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TOP The gateway to the global sourcing of IT and BPO services Research Report 50 G N I G R EME OUTSOURCING GLOBAL CITIES Global Services-Tholons Study They are not Bangalores or Makatis yet; but they could get there sooner. There are nine new entrants and six dropouts from the 2007 list Premier Sponsor THE LOCATION By Avinash Vashistha, Tholons, and Imrana Khan, Global Services T IER-1 GLOBAL SERVICE PROVIDERS such as Accenture, ACS, Cognizant, Capgemini, CSC, EDS, Genpact, HP, IBM, Infosys, LogicaCMG, TCS, Satyam and Wipro continue to increase their global presence. The difference is that service providers such as IBM and Accenture are looking to tier-2 and tier-3 Indian cities for expansion, while the Indian providers Infosys, TCS and Wipro are heading toward cities in South America and Eastern Europe. In a way, the choice of the right city has become more important than the choice of the country. It is rather the city (than the country), which represents a more accurate package of attributes that service providers seek. Thus, Cebu City and Monterrey matter more than the Philippines and Mexico from a decision-making standpoint. This study identifies those locations that are globally recognized for their “specific” outsourcing services offerings as well as the ones that are establishing themselves as specialized locations for particular outsourcing functions. To make the study complete, like last year, we have also come up with the names of top emerging outsourcing cities as that’s the main focus of this study. There are eight such cities instead of five that we had reported last year. (See Table 2 —“Top 8 Global Outsourcing Locations.”) This year’s list of top 50 emerging global outsourcing cities, though, has quite a few surprises. We profiled nine “new entrants” — including Quezon City (The Philippines), Toronto (Canada), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Mexico City (Mexico), Jaipur (India), Singapore (Singapore), Chengdu (China), Guadalajara (Mexico) and Mandaluyong City (The Philippines) — to the list. (See Table 3.) Last year we had profiled top 15 emerging outsourcing locations. 2 GlobalServices THE PARAMETERS OF EVALUATING THE CITIES In order to provide location assessment, Tholons has considered “six general categories” — “Scale & Quality of Workforce (including education),” “Business Catalyst,” “Cost”, “Infrastructure,” “Risk Profile” and “Quality of Life.” Within these six segments are fifteen sub-categories, each possessing a corresponding weight. The parameters above are the same components, which differentiate cities, and to a large extent determine their individual capacities to fulfill particular services. Cities with large, English-proficient labor pools, for example, may be better equipped to provide voicebased customer support while a smaller city with robust infrastructure and adequate supply of network engineers may be better candidates to provide infrastructure managed services. Consequently, there is no definitive set or order of parameters, which will provide a definitive advantage for each city across all service lines. Each parameter must take into consideration a number of determining factors: Type of service, desired scale, and nature of delivery, to name a few aspects. THE LOCATION-ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK Our “Location-assessment Framework” takes into consideration an expansive set of variables when evaluating a city’s potential as a delivery center. Further, the quantitative data gathered is substantiated and analyzed qualitatively. In analyzing the capacity and potential of individual city centers, Tholons identifies the inherent characteristics of a location — its key differentiator and at the same time, its primary inhibitor. The recognition of these city-specific aspects is also essential in correlating which specific service lines a city has the potential or is most capable in delivering. City A for example, can have a high percentage of its labor pool that is Englishproficient, but may also have a smaller percentage of IT or technical-related university graduates as compared to City B — having a low number of English-speaking graduates, but a more favorable ratio of IT graduates. In this case, we can infer from a resource perspective, that City A may be more suitable for delivery of customersupport services, while City B may be better equipped to fulfill ITO-related services such as engineering or software development. From a service-delivery perspective, the more successful outsourcing cities have leveraged on their The Perspective of the City Location assessment based on a city as opposed to a country is reflective of the ongoing trend we are witnessing in the global outsourcing arena. Service providers are