’re
successful in promoting ourselves as
an outsourcing destination.”
An All-Out Attack on
Outsourcing?
Since January, views have differed on
the likelihood of direct anti-outsourc-
ing policy. The day after the election,
India’s then Finance Minister, P.
Chidambaram, stressed that, “A
comment here and a comment there
should not bother us. Once Obama
is in office, he will realise that it is an
inter-connected world and countries
have to work together.”
NASSCOM’s Ganesh Natrajan
echoed the same sentiment in a
post-election television interview:
“We should not worry about any ban
on outsourcing; it is just not going to
happen … At the same time, all of
us have to realise that job creation
must happen in the United States
and there will be different measures
to take that up.”
So, what is likely to happen? With
US public sentiment leaning toward
protectionism and with expectations
primed for action by campaign
promises, inaction may not be an
option for the new President. He and
his Democratic colleagues are going
to come under severe pressure from
labour unions and from American
workers worried about seeing their
jobs going overseas.
Yet, the mechanics for effecting
change, particularly during a re-
cession, may be limited. Here are
some strategy proposals from the
anti-outsourcing toolbox:
>> The New American Job Tax
Credit
One option is to provide a new
temporary tax credit to companies
that add local jobs. The proposal is
that, during 2009 and 2010, existing
businesses will receive a US$3,000
refundable tax credit for each ad-
ditional full-time employee hired in
the United States.
The new administration will
probably try to proceed with this
plan. But, the reaction on Capitol
Hill has not been entirely supportive,
even from Senate Democrats. “If I’m
a business person, it’s unlikely if you
give me a several thousand dollar
credit that I’m going to hire people
if I can’t sell the products they’re
producing,” said Senate Finance
Committee member Kent Conrad of
North Dakota.
Reaction by business leaders
has been lukewarm, also. Atlanta
CEO Joe Barna points out that the
cover story | Outsourcing
Closing tax tax credit idea would just not be legal headaches.
loopholes and effective. “While commendable, Usually, when people talk about
eliminating obviously this was made without tax breaks and outsourcing, they
government any idea of what it takes to actually are referring to the ability to de-
subsidies for run a business here. A one-time tax fer, and often never pay, taxes on
companies that credit is just that, one time. With all foreign-earned profits. Attempts to
outsource offshore the regulation and taxation here float policies that would tax such
was one of now, what happens in succeeding “unrepatriated earnings” have gen-
Obama’s strongest years? All I see as a business owner erally involved higher bureaucratic
campaign is more overhead and little or no costs and government red tape that
messages. But, benefit.” would eat into whatever revenues
an initiative to could be reclaimed.
reform a tax >> Ending Tax Breaks Besides, it’s not at all clear that
system that has Closing tax loopholes and elimi- they would work. The assumption
been around since nating government subsidies for is that by making it more difficult
the 1900s could companies that outsource offshore to offshore, jobs will stay (or grow)
turn into a massive was one of President Obama’s in the US.
undertaking strongest campaign messages. But, It’s just as possible that growth
fraught with an initiative to reform a tax system could just stop and jobs would be
policy and legal that has been around since the lost anyway. And, anyway, there
headaches. 1900s could turn into a massive is no really good evidence that
undertaking fraught with policy and closing tax loopholes would increase
the outsourcing proposition to a
level that outbalanced labor and
facilities savings abroad. Study after
study has shown that incentives
are generally not one of the main
drivers motivating the decision to
outsource.
>> Economic Priorities
President Obama is going to have
to hatch his plans in the midst of
the worst economic conditions in
over fifty years. And, to be candid,
the economic crisis hasn’t been
altogether bad so far for outsource
service providers.
As cost pressures have tightened,
big firms have slashed expenditures,
using outsourcing contracts to help
reduce labor spending. A recent
survey by Everest Research Institute
predicts that BPO from the financial
services sector alone could increase
40 to 45 times over the next five
years.
The President has already prom-
ised stimulus packages aimed at
refurbishing aging infrastructure
January – February 2009 | Outsourcing | 13
Outsourcing | Cover Story
and by “putting Americans to
work in new jobs that pay well and
can’t be outsourced – jobs building
solar panels and wind turbines;
constructing fuel-efficient cars and
building; and developing the new
energy technologies that will lead
to even more jobs, more savings
and a cleaner, safer planet in the
bargain.”
This plan may give America the
same sort of boost that Franklin
Roosevelt’s “New Deal” did in the
1930s. But, it is unrealistic to expect
that it can all be done at today’s
prices without any outsourcing. If
everything else is being designed
and manufactured less expensively
in Mexico or Asia, why won’t wind
turbines, energy-efficient schools or
Intelligent Transportation Systems?
The reality is that many countries
have already moved ahead of the
US in these emerging technologies.
Some of the best carbon re-capture
projects are in Canada, for instance.
Brazil has made great strides in
bio-fuel production, and several
European countries lead the way in
wind and tidal energy.
Professional engineering services
for building and roadway design are
widely available throughout Asia
at high quality and lower prices.
In order to succeed, at least some of
the expertise for President Obama’s
massive infrastructure initiatives
will need to be sourced from offshore
locations.
>> Talent Pool Development
To a large degree, the outsourcing
revolution has been driven not
only by lower offshore costs, but
by shortcomings in the American
labour market. Joe Barna says: “I
can hire a person with a political sci-
ence degree in the US, but I cannot
find qualified people to set up and
run injection molding equipment.
The opposite is true in places like
China.”
14 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009
President Obama’s priorities
include a rapid ramping-up of
university research and education
in science and technology. But broad
educational transformations take
time and businessmen like Joe Barna
aren’t going to be able to wait. Even
if President Obama were to take a
different route and expand the H-1B
visa programme to bring high-level
technology grads from India and
other countries, the outsourcing of
innovation, research and develop-
ment would still be a necessity. This
is especially true in allied health
services, human resources, engineer-
ing and pharmaceuticals.
Looking Ahead to
ObamaYears
So, what does it all mean? In a re-
cent Hong Kong interview, Thomas
Friedman – author of “The World is
Flat” and “Hot, Flat and Crowded”
– said “outsourcing is smart … as
long as outsourcing companies are
providing innovation advantage
and financial advantage, they will
never die”.
Very true, Tom. But, promises are
promises, even when they are made
in the heat of a political campaign
and it’s still probable that the new
administration is going to proceed
with some combination of tax re-
structuring, stimulus initiatives and
education reform.
Will these efforts “stop” outsourc-
ing? Nope. But, they will change the
playing-field. There will be an initial
wave of client demand for price
re-negotiation, rationalisation and
stringent SLA enforcement to justify
We should not worry about any ban on
outsourcing; it is just not going to happen … At the
same time, all of us have to realise that job creation
must happen in the United States and there will be
different measures to take that up.”
Not so easy … continued use of an increasingly
Indian Minister criticised business practice. Over the
Chidambaram long run, though, the outsourcers
says that once who do best during the Obama years
Obama get into will be ones able to focus on strategic
the Oval Office, outcomes.
he will realise that Integrated end-to-end solutions,
it is an inter- build-operate-transfer, joint ventures
connected world and other sophisticated, flexible
and countries approaches based on alliance build-
have to work ing are going to thrive; those based
together. simply on “work transfer” won’t.
Other likely changes? American
outsourcing will stay closer to home.
There will be more rules and regulatory
barriers, especially for public services
outsourced by state governments.
Offshore voice-based projects are in
for a rough time. Security concerns will
be a priority. And small- to mid-sized
outsource service providers in Asia
will shy away from chasing the single
windfall American contract.
That’s the direction in which Chin
is taking his business development
plan for BPOAsia. “There’s more
regional opportunity than ever before
and we’ll also be going after global
contracts which may or may not
have an American component,” he
said. “We’ll probably target American
deals less aggressively than we might
have in the past, given the weakened
US dollar and a less supportive Presi-
dent. Barack Obama’s influence is
going to be enormous.”
“After all,” said Chin, “he’s not
just the President; he’s the Person of
Crumpled ... the Year.” Maybe the decade.
The new President
is going to have to
hatch his plans in Alan G. Downe is a senior lecturer in
the midst of the the Department of Management &
worst economic Humanities at Malaysia’s Universiti
conditions in over Teknologi Petronas. He specialises in
fifty years. operations and strategy related to BPO
and call centre environments.
Create an Outsourcing Strategy that Maximises Revenue and Global Business Opportunities through

SAVE
RM300
Register & Pay by
13 March 2009

15-16 April 2009 l Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Our Distinguished Panel of Speakers:

Ahmad Noor bin Sulong

Corporate Counsel & Secretary
HeiTech Padu Berhad

Arun Augustine, Vice President

Emerio

Billy Lee, CEO

Free Net Business Solutions Sdn. Bhd.

Bobby Varanasi, Chairman & CEO

Matryzel Consulting inc Key Issues to be Addressed:
and Chairman, IAOP Malaysia Chapter
and Member, IAOP Asia Pacific Advisory Board

Colin Whitehead l Understand and identify what IT services to outsource according

Group Chief Executive Officer and Shareholder to organisation’s needs
Rentwise Group
l Strategic sourcing
Gerard Pillai,Content Evangelist & CEO
l Key success factors of IT outsourcing
iContent Group
l Security considerations when outsourcing infrastructure and
Jonedi Mohamed, Managing Director operations
iTechSolv Sdn. Bhd.
l Cost saving strategies that work using strategic outsourcing
Marc Perrineau, Regional Technical Authority
Atos Origin Services (M) Sdn. Bhd. l Outsourcing of e-commerce and content activities within an
enterprise
Mark Vedel, Managing Director
Vedel IT Services Sdn. Bhd l IT infrastructure outsourcing for government sector

l Strategy to drive Return of Investment (ROI) through IT Outsourcing

Michiel de Boer
projects
Managing Director Malaysia/Hong Kong/Singapore
Quint Wellington Redwood
l IT strategy for the economic downturn: Does recession impact
Outsourcing?
Rodney Lee Yat Nam
Director, Information Security Services l Offshore software development – How to do it right?
Time Quantum Technology Sdn. Bhd.
l Global marketing strategies for the IT industry
Rom Agustin, CEO
Callbox Sales and Marketing Solutions

Saiful Khairi Zainuddin, Executive Director

Skali Group

Vik Subramaniam, Group Managing Consultant Organised By: Official Media Partner:

ITX International (Asia Pacific)

9539MC1\WLM
I would like full details of the Conference I am interested in Sponsorship and Exhibition Opportunities

Name:______________________________________________________________________________

Position:_____________________________________________________Company:__________________________________________________Country:_______________________________________

Address:_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tel:_______________________________________Fax:______________________________________Email:______________________________________________________________________________

Tel: (603) 2070 3299, Fax: (603) 2070 3369 or Email: puvanes@abf-asia.com
Outsourcing | Analysis

Loud and clear …

Customers want to
get their job done
elegantly. From a
customer’s point of
view the tangible
drivers of value
– quality, cost, and
speed – are simply
means to an end.

Do you value what

your customer values?

By Shree Phadnis voice of the customer or end user as the case to the end-customers. They believe that
and Aditya Bhalla may be. They are contractually forbidden it provides their clients the insights to

T
he voice of the customer is the
primary driver for many initiatives
linked to product development,
process design and process improve-
ment.
Many organisations in the outsourcing
industry rely on their clients to obtain the
from obtaining the voice of the customer
in their direct interactions with the end-
customers. The clients are closely involved in
the design and administration of customer
surveys through third party agencies.
They share the summary findings with
their vendors. Managers at the vendor site
envy the clients for having direct access
design products and services aligned to the
customer.
But could it be that even though clients
have complete control over the customer
satisfaction process and full access to the
findings they may still not have true insights
to help them align products and services to
what the customer really values?

16 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009

 Analysis | Outsourcing

Many organisations in the Not a full

outsourcing industry rely on their picture …
Determining
clients to obtain the voice of the the main
customer or end user as the case may parameter of
value however,
be. They are contractually forbidden is only half the
from obtaining the voice of the job. The other
customer in their direct interactions half is to get
that value to
with the end-customers. the customer
without
complexity
creeping into
the internal
processes.

Consider the scenario of a process from the sub-optimal incremental improvements

an insurance company. The customer of
the company submits the insurance ap-
plication form along with the payment for
the premium. The application is forwarded
by sales to operations. Operations consist
of an entire chain of sequential steps that
may involve scanning the application,
entering the data in the system, financial
and medical underwriting, policy issuance
and dispatch.
The entire process or parts of it like
underwriting may be outsourced to external
agencies. Both the clients and their vendors
run multiple continuous improvement
projects to provide faster turn around time,
increased productivity of staff, automation
through imaging and workflow systems and
so on. End-customers are sent survey forms
at regular intervals to rate their satisfaction
on the quality of the service provided.
Let us for a moment pause to consider
the situation from the end-customer’s point
of view. Customers want to get the job done
elegantly. From a customer’s point of view
the tangible drivers of value – quality,
cost, and speed – are simply a means to
the end.
Main Parameters of Value (MPV) are
those attributes for product or service that
will have the greatest significance in the
customers purchasing decision.
For an insurance customer one of the
main parameters of value would be in-
stant activation of the policy (or instant
protection) the moment the application
form and the payment is handed over to
the sales representative. The customer is
not interested in the elaborate steps that
his application has to traverse within the
organisation.
Focusing on the internal steps takes away
the customer’s perspective of eliminating
all steps that prevent us from reaching
the desired end state. Viewing the process
from the main parameters of value of the
customer will help senior management
drive improvements across the enterprise.
That will have much greater impact than
brought about by increasing productivity
of the scanning process or increasing
the typing speed of data entry opera-
tions.
Determining the main param-
eter of value however, is only
half the job. The other half is to
get that value to the customer
without complexity creeping
into the internal processes. The
customer satisfaction survey
should check for satisfaction on
the ability to deliver the value.
If instant protection is one
of the main parameters of value
to the customer then the surveys
should check for satisfaction on
the ability to provide that. Attempts
to collect any other voice is not
reflective of what the customer truly
values, even though he may rate the
organisation high on the quality of
the service provided. It also puts the
organisation at a risk of being outma-
neuvered by smarter competition.
Conclusion
Main parameters of value are those
attributes for product or service that will
have the greatest significance in the custom-
ers purchasing decision. If organisations
make a conscious attempt to capture
voice linked to main parameters of
value then it will provide them the
true insights to design products
and processes that achieve their
growth objectives.
Shree Phadnis and Aditya
Bhalla are Senior Consultants
with QAI Innovation Practice.
They are Six Sigma Master
Black Belt, and MA TRIZ
Level 3 certified. They can be
contacted at shreephadnis@
usa.net and adityabhalla@
yahoo.com.

January – February 2009 | Outsourcing | 17

Outsourcing | analysis
Cultivating
perfect team
leader
By Chris C.
Ducker
M
uch has been written about
the role of Team Leaders in the
Contact Centre world. Say what
you may, the bottom line is
having good, dependable Team Leaders in
place to help you run your company is the
difference between growth, expansion and
success, and fundamentally losing it all.
The Team Leader plays as high of an
impact role in the Contact Centre as any
other part of the management. Make no
mistake, as a role model, the call centre
Team Leader (or TL’s as they are sometimes
referred to by their adoring teams of agents
and CSR’s) must demonstrate exception-
ally good judgment, excellent work habits,
thorough knowledge of procedures and
processes, as well as strong retention skills
when it comes to the different products
and services that they will be teaching and
coaching their staff on.
Above all this, however, the modern-day
call centre TL should possess excellent
motivational and interpersonal skills for
handling their teams of staff and external
customers alike.
We recently did a survey with our Out-
bound Telemarketers and Virtual Assistants.
The simple question we asked was “What
do you want in a Team Leader?”. Some of
the comments we obviously expected, but
18 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009
there were also a few that we didn’t see
coming, and we now appreciate doing this
little exercise more than ever.
First up, almost all of the staff members
surveyed said that they wanted their Team
Leader, first and foremost, to be enthusiastic
when working with them. To have their
support and to be inspired and motivated
by their TL. This gives them the energy and
enthusiasm they need to be able to get fired
up and ready for work every day.
They also want to know that their TL can
do the job that they, themselves, are doing.
“To be able to stand there and say ‘do this
and do that’ is no good unless they can do
it themselves ...” points out Marie, one of
our more seasoned telemarketers. Almost all of the
The one big revelation that came about
on this survey was that the biggest fear the
staff members
agents had, in relation to working with surveyed said
their TL, was that they would not do what
they needed to, to help them get better. We
that they wanted
asked why they even thought this would be their Team
an issue – thinking logically, a TL will basi- Leader, first and
cally get commended and receive that all
important pat on the back (along with the foremost, to be
bonuses and pay increases!), based on the enthusiastic
performance of their team. Why wouldn’t
they help their team get better? Simple when working
– because of the fear of being replaced by
one of their own team members.
with them.”
This led us to look a lot more deeply into
the mind of the call centre TL. Based on our
findings, I now present to you the Top 10
Tips to finding, hiring, training, motivating
and cultivating the perfect TL.
Tip #1
When looking for a new TL, start with
what is already under your nose – your
agents. Sometimes TL are chosen solely on
the basis of their performance as agents.
This also gives the agent pool the ability
to see that you are interested in promoting
from within, which is always a good thing.
Keep the ‘best of the best’ for the first-level
 analysis | Outsourcing

When looking
for a new Team
Leader, start with
what is already
under your nose
– your agents.

January – February 2009 | Outsourcing | 19

Outsourcing | analysis

Sometimes Team
Leaders are chosen
solely on the basis
of their performance
as agents. This also
gives the agent pool
the ability to see that
you are interested
in promoting from
within, which is
always a good thing.

work 15 hours a day. They quickly move up Tip #7

the corporate ladder, believe me!
Tip #3
Once that special someone has been hired
and placed in their new position (after any
relevant training, if required), its time to go
As a role model, to work. The first thing you must get across
to them is that they must demonstrate
Team Leaders an amazingly strong desire to contribute
must demonstrate towards the company’s goals and overall
image. They should also be able to run with
Being able to build and grow relationships
is also an important factor. Working with
diverse and different individuals is part
of the role. Being able to take a special
interest in team member’s personal lives
is just as important. What did they do at
the weekend?
What is the name of their wife or boy-
friend? It is these small details that create
strength and loyalty in a team.

exceptionally tasks on their own, and have the initiative Tip #8

good judgment,
excellent work
habits, thorough
knowledge of
procedures
and processes.
supervisor or management roles though. If
you have to advertise outside the company,
then look for people with a minimum of one
year call centre experience, and preferably
someone who has been in a similar role
already with another company.
Tip #2
When interviewing for potential new TL,
look for qualities such as a strong, positive
attitude, someone that you feel will always
be willing to help out – not just in relation
to their potential team, but in regards to the
company in general. I’ve met some TL that
to work in a trustworthy way, with strong
business ethics, too.
Tip #4
Being able to manage one’s time is about
as important as anything else. Especially
when you’re focusing on building up a new
team. Team Leaders should have the ability
to prioritise certain activities and meet dead-
lines. Timelines and commitments should
be met, always. Your long-term TLs will
eventually, hopefully become part of your
management team, so get this important
point across from the get-go.
Tip #5
Flexibility. Lets face it – we work in a very
fast moving, hectic and at times, down right
stressful industry. More and more agents
are quitting nowadays because of stress
related illnesses. Your TLs should hone in
on their flexibility skills, making sure that
they can focus in a positive way to corporate
changes and to keep the team in line when
it comes to challenging tasks and working
towards targets.
Tip #6
Having the skill to address the team as well
as getting information to them in a clear
and concise format (whether is through writ-
ten or oral communication) is an endearing
and essential quality of high impact TLs.
This is especially important when discussing
negative information.
Welcome to the world of management, and
problem solving! Lets face it, as “leaders”
– regardless of how high up the food chain
we are! – we are problem solvers. All TLs
should have this skill in abundance.
Tip #9
The ability to build and drive a team of
individuals is paramount. Generating
enthusiasm and setting challenging, as
well as clear, goals is also important, as well
as providing the resources that the team
members require to get the job done.
Tip #10
A TL should also be a great coach. This is
more than just clapping hands and saying
“good job” when everything is going well. A
coach is more active when things are going
wrong. Having the ability to effectively
identify problems, such as poor handling
time or sales production, and being able
to act on these things in a positive, friendly
style will enable them to be constructive,
encouraging and ultimately get the best
out of their team. The balance of negative
and positive feedback needs to be handled
well, for all of the team.
So, there you have it – your one-stop-shop
to finding, hiring and cultivating as perfect
of a Team Leader as you possibly can.
Chris C. Ducker is CEO of Live2Sell, which is
based in Cebu City, Philippines

20 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009

LabsOnlineAD.indd 20 4/16/08 4:14:20 PM
Outsourcing | feature

Thinking hard your lifestyle? Even though we are told

… In the next that things like French fries, potato chips,
five years, it cheese and wine aren’t good for us, what
will become if you could find out specifically that you
much easier are someone who could consume more of
to remember those vices without having negative impact
what to buy on your health? In the next five years, your
at the grocery doctor will be able to provide you with a
store, which genetic map that tells you what health risks
errands need you are likely to face in your lifetime and
to be run, who the specific things you can do to prevent
you spoke with them, based on your specific DNA – all for
at a conference, less than US$200.
where and when Ever since scientists discovered how to
you agreed to map the entire human genome, it has
meet a friend, or opened new doors in helping to unlock the
what product you secrets our genes hold to predicting health
saw advertised at traits and conditions we may be predisposed
the airport. to. Doctors can use this information to
recommend lifestyle changes and treat-
ments. Pharmaceutical companies will
also be able to engineer new, more effective
medications that are targeted for each of us
as individual patients. Genetic mapping
will radically transform healthcare over the
next five years and allow you to take better
care of yourself.