look- www.globalservicesmedia.com October 2008 ASSESSMENT available resources to capture specific market segments. Cities in the Philippines for example, continue to avail of their large English-proficient workforce in catering to the U.S. customer-service market. The same holds true for Central and South American cities that have been quick to capitalize on the growing Hispanic population in the U.S. Further, despite the U.S. currency’s recent slide, these destinations continue to be more cost efficient as compared to onshore (U.S.) delivery centers. Due to the deteriorating political situation in the state of West Bengal, we continue to put Kolkata on the watch list. Political disturbances contributing to an unfavorable climate for business would prove to be a big hindrance for the city to attract investments. However, we expect the government to take steps to restore normalcy and to continue on the growth path as an outsourcing destination. Cities are differentiated not only by their available resources (quality/type of labor force, cost, available infrastructure and such), but also by their long-term potential in fulfilling demand for specific services. In many instances, these scalerelated inhibitors can directly impact what type and size of outsourced services that location can fulfill. For headcount-dependent processes such as voice-based customer support, lower cost and large population bases are often required. There are also various regional and ecosystem dynamics, which differentiate the capacities of cities. A converging Europe is a prime example. As Europe continues to expand its unified market, cost-effective destinations in Eastern Europe will continue to increase their market share of outsourced services from customer nations in Western Europe. In this regard, Eastern European cities such as Kraków and Prague will continue to leverage their nearshore and cultural compatibility advantages. Alternatively, cities in countries with large population bases such as India and China will maintain competitive advantage by offering scale and labor costs, which most destinations will be unable to counter. Cities in these two countries — with millions of people — will also have the best potential to offer a wider array of outsourced services. However, this does not necessarily imply that the advantage is exclusive to such mega cities. Cities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and even smaller destinations like Monterrey, Mexico have made inroads in high-value ITO and engineering services. For similar sized cities that may have demographic constraints, identifying the available strengths within their ecosystem is essential in developGS ing their respective niche markets. Budapest Shanghai Santiago CITY CHARACTERISTICS WITH RESPECT TO SPECIFIC SERVICE ITO (Infrastructure Managed Services) Priority Low Cost Scale & Quality of Workforce Infrastructure Risk Profile Business Catalyst Quality of Life High BPO (Contact Center) Scale & Quality of Workforce Infrastructure Business Catalyst Cost Risk Profile Quality of Life Singapore ing to identify and tap the inherent capabilities and capacities of specific locations. This transition on how service providers view locations illustrate both the maturity of the outsourcing model and heightened focus on optimization of October 2008 service-delivery. Today, a single provider can have centers in multiple countries and cities, with each city having the optimal conditions to fulfill specific service lines. Software development can be done in Bangalore, customer service can be www.globalservicesmedia.com GlobalServices 3 The Global Services-Tholons Study done out of Makati City, while engineering services are delivered out of Kraków. The one-stop-shop country model has in fact given way to the more efficient, multicity, bestof-breed city model. Further, this also reflects the increased responsibilities, which local government units now have in developing their respective cities. City officials, infrastructure providers and local stakeholders are often better able to promote, stimulate and market their city’s specific capabilities to potential outsourcing service providers. Moreover, local stakeholders are able to address infrastructure and ecosystem concerns in a timelier manner. Many city mayors and local government units, for example, can provide city-specific tax incentives and telecom providers can deploy connectivity in a much more targeted scale. In contrast, nationwide agendas and developmental rollouts, as otherwise mandated by national governments, are often prolonged and drawn out — a pace unfavorable to most service providers. Though we highlight the increasingly vital role, which individual cities play in a country’s outsourcing industry, we do not discount the significance that