3. Looks who’s talking

“Going” to the web will change dramatically
in the next five years. In the future, you will
be able to surf the Internet, hands-free, by
using your voice – therefore eliminating the
need for visuals or keypads. New technology
will change how people create, build and
interact with information and e-commerce
websites – using speech instead of text.

The Next 5 in 5
We know this can happen because the
technology is available, but we also know
it can happen because it must.
In places like India, where the spoken
word is more prominent than the written
word in education, government and
culture, “talking” to the Web is leap-
frogging all other interfaces, and the
mobile phone is outpacing the PC.
In the future, through the use

U
of “VoiceSites”, people without
nveiled recently for the first time in of “thin-film” access to a personal computer
Malaysia, the third annual “IBM solar cells, a and Internet, or who
Next Five in Five” is a list of inno- new type “In the next five are unable to read
vations that have the potential to of cost-ef- years, your doctor will be or write, will be
change the way people work, live and play ficient solar
over the next five years. The Next Five in cell that can
able to provide you with able to take
advantage
Five is based on market and societal trends be 100 times a genetic map that tells of all the
expected to transform our lives, as well as thinner than you what health risks you benefits and
emerging technologies. silicon-wafer conveniences
According to IBM, in the next five years, cells and pro- are likely to face in your the Web has to of-
technology innovations will change our duced at a lower lifetime and the specific fer. And by the web
lives in the following ways: cost. These new
thin-film solar cells
things you can do to becoming more ac-
cessible by using voice,
1. Energy saving solar technology can be “printed” and prevent them.” it will become easier to
Ever wonder how much energy could be cre- arranged on a flexible use for everyone. Imagine
ated by having solar technology embedded backing, suitable for not being within a phone call’s
in our sidewalks, driveways, siding, paint, only the tops, but also the reach from the ability to post,
rooftops, and windows? In the next five sides of buildings, tinted windows, scan and respond to e-mails
years, solar energy will be an affordable op- cell phones, notebook computers, cars, and instant messages – without
tion for you and your neighbours. Until now, and even clothing. typing. You will be able to sort through the
the materials and the process of producing Web verbally to find what you are looking
solar cells to convert into solar energy have 2. A crystal ball for your health for and have the information read back to
been too costly for widespread adoption. What if you could foresee your health you – as if you are having a conversation
But now this is changing with the creation destiny and use that knowledge to modify with the Web.

22 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009

 feature | Outsourcing

4. Having your own digital

shopping assistants
Ever find yourself in a fitting room with
all the wrong sizes and no salesperson
in sight? And what about affirmation
from friends that the outfit you’ve
chosen truly does look good on you?
In the next five years, shoppers will
increasingly rely on themselves – and
the opinions of each other – to make
purchasing decisions rather than wait
for help from in-store sales associates.
A combination of new technology and
the next wave of mobile devices will
give the in-store shopping experience
a significant boost.
Fitting rooms soon will be outfitted
with digital shopping assistants - touch
screen and voice activated kiosks that
will allow you to choose clothing items
and accessories to complement, or
replace, what you already selected.
Once you make your selections, a sales
associate is notified and will gather
the items and bring them directly to
you. You’ll also be able to snap photos
of yourself in different combinations
and email or SMS them to your friends
and family for the thumbs up … or the
thumbs down. Shoppers can access
product ratings and reviews from
fellow consumers and will even be able
to download money-saving coupons
and instantly apply them to their
purchases.

5. Forgetting will become a

distant memory
Information overload keeping you
up at night? Forget about it. In the
next five years, it will become much
easier to remember what to buy at the
grocery store, which errands need to be
run, who you spoke with at a confer-
ence, where and when you agreed to
meet a friend, or what product you
saw advertised at the airport. That’s
because such details of everyday life
will be recorded, stored, analysed, and
provided at the appropriate time and
place by both portable and station-
ary smart appliances. To help make
this possible, microphones and video
cameras will record conversations and
activities.
The information collected will be
automatically stored and analysed
on a personal computer. People can
then be prompted to “remember” what
discussions they had, for example,
with their daughter or doctor by tele-
phone. Based on such conversations,
smart phones equipped with global-
positioning technology might also Ray of hope … Until
remind them to pick up groceries or now, the materials
prescriptions if they pass a particular and the process of
store at a particular time. It’s not hard producing solar cells
to imagine that TVs, remote controls, to convert into solar
or even coffee table tops, can one day energy have been too
be the familiar mediums through costly for widespread
which we tap into our digitally-stored adoption.
information.

January – February 2009 | Outsourcing | 23

Outsourcing | security
Top security
concerns
C
ybercrime and outsourc-
ing were named top secu-
rity concerns according to
a new study conducted by
The Ponemon Institute. The survey
found that 50% of IT operations
professionals viewed outsourcing
as an imminent and near-time
critical risk, while more than 75%
of IT security professionals noted
cybercrime a major issue – despite
concerted efforts to thwart hackers
in recent years.
In tandem, survey results high-
lighted an increase in shared think-
ing between traditionally disparate
IT functions within the organisation
– IT operations and IT security.
With the emergence of consumer
24 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009
technology in the workplace, coupled
with social networking and Web
2.0 technologies and the increased
sophistication of cyber criminals,
truly securing an organisation’s IT
environment is an uphill battle.
In coming years, these challenges
will increase in both the breadth
and depth of threats – the compa-
nies surveyed made this very clear.
The key for both IT operations and
IT security is to find the common
ground necessary to better-wage this
security battle together.
Given the breadth and depth
of security breaches spanning the
globe this year – all of which have
had a long-lasting negative impact
on organisations and consumers
Unknown enemy … With the
emergence of consumer technology
in the workplace, coupled with
social networking and Web 2.0
technologies and the increased
sophistication of cyber criminals,
truly securing an organisation’s IT
environment is an uphill battle.
alike – IT security and IT operations
professionals have an increasingly
critical task at hand, to protect sensi-
tive data wherever it lives in an
organisation.
The survey was developed to bet-
ter understand if certain publicised
IT risks to personal and confidential
data are truly a concern for organisa-
tions in the next two years. Based
on interviews with IT experts in
operations and information security,
the following eight mega trends
rose to the top: cloud computing;
virtualisation; mobility and mobile
devices; cybercrime; outsourcing to
third parties; data breaches and the
risk of identity theft; peer-to-peer
(P2P) file sharing and Web 2.0.
Key Findings from the 2008 Secu-
rity Mega Trends Survey include:
>>  Outsourced IT is a Major Concern:
As companies look to reduce costs
based on economic factors in
2009, outsourcing will continue
to be an attractive option for
efficiency gains. The security
risks associated with outsourc-
ing are tremendous according to
survey data. The top risks posed
by outsourcing according to IT
security (50%) and IT operations
(59%) respondents is the exposure
of sensitive information to third
parties and the threat that that
data will be improperly protected
in transit.
The survey >>  Data Breaches and Cybercrime
was are on the Rise: Survey results
indicated that the biggest concern
developed relative to data loss is the threat of
to better data making it into the hands of
understand cyber thieves (46% for IT security
if certain and 24% for IT operations), thus
publicised wreaking continued havoc not
IT risks to just on the customers whose
personal and data was stolen but also on the
organisations responsible for that
confidential lost data.
data are truly IT survey participants reported
a concern for that 92% of the organisations
organisations have experienced a cyber attack.
in the next The injury to corporate brands
two years. as a result of a major data loss
incident is critical, especially in
an economic downturn

>>  Workforce Mobility Contributes
to Data Loss: IT security and IT
operations’ respondents (96%
and 91% respectively) agree that
employee mobility introduces
a significant threat to securing
corporate data as it diminishes
IT’s ability to properly identify
and authenticate remote users
on the network.
>>  Emerging technologies – Web
2.0, P2P, virtualization and cloud
computing – are growing in
prevalence with Cloud comput-
ing causing the most concern:
The influx of new technologies
– both business and consumer
technologies – has opened addi-
tional avenues for cyber thieves to
steal trade secrets and confiden-
tial business information. Cloud
computing came out on top with
61% of respondents ranking it as
a major security concern among
the emerging technology trends.
Virtualisation was perceived as
the least concerning at this time,
though survey respondents cited
all of these types of technolo-
gies as key concerns in the next
year, where the increased risk
to expose sensitive data ranked
highest among both respondent
groups.
security | Outsourcing
Malaysian public less
concerned on key
security issues
Malaysians ended the
year 2008 less concerned
about key security issues
according to the latest
Unisys Security Index
released.
The December
2008 Unisys Security
Index now stands at
160 points which is 4
points lower than the
last survey conducted
in May 2008.
The single largest
decrease occurred in
the area of National
Security with that Index
falling 6 points to 187.
“There has been a
demonstrable reduction
in the concern level of
Malaysians compared to
earlier in the year,” said Scott Malaysians are
Whyman,Vice President and continuing to
General Manager of Unisys demonstrate high
Asia South. levels of concern
“Despite the decline, about important
Malaysians continue to security issues such as
demonstrate high levels of identity theft.
concern about important
security issues including
identity theft, financial
fraud and fears of a health >> A health epidemic – 70%
epidemic,” said Whyman. extremely or very concerned
All four of the security >> Credit or Debit Card
Workforce indices recorded falls with the fraud – 70% extremely or very
mobility largest decline a 6 point drop concerned
contributes in the National Security Index. >> Unauthorised access/misuse
to data loss, >> National Security – 187 (-6) of personal information – 74%
according to the >> Financial Security – 155 (-4) extremely or very concerned
study. >> Internet Security – 121 (-1)
>> Personal Security – 179 (-3) “The fact that 7 out of 10
Malaysians have expressed high
“Of the eight questions levels of concern on each of these
asked in the Unisys Security four separate security questions
Index, the single largest shows that National Security as
movement was a 5% increase well as Identity Theft and related
in the number of Malaysians crime remain important public
who say that they are issues.
extremely or very concerned “Not only are these global
about their personal safety issues but they are also very much
over the next six months,” part of day to day life, particularly
Whyman said.. identity theft.
“Interestingly, despite the “Much is been done to
overall fall in concern levels, ensure Malaysians enjoy high
large numbers of Malaysians levels of security in regards to
continue to say they are the protection of their personal
worried about key security information and financial assets so
issues including: it is important that organisations
>> An act of war or terror take the time to ensure consumers
– 69% extremely or very are aware of these technologies
concerned and strategies,” Whyman
added.
January – February 2009 | Outsourcing | 25
Outsourcing | Insights

Global Sourcing
An achilles heel or panacea in today’s challenging times?