national governments and institutional bodies play in shaping the sector. National governments and industry bodies are commonly tasked to provide guidance, policies and set direction. Likewise, these organizations provide essential monitoring and regulatory roles — ensuring that labor and business-related concerns are managed and implemented. As such, the role of the city with regards to outsourcing should not be viewed as one, which has become entirely independent of the country. Rather, one should view the evolution of the city as a direct result of a country’s inherent capabilities as an outsourcing provider. Referring to Prague as a “Center for Excellence” for software development, or Ho Chi Minh City for IT Outsourcing (ITO) processes, for example, highlights the respective country’s strengths. The Locations & the Year Gone By The past eighteen months have been an incredibly dynamic period for the global outsourcing industry. The ongoing slowdown in the U.S. economy, the continuing maturation of the outsourcing model, the rise of tier-2 and tier-3 cities as delivery centers, the heightened level of competition and emergence of “global Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) providers” are some of the key ecosystem movements we continue to closely monitor. We have noticed that with each fundamental shift in the market, stakeholders in turn are requiring a deeper understanding of delivery locations. This level of knowledge has become essential not only to maintain financial objectives, but more so to ensure competitive advantages and longevity in an increasingly competitive market environment. The region-wise analysis reveals something near to obvi4 GlobalServices LOCATION FIRST By Shyamanuja Das A h! The debate is still alive. It is more than a decade since Jack Welch made the world believe in his 70-70-70 formula — 70 percent of the GE’s processes can be outsourced; 70 percent of what can be outsourced can be offshored; and 70 percent of what can be offshored can be executed in India. Many technology and pure services firms have actually bettered on that formula. There are start-up firms in the valley that are born global — just a few heads in the U.S. and rest in India. Yet, the debate remains. I will but add one more page to that. But as the Nobel Prize winning economist Amartya Sen, well, argues, sometimes the arguments are as important as the final conclusion. At least majority of Indians believe so and I am no exception either. First let us examine the question a little carefully: Should you choose a location first or a partner first? The question, then, inherently excludes the captive option. It is for a company that has decided to outsource to a third-party service provider (a partner). The reason I am specifically pointing this out in the beginning is that the importance of location selection is minimized significantly, if not eliminated completely in this case. Now, let us build typical scenarios. Let’s say, to start with, a very large company with global business presence is looking at a mega outsourcing deal. In this case, it is safe to assume that it will need the work to be executed in different languages, for different time zones with some business continuity or at least disas- ous. That is, Asian cities are the ones that rock the top 50 cities chart. However, the interesting thing is that not only the tier-1 cities in the Asia-Pacific region are ruling the outsourcing industry but also there are many tier-2 and tier-3 Asia-Pacific cities that are fast emerging as outsourcing destinations. Of the top nine emerging cities, six — Cebu City (The Philippines), Shanghai (China), Beijing (China), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Kolkata (India) and Shenzhen (China) — are from the Asian continent. Thirty-eight percent of the top cities list have been occupied by such locations followed by 26 percent by Central & Eastern European cities. www.globalservicesmedia.com October 2008 The Global Services-Tholons Study OR PARTNER FIRST? ter-recovery capability built in. All these point to a multilocation strategy. Any large service provider that can execute this contract should either have presence in multiple locations or capability to quickly add some locations, or ideally both. Fortunately for the customers of outsourcing, most large global service providers, irrespective of their country of origin, are today building that capability. Whether it is IBM, Accenture or EDS or TCS, Infosys and Wipro, all of them today have a strong global delivery strategy. Let us say a small or medium company wants to outsource what could be of significant size for that company but general IT or business process, like finance and accounting work or entire customer-service work, even though by sheer dollar terms it may not be classified