By Bobby
Varanasi, COP

O
ne consistent headline I
have come across in the
past few months across
global and regional me-
dia is the great predictions around
outsourcing booming in recession-
So where is the ary times. Too much has been said
Achilles Heel? Is and analysed about the impacts
global sourcing of recession on corporations and
going to lend governments worldwide.
lost credibility Unfortunately, just about the
to corporations time when the world is beginning
struggling to rework itself out of the financial
to keep their meltdown mess, we have Bernard
balance sheets Madoff’s Ponzi scheme striking yet
from going into another fatal blow on large banking
the red? and financial institutions. The confi-
dence of investors has been shattered
in the recent times and now this blow
seems to sound like a death-knell to
globalisation in general.
On the one hand many economies
with conservative and quasi-protec-
tionist approaches from developing
economies are beginning to indulge
in chest-thumping acts, vindicated
by the lesser impact they are feeling
in today’s times. On the other hand
corporations within such economies
are coming under increasing pressure
to overhaul their business portfolios
in a manner unprecedented in recent
history.
In such dynamic and distressing
situations where ambiguity seems to
Demand for have become the norm of the day,
innovating and what is in store for global sourcing
as an industry? Let’s try and address
reengineering a few of the interesting aspects I have
business come across, without gainsaying or
attesting to other predictions of doom
processes or growth.
and functional Lets discuss this
applicability So where is the Achilles Heel? Is
without additional global sourcing going to lend lost
investment is credibility to corporations struggling
to keep their balance sheets from
increasing, forcing going into the red?
service providers Or is there going to be a signifi-
cant and palpable withdrawal from
to come up with the industry in order to clean house
solutions that go internally through conservative
adoption of strategic initiatives? It
beyond standard is time we took stock of some of the
infrastructure impacts in the recent past first before
we delve into a thorough analysis of
services.” repercussions, or predict light at the

26 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009

 Insights | Outsourcing

end of the tunnel.

There are many impacts, but
I shall touch upon the few most
important ones here to ensure the
readers’ attention span is not com-
promised.

>> CIOs Cutting Down On Tech-

nology Spending: Most CIOs across
the globe have almost vowed to their
boards to completely cut down on
new technology spending. They are
taking a diametrically opposite view
to technology and infrastructure.
There were days when CIOs were
busy spending on adopt- ing the
latest state-of-the-art
technologies so as to
be – potentially at best
– nimble and competitive,
without much focus on utilisation
or expansiveness of applicability.
Today the view is to make more
with less.
This in itself is
changing the percep-
tion that older technologies or
infrastructure are just that – old.
Demand for innovating and reen-
gineering business processes and
functional applicability without
additional investment is on the
increase, forcing service providers
to come up with solutions that go
beyond standard infrastructure
services.

>> Capital Expenditures Being

Deferred: Typically the industry has
seen significant capital expenditures
in business models and services that
are deemed core to organisations
and their businesses, while non-core
services were sourced out to compe-
tent third-party service providers.
However there is increasing pressure
on Boards to defer or reduce capital
expenditure. Unfortunately with
lack of internal capabilities sourc-
ing globally for talent and service
competencies is forcing companies
to farm out even complex and core
services to third-party service provid-
ers.
In such scenarios, the old days of
simple competitive bidding methods
are unable to address concerns
around business risk, IP protec-
tion and the like. Sourcing
methods are increasingly
incorporating core services
as inherent targets for
service to work on,
with the caveat that
service providers need
to take on more risks
than they are either
ready to, or have the
experience with.
>> Business Models
Are Being Realigned:
Standard fee-for-service
based business models are
increasingly being seen as low
Credit crunch
now … Most
CIOs across
the globe have
almost vowed
to their boards
to completely value. Customer organisations are their businesses.
cut down on demanding their service providers No longer are customers content
new technology to put their “skin-in-the-game” with their providers branding or
spending. through price entrenchment and viewing themselves as IT or BP
ownership for the pass-through providers. The demand is for pro-
impact of such services on the viders to view themselves as “verti-
customers’ businesses. This is an cally-aligned” and “user-oriented”
inherently fundamental shift in the solution providers where industry-
nature of global sourcing one has specific solutions and innovation
seen so far. are driven in a cohesive manner to
While it is appreciable that create and sustain value.
customers are beginning to trust
their global service providers >> From Cost Arbitrage to Skills
more than they have done so Arbitrage: While access to skills
before, it is also putting and talent has been touted for long
the noose around the in the industry, cost arbitrage still
“Standard necks of service providers
as they are taking on
held the highest attention and focus
in the minds of customers. “It will
fee-for-service more business risk be the death of the mile-wide inch-
based business than ever. While such
entrenched models do
deep outsourcing deals”, says Keith
Higgins, VP-Worldwide Marketing
models are offer opportunities for Aricent. I tend to agree with his
increasingly for longer-term re-
lationships between
observations. Too many times has
scale been touted as the biggest
being seen as the customers and lever for winning in a fiercely com-
low value.” provider organisations,
focus on co-creation
petitive marketplace. Not too much
emphasis was placed on depth of
of solutions is putting capabilities.
the pressure on providers
to transform their view of continued page 32

January – February 2009 | Outsourcing | 27

Outsourcing | cRystal ball

Outsourcing
predictions for 2009

By Phil Ferst (AMR Research)

Yes, it’s that time again folks, when
analysts come up with profound
verbiage that gets everyone excited
for a few days, and hope no-one
re-reads in six months. Well ... I
occasionally do some research
in my spare time, so here are
some thoughts on what we
can probably expect to see
happen with outsourcing
adoption this year:

Low-hanging fruit
outsourcing with im-
mediate cost-savings
will be strong
It’s areas where enter-
prises can streamline
initial costs over a contract
and get an immediate impact
on the bottom-line. That’s bread-
and-butter application outsourcing,
high-arbitrage BPO areas such as
Finance &Accounting and vertical-
specific analytics (that “Knowledge
Process Outsourcing” stuff).
I am also expecting increased
adoption of procurement BPO
models as increased procurement
and supply management work is
moved offshore, and buyers can
benefit from labour arbitrage to
underpin the transformation costs
that have held back adoption in
the past. Many initiatives, which
require incremental upfront invest-
ment that cannot be tied directly
to revenue-metric,s will suffer. The
back-end of Q1, Q2 and Q3 2009
will be busy times for outsourcing
deal activity.
Services firms will be forced to
consolidate
With deals getting smaller and more
plentiful, combined with renewed
pressure on services firms to hold-
back on hiring, the need for added
global scale and staff resources,
process and technology expertise,
are going to drive consolidation at
a much more aggressive pace than
we saw in 2008. Most outsourc-
ing service providers are currently
waiting out to get a firm picture on
how to address their go-to-market
strategies for 2009. I predict these
to take several forms:
>> Large providers going for a pure
scale-play: Like HP/EDS, we will see
more mega-mergers to ramp up
into that “mega IT-BPO” provider

The onshore/offshore decision-

process is reversed to “why should
this stay onshore?”
The traditional evaluation method-
ology for companies’ outsourcing
and offshoring opportunities is fast-
changing. Rather than companies
determining which processes can
be carried out from a remote loca-
tion, most will be determining why
processes need to be carried out
onshore.
bracket. The “big 3” could pull away
from the rest of the market for some There are some
mega-deals and we will likely see
other service providers combine to high-quality captives that
challenge. are ripe for acquisition,
that can give providers
>> Captive cherry-picking: There
are some high-quality captives that
are ripe for acquisition, that can immediate entry into new
give providers immediate entry into
new industries, or consolidation in
industries, or consolidation
existing ones. In many cases, it is in existing ones.”

28 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009


more appealing for service
providers to invest in buy-
ing up clients than each
other, but further devalua-
tions in the stock prices of many
service providers will create tough
investment decisions for ambitious
providers.
>> Increased blending of IT-BPO
offerings will drive vendor acquisi-
tions: In many situations today,
BPO is becoming a natural exten-
sion of an ITO relationship. This is
especially the case where the service
provider is willing to take on indus-
try-specific processes that augment
the IT services, for example supply
chain merchandising with retailers,
or check-and-lockbox services in
financial services. There are simply
not going to be “world-class” cap-
tives for sale to fulfill every industry
need, which is going to force many
providers to seek mergers.
I anticipate some strategic
acquisitions between BPO-centric
and IT-centric vendors. Those that
choose to remain as pure-IT, or
pure-BPO will get forced into the
middle-market to scrap for smaller
engagements.
Global HR strategies are moving
to the top of the agenda
One of the most redeeming facets
of outsourcing is to become more
competitive globally, to use a service
provider’s skills and resources to
enter new markets, or divest
from others. One area
of note has been
the in-
crease
in firms moving onto
global HR models where they have
a much more integrated view of
their global organisation and can
make much faster, more informed,
decisions about their business and
Let’s not beat
around the bush
here ... We’re
in for a very
tough economy,
budgets are
being cut across
the board and
companies won’t
be increasing
their spending on
IT and business
operations.
January – February 2009 | Outsourcing |
cRystal ball | Outsourcing
their workforce. The recent revival in
global payroll and HR-IT outsourced
services is testament to this growing
need for firms to globalise their
workforce data.
Survival of the fittest
Let’s not beat around the bush here
... we’re in for a very tough economy,
budgets are being cut across the
board and companies won’t be
increasing their spending on IT
and business operations. They are
going to use outsourcing as a vehicle
to save money, and – hopefully
– increase their competitiveness. So,
while we can expect to see increased
spending on lower-cost services with
a strong offshore element, we are al-
ready seeing many areas of planned
spending put on hold – for example,
costly software upgrades, or business
transformation initiatives.
Hence, the competition for the
outsourcing dollars is going to be
increasingly intense as revenue
opportunities for services firms are
already drying up in other services
markets. Many of the smaller ser-
vice providers, which are more
focused on staff-augmentation
delivery and discretionary proj-
ects, are going to struggle.
At the same time, it’s an op-
portunity for the well-resourced
providers to edge out smaller
low-cost competitors and in-
crease market share using this
tough market to their advantage.
Shaving small portions of cost
isn’t going to make a huge difference
to many firms – they will have to
make bold and radical decisions to
survive. – Global Services
29
Outsourcing | Insights