as a mega deal. In that case, it may not always be possible for the company to influence the service provider to go to a location of its choice. But in practical terms, it may not be a major roadblock, as most service providers today are fairly mature in generic business-process delivery, and they will always find a good fit for the work. So, this one too goes to partner first. But what about a large (or even) small company looking to outsource very specialized work? Say, design of some automotive components or design of algorithms? In that case, while a partner-first approach can be convenient, one would argue that a better approach is to select a location first. And considering that most specialized work does not happen in hundreds of locations, the company will have to choose between two to three locations; that is not that tough. In many such cases, it is important to choose not just the country but specific location. Take engineering design services. Within India, there are a few places like Pune (otherwise a tier-2 location), Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai that come on top, rather than Mumbai or Delhi. The rational behind choosing/shortlisting locations first, in these cases, is not just because of the capability of the workforce, but there is the danger of missing out good, small, specialized players, if one does not have a first-hand evaluation of GS these locations. Shyamanuja is Editor, Dataquest, CyberMedia. Losers & Gainers The Bangalores … With each passing year, our location assessment continues to be a target that’s moving and morphing like an amoeba, with a new set of market variables that need to be considered. Our location-assessment framework, thus, follows a deeper approach to identify the emerging global outsourcing locations. Thus, we see new entrants — even some among the ones who topped the emerging cities list — spanning over the list as well some going away from the listing. The cities that were recognized in our last year’s list and that could not make to the list this time can be seen in the table below which also shows the list of new entrants (See Table 1). The year’s list of top global Bangalores is bigger than the last year’s. Our Top 5 Global Outsourcing Cities list has now become Top 8 Global Outsourcing Cities with some new members — Chennai (India), Hyderabad (India), Makati City (The Philippines) and Pune (India). As expected, Indian cities dominate the top list once again. Makati City, as part of the Philippines NCR (National Capital Region) holds its ground, while Indian cities with the entrance of Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune continue to dominate the top chart. (See Table 2.) October 2008 www.globalservicesmedia.com Continued on page 26 GlobalServices 5 Chart 1 REGION-WISE BREAKUP (%) 8 n=50 24 4 6 38 20 Middle East Africa Western Europe North America South America Central & Eastern Europe Asia Pacific 26 TOP GLOBAL OUTSOURCING Table 2 CITIES The region-wise analysis reveals something near to obvious — Asian cities are the ones that rock the top 50 cities chart. However, an interesting point is that not only the tier-1 cities in the Asia-Pacific region are ruling the outsourcing industry but also many tier-2 and tier-3 Asia-Pacific cities are fast emerging as outsourcing destinations. Of the top nine emerging cities, six — Cebu City (The Philippines), Shanghai (China), Beijing (China), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Kolkata (India) and Shenzhen (China) — are from the Asian continent. Thirty-eight percent of the top cities list has been occupied by such locations followed by 26 percent by Central & Eastern European cities. Makati City Table 1 DROPOUTS Rank (2008) 31 36 37 38 45 50 City Perth Baguio City Leeds (Yorkshire & Humber) Birmingham, Alabama Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Juarez Bangalore l Chennai l Delhi NCR l Dublin l Hyderabad l Makati City l Mumbai l Pune l Country Australia The Philippines U.K. U.S. U.S. India India India Ireland India The Philippines India India Mexico NEW ENTRANTS* Rank (2008) 21 22 26 30 31 36 37 44 45 City Quezon City Toronto Rio de Janeiro Mexico City Jaipur Singapore Chengdu Guadalajara Mandaluyong City Country The Philippines Canada Brazil Mexico India Singapore China Mexico The Philippines Singapore Dublin Docklands With a rapidly maturing, expanding global outsourcing industry, our last year’s “Top 5 Global Outsourcing Cities” chart has now become “Top 8 Global Outsourcing Cities.” Makati City, as part of the Philippines NCR (National Capital Region) holds its ground, while Indian cities with the entrance of Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune continue to dominate the top chart. *THE NEW ENTRANTS HAVE BEEN PROFILED IN THE NEXT PAGES STARTING FROM PAGE NO. 30 TO PAGE NO. 34. 