Fine
By Atul
Vashistha

art of A
s Carol Burnett once said,
“Only I can change my life.
No one can do it for me.”
To succeed as a leader in
business today requires keeping pace

managing
with rapid changes occurring in our
business environment. Two of the key
changes and opportunities today are
outsourcing and globalisation.
So increasingly, the responsibilities

external
of CFOs, HR executives, procurement
executives, and others are becoming
dependent on successful manage-
ment of third-party partners. This

partners
requires executives to add a new skill
set: The Outsourcing Competency.
An executive must also be able
to govern third-party relationships
and ensure delivery from outsourced
or globalised operations. Whether
the service provider is delivering
a project that has a fixed timeline
or delivering services for ongoing
operations, the ability to seamlessly
integrate service providers with an
internal team is becoming a critical
part of an executive’s resume.
Managing third-party deliver-
ables sounds simple, but is wrought
with challenges and difficulties when
examining it more closely. Deliv-
erables must be defined properly,
aligned with business objectives,
delivered on time, and, of course,
within the defined budget. In many
organisations, information is cap-
tured in employee’s heads rather
than a knowledge management
system, making knowledge transfer
a big challenge. And then, how does
one integrate an outside partner or
remote location into the process?
Whether outsourcing informa-
Managing third- tion technology, human resources,
party deliverables finance, or procurement, executives
sounds simple, must understand the core processes,
but is wrought be able to objectively assess the cur-
with challenges rent operating level of the internal
and difficulties organisation, and orient the service
when examining it provider or globalised operation
more closely. toward the outcomes (service levels).
This skill requires an adept ear for
listening to what could be done and

30 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009

 Insights | Outsourcing

Organisations wishing to
benefit from services globalisation
should undertake a realistic internal
assessment of their ability and
readiness to pursue such complex
initiatives.”

balancing it for what should be done, while maintaining

a business relationship that should be transparent to end
users.
Our experience in outsourcing and global services
consulting and research shows that executive that are
successful establish the processes as shared above and then
pay attention to the following factors:

Life Cycle Commitment

Organisations tend to launch services globalisation initia-
tives rigorously and with the appropriate management
involvement in governance. However, the senior level
involvement and attention dwindles when the initiative
progresses into its second year. Despite comprehensive
plans or contractual clauses to enhance productivity, such
obligations are neither proactively monitored for positive
results, nor are they pursued. It is important to ensure that
the attention stays strong throughout the entire life cycle
of the project.
Internal Commitment
Organisations wishing to benefit from services globalisation
should undertake a realistic internal assessment of their
ability and readiness to pursue such complex initiatives.
Aside from cultural and skill differences, other aspects like
internal communication structures, resistance mapping,
and cultural sensitisation need to be adequately addressed
prior to commencing such initiatives.
We have seen time and again, when an organisation
is not poised internally to take on services globalisation
projects it will face resistance from internal stakeholders
resulting in lack of focus on such initiatives. These execu-
tives focus on readying their organisations.
Decision Making
Organisational hierarchy and culture play important roles
in defining the decision-making authority within an overall
governance organisation. Executives needs to ensure that
bureaucracy is not built into this governance structure. The
structure should be able to clearly delineate responsibilities
across the strategic and tactical, while ensuring that it is
flat enough to encourage timely decision-making and ap-
propriate controls. At the same time, not enough structure
and staffing can lead to problems.
Staffing of Governance Teams
Most global corporations have delegated initiatives to a
sourcing division and let it manage the offshore piece,
regardless of the level of complexity, spread of global
delivery, contractual commitments, etc. By doing so, or-
ganisations are yielding to a restrictive approach towards
continual and effective program governance that could
prove detrimental.
In many organisations, information is
captured in employee’s heads rather
than a knowledge management
system, making knowledge transfer a
big challenge.
For example, management governing services globalisation
commitment to a simple single- initiatives year-on-year, consistently.
site offshore delivery initiative has It should be recognized that such
been similar to a more complex, investment in time would be on the
multi-site multi-country multi- higher side during the beginning
vendor offshore delivery initiative. phases of the initiatives.
Leverage Role of Influencers Adequate Governance Budget
Another important facet is to ensure Based on our experience helping
that while nominating managers/ leading firms adopt best practices,
individuals to staff appropriate gov- we recommend companies to budget
ernance teams within the structure, governance at approximately 8% of
their ability to influence others is their overall initiative expenditure,
taken into account. Such individuals spread across the life of the entire
can become vocal champions and initiative. This investment pays
ambassadors of the initiative, result- off both in the short term and the
ing in increased and more impor- long term.
tantly, consistent attention through- Successful executives recognise
out the longevity of the project. the need for above and thus elevate
their outsourcing competency.
Investment in Time and Effort
For governance to be effective,
operating staff and managers will Atul Vashistha is Chairman of neoIT,
need to budget anywhere between a leading management consultancy
15% to 28% of their time and effort based in California, USA. He is also
dealing with ongoing offshore initia- CEO of NeoGroup, a firm focused on
tives. The CXO level should budget outsourced programme and project
approximately 5% of their time on management services.

January – February 2009 | Outsourcing | 31

Outsourcing | feature

Cyberview partners
Cuzzy Media to market
Cyberjaya globally
Cyberview Sdn Bhd, the land-
owner of Cyberjaya, has partnered
with Cuzzy Media to promote Cy-
berjaya utilising Web 2.0 strategies,
while simultaneously leveraging the
power of selected global television
networks namely, CNN, CNBC,
MSNBC and Fox News.
Cuzzy Media owns and operates
internet tv platform called XBB.
TV (Extreme Broadband Broadcast
Television) that delivers interactive
content to a broadband-enabled
audience globally.
In this campaign, Cyberview’s
TVC and info-documentaries will
also be concurrently screened on
XBB.TV to further capitalise on a
large Information Technology liter-
ate traditional media audience.
Cyberview’s Managing Director
Redza Rafiq said, “Cyberjaya is
now 11 years old and the past two
years saw us aggressively promoting
Cyberjaya, and I am proud to say
that we have been successful in
branding Cyberjaya as the city to
live, study, work and play in.”
Redza said the success is reflected
in the number of companies that
have moved into Cyberjaya in the
last two years. “A total of 172 com-
panies moved to Cyberjaya between
2006 and 2007, as compared to
the 302 companies from 1998 to
2005. We would like to attribute
the increase to informative market- A total of 172
ing exercises coupled with tailor
made attractive packages that we companies moved to
offer investors from all over the Cyberjaya between 2006
world.”
Cyberview is the winner of The
and 2007, as compared
Brand Laureate Award under Cor- to the 302 companies
porate Branding category for Best
Brand in National ICT Hub for year
from 1998 to 2005.
2007/ 2008.

from page 27 them into value-orientation? Which

I think the days of “value-scale”
are here now and here to stay.
Providers are being forced to create
value at the business layer within
chosen industry verticals, either
through technology or business
solutions, and add scale to such
value through a concerted spread of
such value across industries. In India
the BPO providers are beginning to
rigorously invest in innovation
that could support such value-scale
creation, through what is termed as
Platform-Based BPO services.
Hence it is not just access to tal-
ent, but the ability to leverage and
transform the competencies of such
talent pools to deliver value. Cost
in such cases tends to become an
inherent component of value-scale,
as cost savings are derived from
reduced innovation cycles.
Where to from here?
Well, I don’t have a one-size-fits-all
The lack of internal capabilities is forcing
companies to farm out even complex and core
services to third-party service providers.
answer to this question. However I
think it is important for providers to
seriously invest in some “evaluation
of fundamentals” thinking with their
business and services. The place to
start is perhaps to ask these questions
– how thoroughly commoditised are
my services? How do I transform
industry can I address best? I would
rather focus on what value-scale I
am capable of supporting, rather
than trying to outdo my competitors,
since competition is also in the same
seemingly inextricable situations.
On the other hand, I think it is im-
portant for customer organisations
to work closely with their providers
and help them transform. Some-
times customers expect providers to
jump at the flip of a switch, which
isn’t possible. So I believe working
through the in-transformation issues
enables both organisations establish
a stronger pedestal for collective
growth.
Bobby Varanasi is the CEO and Founder
of Matryzel Consulting. He is also Head
(Marketing and Branding) of Outsourc-
ing Malaysia and Chairman of Inter-
national Association of Outsourcing
Professionals (Malaysia Chapter).

32 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009

 Lion City
Beckons
Time to reach
out to whole
new audience

RM12, S$10, US$8

KDN NO: PP14967/02/2009 (021381) MICA (P) 288/07/2008

Outsourcing
expands to
PREMIER MAGAZINE ON BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY SERVICES INDUSTRY

» ISSUE#8 » AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2008 www.the-outsourcing.com

ISSN 1985-1006

Singapore
Organisation: Flatten with caution • Global services:
What should your organisation be doing? • Hike in
Middle East IT spending • Solutions priorities of IT
Managers • Time Engineering’s BPO offshoot
• Negotiating and implementing sound contract

newsstands
LABOUR IN
OUTSOURCING
FROM ARBITRAGE TO SKILLS
August 2008
onwards
enquiries
email: admin@wordlabs.com.my; web: www.the-outsourcing.com; phone: +603-90564770

5 Singapore-advert.indd 1 8/15/08 3:22:33 PM

Outsourcing | Insights

In the Hybrid Structure,

the outsourcing partner may
only provide selective types
of tools, business process, IT
operations and some potential
asset ownership investment.”
By Mah
Chor Kiat

I
n today’s economic uncertainty
companies are challenged
by the increasingly dynamic
business environments, where
A flexible IT business conditions are ever evolving
infrastructure, and technologies change rapidly.
that is responsive Economic uncertainty coupled up
and adaptive to with government and legal restric-
business growth tions are formidable obstacles in the
cycles to ease outsourcing landscape.
the burden of A flexible IT infrastructure that is
managing higher responsive and adaptive to business
cost, becomes growth cycles to ease the burden
increasingly of managing higher cost becomes
important today. increasingly important today. This
urge will force companies to optimise
their IT budgets to support business,
in view of the rising resource cost and
limited talent pool.
In addition to external factors,
there are also internal obstacles that
inhibit the effective leverage of IT
infrastructure and resources, such
as, uncooperative organisational
culture, multi-cultural work force
issues, process immaturity and rigid
IT infrastructure.

Impact
These external factors and inter-
nal limitations converge to force
companies to seek for potential IT
outsourcing partners that comple-
ment their business direction,
objectives and values. There are
three main Outsourcing Models,
namely Business Process Outsourc-
ing, Infrastructure Outsourcing and
Application Outsourcing. Each of

Models &
these models is driven by different
business objectives under various
circumstances.

Business Process Outsourcing: It

structures of
focuses on the outsourcing of opera-
tions and specific business functions,
such as Human Resource, Procure-
ment, Supply Chain, Finance or
Customer Relationship Management

Outsourcing
process. Some of the key benefits you
can expect from this model are:
>> Cost savings
>> Business process restructuring to
focus on supporting core business
initiatives
>> Access to proven business pro-

34 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009

 Insights | Outsourcing

cesses and industry best prac-

tices
>> Improved deployment of busi-
ness processes
>> Enhanced service levels

Application Outsourcing: It is the

outsourcing of application mainte-
nance, development or hosting, and
the resulting benefits may be:
>> Revision or integration of exist-
ing or new applications
>> Improve cost savings due to
increasing skills resources cost
>> Access to skills resources and
technical know-how with limited
investment
>> Maintenance of legacy applica-
tions due to limited talents and
increasing cost
>> Improved functionality of ap-
plications

Infrastructure Outsourcing:
This may include network managed
services, managed storage, desktop or
data centre. The commercial benefits
resulting from this model are access
to quality technical asset, technology
and technical resources, such as:
>> Access to proven technical exper-
tise and knowledge
>> Access to advanced technologies
and research capabilities of IT
outsourcing partner
>> Transfer of asset cost with predict-
able expense management
>> Allow internal IT department
to focus on strategic tasks for
competitive edge
>> Improve quality of service to
internal IT users
>> Establish a flexible IT infrastruc-
ture foundation for transition to
the next generation of infrastruc-
ture
Traditional Model
In order to ensure maximum com-
mercial benefits, the implementation
of Business Process, Application
and Infrastructure Outsourcing
models should be done jointly as an
integrated enterprise model. This
will allow you to maximise the cost
benefits, which can be reinvested
into revenue producing projects and
realigning your internal balance
sheet through asset transfer.
Such enterprise model gives the
strategic IT outsourcing partner end-
to-end accountability, thus providing
you the access to mission critical
systems and applications.
Furthermore, such tightly coupled
enterprise outsourcing model
through a strategic IT outsourc-
ing partner allows for a focused
single point-of-contact in obtaining
a more effective governance and
In order risk management processes, while
to ensure maintaining a consistent quality
maximum across the IT enterprise environment
commercial with direct access to industry and
benefits, the technology leadership.
implementation
of Business Outsourcing Structure
Process, In addition to the outsourcing
Application and model approaches, it is important
Infrastructure to consider the structure of outsourc-
Outsourcing ing from the traditional In-source
models should Outsourcing, Hybrid Outsourcing to
be done jointly Dedicated Outsourcing Structure.
as an integrated In the In-source Structure, the
enterprise IT outsourcing partner has limited
model. influence to provide hardware, soft-
ware, implementation and consult-
ing service. While you have much
greater control, the IT investment
is significantly larger with lengthy
(business process, application or
infrastructure) implementation
process with changing priorities or
focus depending on your internal
organisational shifts.
In the Hybrid Structure, the IT
outsourcing partner may provide
only selective types of tools, business
process, IT operations and some po-
tential asset ownership investment.
The benefit of this is that the IT
outsourcing partner will own more
responsibilities for the outsourced
services. However, you will retain the
primary responsibilities for end-to-
end enterprise service delivery.
The other extreme of the
spectrum would be a Dedicated
Outsourcing Structure where the
IT outsourcing partner provides
complete business process, applica-
tion and infrastructure services as
described above. Thus an end-to-end
enterprise service level responsibility
will be handled by the IT outsourc-
ing partner, whose performance in
providing the agreed service level
will be monitored by your side.
Pay as you use
The various outsourcing structures
mentioned here provide the manner
in which the outsourcing service is
established between you and the
IT outsourcing partner. There is an
added layer of commercial complex-
ity with the introduction of the “pay
as you use” methodology.
This “pay as you use” operating
environment (which is broadly de-
fined by the automatic abstraction
of resource layer serving as the
platform for rapid reconfigura-
tion and re-assignment of physical
resources), enables the IT enterprise
environment to meet changing
business requirements and busi-
ness processes. This methodology,
continued on next page

January – February 2009 | Outsourcing | 35

Outsourcing | survey
Japan gets
into the
game
The emergence of Japan as
an alternative destination for IT
outsourcing and allied services
seems to have found favour with
the IT conglomerates as Kanji,
Katakana and Hiragana symbols
are replacing the Texan, Californian
and British accents as the ‘in-thing’.
Reason:The recession is eating
into the volume of outsourced IT
work from the US; and after the
US, Japan is an important market
from the IT perspective, more so
during the current period.
The Japanese IT services
market is valued at $108
billion, according to a recent
survey by Nasscom and
PricewaterhouseCoopers.
continued from previous page
if implemented correctly, is very effective
in:
>>  Reducing time of development and
deployment of business process, applica-
tion or infrastructure;
>> Reducing IT cost by standardisation of
infrastructure and systems management
tools; and;
>>  Creating an integrated, autonomic,
and virtual “pay as you use” operating
environment.
The key to successful deployment of an
outsourcing initiative is the governance
model, which guides the interactions be-
tween various business units, the IT retained
36 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009
One in four
IT jobs moving
offshore
L
arge companies are accelerating their use of offshore outsourcing, and
as many as a quarter of IT jobs at Global 1,000 firms may be moved
offshore by 2010, according to The Hackett Group.
According to the Miami-based firm’s research, those large companies
– which have revenues of at least US$5 billion – will move about 350,000
corporate jobs offshore over the next two years. More than half of those jobs will
be in IT, with the remainder in finance, human resources and procurement
The data “is a confirmation of a mega-trend” similar to what happened in
the manufacturing sector several decades ago, said Michel Janssen, Hackett’s
chief research officer. And
while 25% of the IT jobs
may head overseas in the
next two years, over the
longer term that figure
could hit 60%. In some
organisations, it could
reach 80%.
E a r l i e r t h i s y e a r,
a study based on data
collected from 10,000
people estimated that as
many 8% of all IT work-
ers have been affected
by offshore outsourcing.
That study was conducted
by researchers at New
York University’s Stern
School of Business and
the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
The Hackett Group collected data from 200 companies worldwide. Of those
organisations, 40% have headquarters in the US and a similar percentage are
based in Europe. The IT head count at each of the companies is about 1,600.
This big shift in jobs to low-cost offshore locations may be accelerating,
in part, because companies are more experienced – and comfortable – with
offshoring and have developed standardised practices, according to Erik Dorr,
Hackett’s senior IT research director.
organisation and IT outsourcing partner partners should be jointly responsible for
organisation. the IT strategy and partnership align-
The governance model is a combination ment.
of organisational structure, joint processes, While the IT outsourcing partner will
and relationship between both partners to have the obligations to maintain the agreed
sustain focus on the business needs at all service level through IT innovation, trans-
levels of the organisation, and establish formation tasks, optimised architecture and
strategic, functional and operational inter- proven processes, you need to govern these
faces between both partners. The baseline is expectations through periodic committees
a reconciled strategic direction and aligned of the business strategy, strategic initiatives,
IT governance principles towards agreed business programme management and
service levels. service level control mechanism.
The adequate allocation of activities and
responsibilities between both partners is the
rationale for the design of the governance CK Mah specialises in the area of infrastructure
organisation. Responsibilities, which should outsourcing, application outsourcing and
be shared, must be documented through business process outsourcing; and has written
established committees and processes. Both numerous articles on these subjects.

Tech firms keep
polluting planet
A
ccording to The Black Book
of Outsourcing 2008 Green
Report, among 4200 sur-
veyed global outsourcing
users, just 20% of outsourcing clients
has seen any substance from the
environmental change promises
made by their offshore suppliers in
the previous year.
Fatigued with budget and staffing
cutbacks, 91% of outsourcing users
expressed intense dissatisfaction
and growing impatience with their
offshore service providers, which
claimed they would help shoulder
the financial and operational bur-
dens of green technology yet done
nothing.
Despite a focus shift caused by
the financial crisis, 94% of American
corporate leaders still consider eco-
friendly computing as an important
element in their technology strat-
egy. After the challenges of budget
management, 26% rated finding
demonstrated green outsourcing
partners as their top IT priority.
The lack of comprehensive global
standards and enforceable regulation
has allowed offshore tech outsourcers
survey | Outsourcing
Small
businesses
seek talent
despite
economic
slowdown
Amid the continuing
drumbeat of big company
layoffs, small and medium-
sized businesses are still
focused on retaining and
recruiting quality workers in
the year ahead, according to
a new survey.
While significant concerns
about the contracting
economy were reflected in
the survey, more than two-
thirds of smaller businesses
still plan to hire talent in 2009
due to attrition or growth.
Even as the recession
began a year ago, more than
80% of respondents said
to dodge environmental accountability beyond simple they tried to hire in 2008,
low hanging fruit programmes according to the according to the survey
survey results. Several named Indian and Chinese conducted for TriNet, an
tech vendors, in particular, have been identified for American provider of human
non-compliance in meeting even simple efforts to resources outsourcing and
reduce their clients’ carbon footprints. HR consulting services to
“US and UK businesses have risked their corporate small and medium-sized
accountability for the environment on offshore businesses.
outsourcers without seeing any substantive efforts,” “In good times or bad,
said Doug Brown, Managing Partner in Brown-Wilson a talented workforce is
Group, the survey sponsor. essential for small firms,”
A concerning number of offshore vendors have said Burton M. Goldfield,
reacted to the need for sustainable IT processes in a president and chief executive
way Brown-Wilson Group terms green washing – the officer of TriNet.“While
practice of boasting a pro-environmental stance that’s the months ahead are sure
purely superficial. In the past, it was easier for offshore to be turbulent, business
vendors to say, ‘we’re doing our best’, and placating owners realise that finding
clients. “But now they’re being called out for polluting and keeping star employees
and bringing humiliation back to their clients. It’s a is the key to their long-term
position US and UK corporate leaders can not tolerate success.”
any longer,” said Brown.
US and UK businesses have risked their
corporate accountability for the environment
on offshore outsourcers without seeing any
substantive efforts.”
January – February 2009 | Outsourcing | 37
Outsourcing | management