6 GlobalServices www.globalservicesmedia.com October 2008 Top 50 Emerging Global Outsourcing Cities Table 3 Rank Rank Cities Country (2008) (2007) Time Zone (GMT) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 4 8 10 6 16 5 11 15 14 13 12 9 17 20 23 18 21 19 7 25 NEW NEW 22 24 28 NEW 29 26 27 NEW NEW 33 32 34 40 NEW NEW 43 42 41 46 30 44 NEW NEW 47 39 35 48 49 October 2008 Cebu City Shanghai Beijing Ho Chi Minh City Kraków Kolkata Cairo São Paulo Buenos Aires Shenzhen Hanoi Chandigarh Curitiba Prague Pasig City Dalian (Dairen) Coimbatore Santiago Colombo Johannesburg Quezon City Toronto Guangzhou (Canton) Belfast Budapest Rio de Janeiro San José Warsaw Brno Mexico City Jaipur St. Petersburg Kuala Lumpur Accra Bratislava Singapore City Chengdu Bucharest Moscow Sofia Monterrey Glasgow City Brasília Guadalajara Mandaluyong City Tallinn San Antonio Halifax Kiev Ljubljana Philippines China China Vietnam Poland India Egypt Brazil Argentina China Vietnam India Brazil Czech Republic Philippines China India Chile Sri Lanka South Africa Philippines Canada China Ireland Hungary Brazil Costa Rica Poland Czech Republic Mexico India Russia Malaysia Ghana Slovakia Singapore China Romania Russia Bulgaria Mexico U.K. Brazil Mexico Philippines Estonia U.S. Canada Ukraine Slovenia +8 +8 +8 +7 +1 +5:30 +2 -3 -3 +8 +7 +5:30 -3 +1 +8 +8 +5:30 -4 +5:30 +2 +8 -4 +8 Offset +1 -3 -6 +1 +1 -6 +5:30 +3 +8 Offset +1 +8 +8 +2 +3 +2 -6 Offset -3 -6 +8 +2 -6 -4 +2 +1 Population (in mn) est. in 2007 0.8 21.6 15.9 5.4 0.8 13.6 7.7 10.9 3.0 26.3 2.2 2.3 1.8 1.9 0.6 3.9 4.7 5.4 2.5 3.9 2.3 2.5 14.2 0.6 2.5 6.1 0.4 1.7 0.7 8.5 6.5 4.8 1.9 2.0 0.5 4.6 7.8 1.9 11.0 1.3 1.1 0.6 2.5 1.6 0.3 0.4 1.3 0.4 2.7 0.3 www.globalservicesmedia.com Currency Exchange Rate (as of Sept. 10th, '08) USD 1 = Philippine peso (PHP) Chinese yuan (CNY) Chinese yuan (CNY) Vietnamese dong (VND) Polish zlotych (PLN) Indian rupee (INR) Egyptian pound (EGP) Brazilian reai (BRL) Argentine peso (ARS) Chinese yuan (CNY) Vietnamese dong (VND) Indian rupee (INR) Brazilian reai (BRL) Czech koruna (CZK) Philippine peso (PHP) Chinese yuan (CNY) Indian rupee (INR) Chilean peso (CLP) Sri Lankan rupee (LKR) South African rand (ZAR) Philippine peso (PHP) Canadian dollar (CAD) Chinese yuan (CNY) Euro (EUR) Hungarian forint (HUF) Brazilian reai (BRL) Costa Rican colon (CRC) Polish zlotych (PLN) Czech koruna (CZK) Mexican peso (MXN) Indian rupee (INR) Russian ruble (RUR) Malaysian ringgit (MYR) Ghanaian Cedi (GHS) Slovak koruna (SKK) Singapore Dollar (SGD) Chinese yuan (CNY) Romanian leu (RON) Russian ruble (RUR) Bulgarian lev (BGN) Mexican peso (MXN) British pound (GBP) Brazilian reai (BRL) Mexican peso (MXN) Philippine peso (PHP) Estonian kroon (EEK) U.S. dollar (USD) Canadian dollar (CAD) Ukrainian hryvna (UAH) Slovenian tolars (SIT) PHP 46.59 CNY 6.84 CNY 6.84 VND 16,527.50 PLN 2.46 INR 44.80 EGP 5.41 BRL 1.77 ARS 3.06 CNY 6.84 VND 16,527.50 INR 45.12 BRL 1.77 CZK 17.59 PHP 46.59 CNY 6.84 INR 45.12 CLP 529 LKR 107.88 ZAR 8.06 PHP 46.59 CAD 1.07 CNY 6.84 EUR 0.71 HUF 170.66 BRL 1.77 CRC 548.79 PLN 2.46 CZK 17.59 MXN 10.55 INR 45.12 RUB 25.61 MYR 3.46 GHS 1.16 SKK 21.39 SGD 1.44 CNY 6.84 RON 3.59 RUB 25.61 BGN 1.39 MXN 10.55 GBP 0.56 BRL 1.73 MXN 10.55 PHP 46.59 EEk 11.08 USD 1 CAD 1.07 UAH 4.38 SIT 169.70 GlobalServices 7 Top 50 Emerging Global Outsourcing Cities Rank Key Service Providers Major Universities (2008) 1 Accenture, ACS, Convergys, eTelecare, People Support 2 Accenture, Cognizant, EDS, Infosys, Neusoft, TCS, Wipro, Unisys Univ. of the Philippines, Univ. of San Carlos East China Univ. of Science & Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ. 3 Accenture, Capgemini, EDS, IBM, Infosys, TCS, Wipro, Unisys Beijing Univ. of Tech., Peking Univ., Renmin Univ. of China 4 FPT Software, IBM, Luxoft, Vietnam Software Outsourcing Co. Ho Chi Minh City National Univ., Univ. of Technical Education 5 Capgemini, HCL, Hewitt, IBM, LogicaCMG, Philip Morris AGH Univ. of Science & Technology, Cracow Univ. of Technology 6 Capgemini, Cognizant, Genpact, HCL, IBM Daksh, TCS, Wipro Univ. of Calcutta, Bengal Engineering & Science Univ. 7 C3, Convergys, EDS, Raya Contact Center, Tamima, Xceed, Unisys Al-Azhar Univ., Ain Shams Univ., Cairo Univ., Call Center Academy 8 Accenture, Convergys, Cisco, Dell, EDS, Fidelity, Satyam, TCS Univ. of Sao Paulo, Federal Univ. of Sao Paulo 9 Accenture, Convergys, Cognizant, EDS, HP, Globant, TCS, TeleTech Universidad Catolica Argentina, Universidad de Buenos Aires 10 ACS, AT&T, HP, IBM, Siemens, Satyam Shenzhen Univ., Shenzhen Institute of Technology 11 Vietnam Offshore Services, Spi, Vietnam Software Outsourcing Co. Hanoi Univ. of Technology, Hanoio National Univ. 12 IBM Daksh, Infosys, Net Solutions, Netsoft Global Services, Quark Punjab Univ. 13 Accenture, Atos Origin, Wipro, Unisys The Federal Univ., Catholic Univ., The Federal Technical Univ. 14 Accenture, HP, Infosys, LogicaCMG, Unisys Charles Univ., Czech Technical Univ. 15 Sitel, Unisys Univ. of the City of Pasig 16 Accenture, Convergys, IBM Global Services Dalian Univ. of Technology, Dalian Maritime Univ. 17 Cognizant, TCS, Wipro Anna Univ., Bharathiar Univ. 18 Accenture, EDS, TCS, Unisys Pontificia Universidad CatÓlica de Chile, Univ. of Chile 19 Astron BPO, IBM, Lingua, LogicaCMG, Virtusa, WNS Univ. of Ceylon, Univ. of Colombo, Univ. of Peradeniya 20 Accenture, Satyam, TCS, Unisys Univ. of Johannesburg, Univ. of the Witwatersrand 21 IBM Daksh, C3, Sitel, One Touch Center, eTelecare, Sykes St. Paul Univ. Quezon City, Univ. of the Philippines 22 Accenture, Cognizant, EDS, Infosys, LogicaCMG, TCS, Unisys Univ. of Toronto, York Univ., Ryerson Univ. 23 Accenture, Atos Origin, Capgemini, EDS, Siemens, Unisys Sun Yat-sen Univ., South China Univ. of Technology, Guangzhou Univ. 24 Firstsource, HCL BPO Services, TeleTech Queen's Univ. Belfast, Univ. of Ulster 25 Accenture, Convergys, EDS, EPAM, Genpact, LogicaCMG, TCS Budapest Univ. of Tech. & Economics, Corvinus Univ. of Budapest 26 DBA, EDS, Politec, Satyam, Teleperformance, Unisys Federal Univ. of Rio de Janeiro, Federal Univ. of State of Rio de Janeiro 27 Accenture, CCC, IBM, Unisys, SlashSupport Univ. of Costa Rica 28 Accenture, EDS, TCS, Unisys Univ. of Warsaw, Warsaw Univ. of Technology 29 Accenture, CSC, IBM Global Services, Ness Technologies Masaryk Univ., Brno Univ. of Technology 30 Accenture, ACS, EDS, Hildebrando, Softtek, Stefanini, TCS, Unisys National Autonomous Univ. of Mexico, Metropolitan Autonomous Univ. 31 Infosys, Genpact, ST Microsystems, Spanco Rajasthan Univ., Rai Univ. 32 EPAM, Exigen Services Herzen State Pedagogical Univ. of Russia, Saint Petersburg State Univ. 33 Accenture, Convergys, HCL, LogicaCMG, TCS, Wipro Univ. of Malaya, Univ. of Kuala Lumpur, Tech. Univ. of Malaysia 34 ACS Methodist Univ. College Ghana, Wisconsin Intl. Univ. College 35 Ness Technologies, Unisys Comenius Univ., Univ. of Economics, Slovak Technical Univ. 36 Accenture, CSC, Cognizant, EDS, HCL, IBM, TCS, Unisys, Wipro National Univ. of Singapore, Nanyang Technological Univ., SIM Univ. 37 Augmentum, Dextrys, EDS, Genpact, Neusoft, Wipro Southwest Jiaotong Univ., Chengdu Univ. of Technology 38 Genpact, Ness Technologies, Perot Systems, Unisys, WNS Univ. of Bucharest, Univ. Politehnica of Bucharest 39 Accenture, Convergys, EDS, EPAM, IBM, LogicaCMG Moscow State Technical Univ., Bauman Moscow State Technical Univ. 40 HP, Sofica, SBND Tech., Sutherland Global Services, Unisys Saint Clement of Ohrid Univ. of Sofia, Technical Univ. of Sofia 41 Accenture, ACS, Sutherland Global Services Univ. of Monterrey 42 Unisys, LogicaCMG Univ. Of Glasgow, Univ. Of Strathclyde, Glasgow Caledonian Univ. 43 Accenture, Convergys, Politec, TCS, Unisys Univ. of Brasilia 44 TeleTech, Hispanic Teleservices, Perot Systems, TCS Universidad de Guadalajara, Universidad Panamericana 45 CPI Outsourcing, eTelecare, IBM Daksh, ICT Group Don Bosco Technical College, The Jose Rizal Univ., The Rizal Tech. Univ. 46 IBM, Hansapank, LogicaCMG, SAS (SSC*), SEM IT Partner, Solvus 47 Tallinn Univ., Tallinn Univ. of Technology, Tallinn College of Engineering Univ. of Texas, St. Mary's Univ., Trinity Univ. 48 ADP, EDS, Keane, TeleTech, CSC, Unisys, Fujitsu 49 EPAM, Luxoft, GlobalLogic, LogicaCMG Kyiv National Technical Univ., Kiev National Taras Shevchenko Univ. 50 Unisys Univ. of Ljubljana 10 GlobalServices Dalhousie Univ., Saint Mary's Univ., Univ. of King's College www.globalservicesmedia.com October 2008 CHINA, CHINA, EVERYWHERE Language Skills English English, Japanese English, Japanese, Korean Chinese, English, French English, Polish, Japanese English Arabic, English, French, German, Spanish English, Portuguese, Spanish English, French, Portuguese, Spanish Chinese, English Chinese, English, French English English, Portuguese, Spanish English, German English Chinese, English English English, Spanish English English English English, French Chinese, English English, Irish English, German English, Portuguese, Spanish English, Spanish English, Polish English English, Spanish English English English English English English Chinese, Japanese, English English, Romanian English, Russian English, French English, Spanish English English, Portuguese, Spanish English, Spanish Filipino, English, Chinese English, French, German, Finnish English English and French English, Russian, Ukrainian Whether it is the 2008 Olympic Games, or the list of emerging global outsourcing locations, China dominates both. In the former, Chinese athletes bagged the maximum gold medals, and in the latter Chinese cities claimed six places. These cities are: l Shanghai (at the 2nd position) l