By Dr ArLyne
Diamond

I
grew up in the cutthroat business world
in New York City. The firms I worked
for were all privately owned and the
bottom line profitability was of the
utmost importance.
Managers were expected to meet their
responsibilities with as few staff as possible.
They knew what they were doing – and knew
what the people reporting to them needed
to know. Managers had been seasoned and
trained over a long period of time.
It has changed. Businesses have become
huge and managed by those who have
quickly climbed the corporate ladder – not
necessarily seasoned, and not necessarily Businesses
knowledgeable about either managing, need to
or the responsibilities of the staff they increase
manage. training so that
Many are highly skilled technical people managers are
who are promoted into management as more effective.
a reward for technical competence – not
people skills.
It’s easy to think about cutting back
management training and process im-
provement when times are tough – like
now. But, in my opinion that’s one of the
worst things you could do. Businesses need
to increase training so that managers
are more effective. They need to increase
process improvement (quality, continuous
improvement, etc.) so that more gets done

Soft skills are vital

more effectively with less.
Too, many companies are
publicly held, and venture capi-
tal funds replace profit. This has
led to great waste – similar to

– that’s a hard fact!

how big government operates.
VC funds are pulling back some
and companies need to be less
wasteful.
Managers aren’t rewarded
by their accomplishments. They are
rewarded by how many people they man-
age. Thus, it now takes twenty people to
hammer in a nail.
But, times are tough. Cutbacks are here.
Downsizing is necessary. Public companies
are privatising – because of Sarbanes-Ox-
ley*. We need to do more with less.
My clients know that they have to
streamline their systems, motivate their
employees to pay attention, look for creative
solutions to current problems, and reward
accomplishment. They also know (because
I’ve told them a zillion times, and written
about it as well) not to take away the small
perks like coffee and Friday’s pizza party,
but to reduce the big expenses like first class
seats on the airplane.
Efficiency is utmost – use less people to
get the job done. This often meets getting
layers of bureaucratic middle-men out of
the way. It certainly means simplifying
the systems and getting rid of layers and
layers of over-protective and redundant
safeguards.
We tend to believe that the overly layered
safeguards exist only in large government
bureaucracies. But, that’s not so. I see small
companies, as well as huge tech companies
emulating the same process.
Besides having too many steps to write
a cheque, there are the CYA**, the “inbox
phenomena” – where documents go into the
inbox and sometimes stay there for weeks
before being worked on – and the inability
to defer decisions to one or two people that
also add to the waste.
Couldn’t we get back to basics? Hire only
trustworthy people and create the simplest
processes necessary to get the job done.
Allow simple checks and balances.
One example: I was consulting to a large
transportation company and one of the
problems was the process by which refunds
were given to customers who had difficulty
with the computerised ticket process at the
train stations. The agency was forcing the
accountant in charge to verify the veracity of
each complaint, and to process the payment
in the same manner a US$50,000 payment
to a vendor would be processed.
We simplified the process. We gave
him a dedicated chequebook, set him

38 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009


Visionary …
Efficiency is
utmost – use less
people to get the
job done.
up on Quicken (a commonly used
bookkeeping software system)
and authorised him to accept any
complaint under US$10 without
verification. Quicken allowed him to
produce reports which had the same
level of accountability as the large
relational database the accounts
payable department was using.
It allowed him to write and mail
cheques quickly, thus increasing
customer goodwill. It gave him a
quick and easy way to see if he had a
repeated complainer – or a frequent
problem at a particular station. In
short, with all the protections the
big system created, we created a
quick, cheap and easy solution to a
frequent problem, thus improving
efficiency, customer service, and the
bottom line.
Another example: One of my
clients had a process in place
so that all decisions, large or
small, had to be approved
by three levels of manage-
ment.
We created a stratified
process whereby each
person along the ladder
had permission to make
decisions within parameters
we established with them and
upper management.
Thus individuals were em-
powered to decide how to solve
problems, where and when to work,
and the processes they used com-
mensurate with their knowledge,
experience, and the parameters
management | Outsourcing
Key to
success ...
Hire only
trustworthy It’s easy to think about
people and cutting back management
create the
simplest training and process
processes improvement when times
necessary to
get the job
are tough – like now. But, in
done. Allow my opinion that’s one of the
simple checks
and balances.
worst things you could do.”
pre-set. Managers were bothered reporting system that was put in place
far less. Creative solutions were in the United States due to mis-man-
found and the people involved agement and fraud practices by some
assumed ownership of their big companies, such as Enron. It takes
jobs. government accounting practices and
Finally, let me emphasize adds many other checks and balances
that proper management – in to it. It also makes directors of boards,
other words management and executives accountable. Since
that understands the people they can now be sued – or arrested
he or she manages, the man- – for mis-representations by their
ner in which they learn, the companies, they are reluctant to get
expectations they have based involved.
on prior experiences (and the
countries in which they live ** Stands for Cover Your Ass-ets, or
or lived), and how to motivate protect your position by noting that
and hold people accountable you received and carried forward the
for deliverables – increases data lists.
productivity, reduces turnover,
improves morale and adds tre-
mendously to the bottom line. Dr ArLyne Diamond is an Organi-
It’s soft-skills that matter sational Development and Human
most. Resource Consultant with over 30
years. She can be contacted at www.
* Sarbanes Oxley is a very restrictive diamondassociates.net
January – February 2009 | Outsourcing | 39
Outsourcing | Conference
Outsourcing
T
he recent three-day inaugural
Outsourcing Malaysia Conference
held in Kuala Lumpur Convention
Centre proved to be a rousing
success with more than 40 global leaders
in business, government and academia
confronting a range of pressing issues
within the aegis of global best practices and
competencies.
The event focused on the importance of
outsourcing for the ICT industry and is the
brainchild of Outsourcing Malaysia (OM),
a chapter within PIKOM (Malaysia’s As-
sociation of the Computer and Multimedia
Industry).
Aptly themed: “Outsourcing as a
Strategic Imperative” – the event saw the
40 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009
participation of many industry icons such as
Philip Carter, Associate Research Director for
Asia/Pacific Services Group, IDC; Avinash
Vashistha, Chairman and CEO, Tholons;
Gerry Clark, Partner & Director, Southeast
Asia and Hong Kong, TPI; Dr Pradeep
Mukherji, President & Managing Partner,
Avasant Inc, and Edge Zarrella, KPMG
Global Partner in Charge.
OM Chairman David Wong said:
“OMC’s timing is perfect to capitalise on
the outsourcing boom. There is actually
increased demand in outsourcing services
during tough economic times and even in a
recession, as companies look at outsourcing
as a way to bring down overall costs without
sacrificing productivity and quality, as

Malaysia Conference
well as to allow them to focus on their core
competencies.
“Through this conference, we are provid-
ing a platform for our members to meet with
potential customers and educate them on
the merits and needs for outsourcing and
shared services.”
At the conference, OM announced
partnerships with India-based business
research and competitive intelligence firm,
ValueNotes, on market intelligence and
locally-grown multinational educational
institution, Asia eUniversity, on human
resource and development.
Wong added: “Our Shared Services
and Outsourcing (SSO) sector is growing
at twice the global rate of 15% and has
Conference | Outsourcing
the potential to hit US$2bil (RM6.4bil) by
2012,” he said.
Worldwide, the SSO market is expected
to hit US$1.4 trillion (RM4.48 trillion) by
2009, he said.
The huge growth is due to the fact that
Malaysia is an attractive outsourcing des-
tination.
OM executive director Alan Fung,
stressed that this was because Malaysia
has an educated workforce that speaks up
to four languages — English, Malay, Tamil
and Mandarin.
Fung also believes that the current finan-
cial downturn in the United States could be
viewed as positive for the local outsourcing
industry.
January – February 2009 | Outsourcing | 41
Outsourcing | happeningS

IBM partners KBU to

spur mainframe local talent
IBM announced its collaboration
with Malaysia’s KBU International
College (KBU) targeted at increasing
the knowledge and skills on main-
frame for Information Technology
(IT) jobs, locally and globally.  With
the global resurgence in Mainframe
Computing, the demand for skills on
Mainframe technology outweighs
the supply of talent pool in the
marketplace today.
A survey conducted by the MSC
Malaysia K-Workers Development
Institute (KDI) in 2008, also shown
that in Malaysia, the demand for
skills on Mainframe Engineering
supersedes the supply talent pool.
IBM and KBU signed a memo-
randum of understanding (MoU)
to jointly work together under IBM
System z™ Academic Initiative
programme where IBM will provide
the college’s academic members with
access to IBM software, hardware,
courseware, faculty education,
contests, and many other valuable
resources. Ou Shian Waei, Manag-
ing Director, IBM Malaysia said,
“IBM seeks to incorporate innovation developing human capital and build- Sealed … From left:
into practical learning. We want to ing a skilled workforce.” See Hoon Peow,
Principal, KBU
UTM, Mimos
make learning and talent building The objectives of the programme
easy and accessible to everyone, are to assist and enable educators International College, work together on
at any where and time. We strive
to plug the gaps in the supply of
to teach the fundamentals of enter-
prise systems, incorporate examples
Dato’ Professor Dr
Teo Chiang Liang,
wireless tech
knowledge workers by collaborating through the use of practical ap- Chief Executive, KBU Universiti Teknologi
with academia such as KBU. plication and lab exercises, connect International College, Malaysia (UTM) and
“More importantly, we take on educators and students with IBM’s Ou and Brian Lee, Mimos – Malaysia’s centre
the responsibility of being the central clients, and aid in establishing last- General Manager of for applied research on
driving force at implementing and ing relationships with the business Software Group, IBM frontier technologies – have
administrating programmes towards community. Malaysia. established collaboration on
the development of wireless
communication technology.
Both parties will conduct
researches, defined by Mimos,
in the field.
Seamless mobility with Padu*Mobile The research covers
wireless protocol, information
ICT Solutions Provider HeiTech is also cost effective and easy-to-use.” technology and multimedia
Padu Berhad (HeiTech) has launched “We have in the last year developed sub-systems, microwaves,
Padu*Mobile, its very own unified and perfected a unified communications antennas and basebands.
communication tool that supports solution supporting seamless mobility UTM vice-chancellor
seamless mobility through secured that is enhanced with built-in security Prof Datuk Dr Zaini Ujang
connectivity on a virtual private network. on a virtual private network.We call this and Mimos president cum
“One of the most frustrating product Padu*Mobile,” said Halim. chief executive officer Datuk
challenges in conducting and running a Padu*Mobile was developed and Abdul Wahab Abdullah
business today is the lost opportunities enhanced with the needs of the end-users signed a memorandum
due to ineffective communication and in mind.A key component is the unified of understanding on the
business applications,” said Abdul Halim communications solution. It enables collaboration at the university
Md Lassim, Senior Vice President & Chief users to communicate with others campus in Johor Bahru.
Financial Officer of HeiTech Padu Berhad, instantly, across the office or around the Zaini said that UTMs
at the launch in Kuala Lumpur recently. world. electrical engineering faculty
“HeiTech saw an urgent need for a It uses a single, unified platform that was appointed as the centre
ubiquitous communications tool that converge all communication channels and of excellence for Mimos’
encompasses distinguished features which provides real time exchange. Wireless Communication.

42 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009


MDeC fetes firms
at gala dinner
Recognition for 47 local MSC Malaysia companies
earning global standards certifications
Multimedia Development Corporation
(MDeC), the custodian of MSC Malaysia,
recognised recently the achievements of 47
MSC Malaysia Status companies that earned
global standards certifications in 2008. At a
gala dinner held in Kuala Lumpur, representa-
tives from the companies received letters of
recognition from Deputy Minister of Science
Technology and Innovation Y.B. Tuan Haji
Fadillah bin Haji Yusof and MDeC CEO Dato’
Badlisham Ghazali.
In 2008, through the MSC Malaysia Ca-
pability Development Programme (CDP), 15
MSC Malaysia Status companies were awarded
a CMMI Maturity Rating; 19 companies
earned certification in software testing; four
firms achieved the ISO 27001 certification, an
Information Security Management Standard;
and five earned ISO 9001 certification, a Qual-
ity Management Standard. Four more MSC
Malaysia Status companies were honoured
for sending their personnel to earn individual
professional certification through the MSC
Malaysia CDP Professional Development
programme (CDP PD).
“CDP’s goal is to raise internal
competencies among MSC Malaysia
Status companies to ensure their
continuing competitiveness in global
ICT markets,“ said Badlisham. “In
this year alone over 900 compa-
nies have benefited through the
various seminars, workshops and
programmes run by CDP and more
than 300 ICT professionals have
benefited from CDP PD. This is a
particular noteworthy achievement
because CDP PD only began five
months ago,“ he added.
“It is not a coincidence that in
2007 MSC Malaysia Status com-
panies that had participated in
CDP programmes achieved export
growth of 79.18%, which is more
January – February 2009 | Outsourcing |
HAPPENINGS | Outsourcing
that three times the 23.40% export
growth of all MSC Malaysia Status
companies for that year.”
“Through the efforts of CDP a
June 2008 Software Engineering
Institute report ranked Malaysia 1st
in South East Asia and 14th in the
world for the number of CMMI rated
companies in our country.”
CDP not only assists companies
achieve certifications. Participating
organisations also enjoy additional
benefits from monthly dialogues,
seminars, clinics and workshops de-
veloped to gear them up to achieve
certifications and later ensure
business continuity. Upon comple-
tion, the successful programme
participants are partly reimbursed
from the total project cost.
43
Outsourcing | last word
Glimpse:
First few days
in prison
S
atyam Computers head
honcho Ramalinga Raju,
one of India’s ten richest
men, was enjoying the
lifestyle to match his US$1.3 billion
fortune – today he shares a hold-
ing cell with 40 other inmates in
Chanchalguda Central Prison.
>>  Prison authorities said there were
‘clear and strict’ instructions that
Raju should not be shown any
preference and treated ‘equal’
with other remand prisoners.
>>  In the jail, Raju would be eligible
for 650 grams of rice provided
thrice a day along with 250
grams of vegetable curry and
125 grams of dal as per the jail
manual.
>>  Tea would be served twice a day.
He would be given a dhurrie, a
blanket and a bed-sheet. There
would not be any television
in the barrack and only one
newspaper would be provided
in the entire admission block.
44 | Outsourcing | January – February 2009
Said & Done: Fraud
>>  Raju and his brother Rama Raju
neither showed any interest in
newspapers nor watched the
news on TV which is all about
them. Instead, they requested
the jail officials for “some good
books’’.
>>  They did not have tooth brushes
and paste. As they did not come
out and ask, jail officials, who
were constantly monitoring their
high-profile guests, purchased
them with their deposited money
and gave it to them.
>> As part of the dedicated secu-
rity for Raju brothers, a deputy
jailor was assigned the task of
keeping round-the-clock vigil
at the enclosure of the barrack,
keeping in mind the killing of
notorious criminal Moddu Seenu
in Anantapur prison recently.
>> Raju is staying in a barrack
that is 60 feet away from that
of another white collar offender
Kosaraju Venkateshwar Rao,
former chairman of the Krushi
Bank.
“Yes! Finally captured Martha Stewart.
You know, with all the massive and
almost completely unpunished fraud
perpetrated on the American public
by such companies as Enron, Global
Crossing,Tyco and Adelphia, we finally
got the ringleader. Maybe now we
can lower the nation’s terror alert to
periwinkle.”
– Jon Stewart
(American Comedian)
“It is a fraud to borrow
what we are unable to pay.”
– Publilius Syrus
(Roman writer)
“There are some frauds so well
conducted that it would be stupidity
not to be deceived by them.”
– Charles Caleb Colton
(English writer)
“Fraud and falsehood only
dread examination.Truth invites it.”
– Samuel Johnson quotes
(English Poet)
“It is possible that the scrupulously
honest man may not grow rich so fast
as the unscrupulous and dishonest one;
but the success will be of a truer kind,
earned without fraud or injustice.And
even though a man should for a time
be unsuccessful, still”
– Samuel Smiles
(Scottish author)
“Rather fail with honour
than succeed by fraud.”
– Sophocles
(Greek playwright)
“All men are frauds.The only
difference between them is that some
admit it. I myself deny it.”
– Henry Louis Mencken
(American journalist)
“Do not be too moral. You may cheat
yourself out of much life so. Aim above
morality. Be not simply good; be good
for something.”
– Henry David Thoreau
(American Poet)
 Subscribe Now! The Outsourcing
P r o v i d i n g t h e r i g h t p l a t f o r m f o r p r o v i d e r s a n d s e e k e r s

Premier Magazine on the

outsourcing industry
YES, I would like to subscribe to The Outsourcing.
I will receive one year (6 issues) / two years
(12 issues) of The Outsourcing effective from the next
issue.

Please tick ( ) where applicable.

MALAYSIA
1 year subscription (6 issues) @ RM75

A business to 2 years Subscription (12 issues) @ RM140

Includes delivery charges

business magazine SINGAPORE

for the Outsourcing 1 year subscription (6 issues) @ S$50
Industry’s decision 2 years Subscription (12 issues) @ S$100
makers.” Includes delivery charges

REST OF WORLD
1 year subscription (6 issues) @ US$60

2 years Subscription (12 issues) @ US$110

Includes delivery charges

Name:............................................................................
Job Title:........................................................................
Company/organisation:.................................................
Address:........................................................................
......................................................................................
......................................................................................
Postcode:......................................................................
Country:.........................................................................
Tel:.................................................................................
Fax:................................................................................
E-mail:...........................................................................

Enclosed is my crossed cheque / money order/postal

order No.____________________________________ for
RM/S$/US$ ___________________________ payable to
WORDLABS MEDIA.

Send subscription order to:

WORDLABS MEDIA
27-1, Metro Centre,
Jalan 3/146, Bandar Tasik Selatan,
57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +603-90564770
Fax: +603-90564771
E-mails: admin@wordlabs.com.my
URL: www.the-outsourcing.com

subcription.indd 42 4/16/08 5:33:39 PM

 4HEPERFECTINGREDIENTS
FORTHEBESTRESULTS
-AKE-3#-ALAYSIAYOUR'LOBAL)#4AND3ERVICES(UB
3OMEMAYSAYTHATAGOODDISHISONLYTHESUMOFITSPARTS)NGREDIENTSHOWEVERINTHIS
INSTANCECOMBINESYNERGISTICALLYTOSERVEUPATHRIVING)#4HUBn-3#-ALAYSIA
)TSLOCATIONATTHEHEARTOF!SIA0ACIlCPROVIDESAPERFECTLAUNCHPADFOR
YOURGLOBALASPIRATIONS!FACTTHATHASNTGONEUNNOTICEDASMANYOF
THEWORLDSBIGGESTCOMPANIESHAVEMADEUSTHEIRCHOICE
3OIFYOUREREADYTOTASTESUCCESSCOMETO-3#-ALAYSIA

-3#-ALAYSIAn"ESTOF!LL7ORLDS
s 3TRATEGICALLYLOCATEDGATEWAYTOTHE!SIA0ACIlCREGION
s )NDUSTRYDOMAINEXPERTISEn&INANCE%NERGY3UPPLY#HAIN%LECTRONICSAND2ETAIL
s 3TRONGEMPHASISONHIGHERVALUEACTIVITIESn2$)4%NGINEERING3OFTWARE$EVELOPMENTAND&INANCIAL3ERVICES
s 7ORLDSTHIRDMOSTATTRACTIVELOCATIONFOR33/n!4+EARNEYBASEDONPEOPLESKILLSlNANCIALSTRUCTUREANDBUSINESSENVIRONMENT 

9OURONE STOPSUPERSHOPTO-3#-ALAYSIA

-3#-!,!93)!#,)%.4#/.4!#4#%.42%#LI# s   WITHIN-ALAYSIA ssCLIC MDECCOMMYsWWWMSCCOMMY

mdec.indd 22 1/30/08 9:23:06 PM

Ad SSO 307x220 FA.indd 1 7/18/07 4:34:02 PM