Beijing (at the 3rd) l Shenzhen (at the 10th) l Dalian (at the 16th) l Guangzhou (at the 23rd) l Chengdu (at the 37th). Of them, Shanghai is already known as one of the mature destinations for providing services offerings such as F&A, product development, R&D and testing, and Guangzhou is known for engineering-services offering. Outsourcing services such as application development and maintenance and business analytics are now also being offered from Shenzhen and Shanghai, respectively. Consequently, the country has become home to numerous IT and BPO services providers. While global providers such as Accenture, ACS, Atos Origin, AT&T, Capgemini, Cognizant, Convergys, EDS, Genpact, HP, Infosys, IBM, Satyam, TCS, Wirpo and Unisys have their presence across China, local providers such as Augmentum, Bleum, Dextrys and Neusoft are also known at a global scale. Even though a lot is happen- ing in the Chinese outsourcing space, there are some other areas — encouraging the usage of English language in schools — which the Chinese government is focussing on. With supportive government and favorable outsourcing conditions, China’s outsourcing industry is set to flourish further. That means we might see some new Chinese names in this list or some of the top emerging cities moving to the top outsourcing cities’ list in our next study on outsourcing GS cities. English, Slovene October 2008 www.globalservicesmedia.com GlobalServices 11 Outsourcing Cities by Functions Table 4 Functions Established ADM Business Analytics Engineering Services Bangalore, Chennai, Dublin, Hyderabad, Mumbai Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi (NCR), Kraków, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Guangzhou, Pune, St. Petersburg Finance and Accounting Human Resources Legal Services Product Development Research and Development Testing Emerging Ho Chi Minh, Pune, Shenzhen Bucharest, Cairo, Shanghai Coimbatore, Delhi (NCR), Moscow, Prague Bangalore, Kraków, Makati City, Mumbai, Shanghai Cebu City, Colombo, Pune Bangalore, Bucharest, Budapest, Makati City, Prague Cebu, Kraków, Tallinn Chennai, Makati City, Mumbai Cebu City, Johannesburg, Pune Bangalore, Chennai, Ho Chi Minh, Moscow, Shanghai Bucharest, Pune, São Paulo Bangalore, Dublin, Moscow, Shanghai, St. Petersburg Beijing, Bucharest, Chennai, Prague Bangalore, Chennai, Ho Chi Minh, Hyderabad, Shanghai, Bucharest, Cairo, São Paulo Toronto White: Same as last year; Red: Jumped from 2007 emerging list to 2008 list of established cities; Black: New entrants NEW CATEGORIES Functions Contact Center (Multilingual) Contact Center (English) Established Emerging Bucharest, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Dalian, Kraków, Mexico City Bangalore, Delhi (NCR), Dublin, Makati City, Mumbai, Toronto Casablanca, San José, São Paulo Can You Name this One? In the 2008 Top 50 Emerging Global Outsourcing Cities list, there is a city that springs the biggest surprise. Here’s a set of clues to find that out: l In this city, the outsourcing industry continues to flourish tremendously. The outsourcing facilities of global companies such as Capgemini, HCL and Philip Morris are already operational here. l In this city, the obvious choices for customers are to outsource their F&A, business analytics and multilingual contact-center. The city has had skills in these areas in the past too. The city is also an emerging location for nearshoring HR services. l In this city, the labor costs are quite competitive. An entry-level techie can mint $680 to $600 per month, while a BPO exec with similar experience can expect his salary to Cathedral, Mexico City 12 GlobalServices Cebu City, Kolkata, Pune be between $380 and $100 per month. l In this city, many U.S. and Western European companies enter much before than other Eastern European cities to source their F&A and business-analytical services from. l In this city, many educational institutions are producing thousands of students every year. l In this city, the outsourcing industry is expected to grow further. This city is Kraków, the capital of Poland. The comparative analysis reveals that this year Kraków has bagged the fifth place with an improvement of 11 positions from last year’s 15th rank. City by Functions As the global outsourcing market becomes increasingly competitive, we expect the cities to be more focused in identifying appropriate service lines and in developing their service-delivery capabilities. This means, as the industry matures, cities will be compelled to recognize the services they can deliver best. The concept of an individual location being a “one-stop-shop” has given way to “smart/ multi/selective sourcing” models, wherein selected processes are outsourced only to the most appropriate destination. Therefore, we deviate from the notion of an “ideal location for all outsourcing services.” This study is more inclined toward the fact that there are locations which are more suitable for specific outsourcing processes — services logically gravitate to destinations where conditions are most optimal for their delivery. www.globalservicesmedia.com October 2008 The lower cost equation does not always work. It’s always a trade-off between cost benefit and complexity. In many instances, where the cost benefit is an advantage for distant offshore locations, the complexity of services that can be processed is consequently lower. For instance, offshore cities such as St. Petersburg, Shanghai, Bangalore, Makati City, Ho Chi Minh City and Delhi (NCR), to name a few, provide high-end, complex functions but not at a lower cost. Similarly, customers can easily get the less complex work done from onshore locations such as San Antonio and Glasgow at a lower price. Crystal Ball Gazing As the outsourcing industry matures and the quest for cost-effective and resourceful services-delivery locations continues, we would see some new tier-2 cities making headlines. A few of them are: l Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia: This tier-2 city in Russia is already witnessing huge R&D activities. Intel’s R&D facility is already operational in the city. l Cork, Republic of Ireland: The city is not only supporting the small outsourcing operations but also encouraging them to expand further. l Tianjin, China: Another tier-2 Chinese city is getting ready to serve the global outsourcing services’ buyers on a larger scale. Vast labor pool and low-cost of operations in the city are sufficient enough to allure the outsourcers. l Bacolod City, The Philippines: We tag this Filipino city as the promising next wave outsourcing city in the country. l Amman, Jordan: The government is actively supporting the capital region of Jordan, Amman, to count it among the most attractive outsourcing locations in the Middle East and African continent. About the Study For the third consecutive year, Global Services and Tholons have identified the top 50 emerging global outsourcing cities. These locations are not Bangalores or Continued on page 34 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COST BENEFIT & COMPLEXITY OF THE PROCESS High Chart 2 H H Complexity Toronto HH H H Shanghai Low H H H H H H Delhi São Paulo San Antonio Buenos Aires October 2008 Bangalore (NCR) Glasgow Low H Kraków Bucharest Dublin On-site H St. Petersburg Onshore Dalian Cairo Nearshore Cost benefit www.globalservicesmedia.com H H Makati Ho Chi Minh Offshore High GlobalServices 13 A Report An IT Services Outsourcing Country Guide States and Cities that Offer Unique IT Business Opportunities By Daniel Tkach Mexico City "0C4.:4?D;:;@7,?4:9 84774:980?=:,=0,49 cluded,) is the capital city of Mexico and the economic heart of the country. Greater Mexico City (the metropolitan area) has a population of 19.2 million. Mexico City has a per capita income of more than 23,000 USD (purchasing power parity adjusted ,9/ =,96> ,> ?30 0423?3=4.30>? @=-,9 ,227:80=,?4:9 49 ?30B:=7/=:8?: ?30.4?D3,>=0.04A0/ -4774:9 )'491:=0429/4=0.?49A0>?809?H8,497D49>0.?:=>>@.3,>G nancial services, retail, pharmaceutical, and tourism. Higher Education and Professional Workforce: The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) is the largest (with 269,000 students) university in the Americas. Other major high 0=0/@.,?4:949>?4?@?4:9>,=0?30#,?4:9,7%:7D?0.394.9>?4?@?0 ?30"0?=:;:74?,9@?:9:8:@>)94A0=>4?D)"?30("?30 ('" ?30 )94A0=>4/,/ %,9,80=4.,9, )% ,9/ ?30 )94A0=>4 dad La Salle. 13,000 IT professionals graduate every year. Why Invest in Mexico City: Mexico City is a very attractive place for foreign investment due to its high infrastructure and 3@8,9 .,;4?,7 >?,9/,=/> ,> B077 ,> ?30 =:-@>?90>> :1 4?> 49 ternal market. The city welcomes investments and productive ;=:50.?> 49 ?30 ( G07/ ,9/ ;=:A4/0> 49.09?4A0> ,9/ 2=,9?> 1:= relevant projects. State of Mexico The State of Mexico (population: 14,000,000) surrounds Mexico City, with which it has practically merged. The main cities in the state are Toluca (the capital), Naucalpan and Tlalnepantla. (30(.:8;,940>:1?30'?,?0:1"0C4.::110=,7,=20A,=40?D :1>0=A4.0>49.7@/492(.:9>@7?492/,?,.09?0=>491=,>?=@.?@=0 8,9,20809? ,9/ ,;;74.,?4:9 /0A07:;809? ,9/ ?0>?492 9 /@>?=D >:7@?4:9> 1:.@> :9 ?30 ,@?:8:?4A0 -4:?0.39:7:2D ,9/ ;3,=8,.0@?4.,7 >0.?:=> %$ >0=A4.0> 49.7@/0 .:9?,.? .09?0=> data mining, help desk, market analysis, F&A services and loan application processing. Higher Education and Professional Workforce: The State of Mexico is the home of three of the most prestigious universities in Mexico—the National Autonomous University, the State of Mexico University and a campus of the Monterrey Technology 9>?4?@?05,200 IT professionals graduate every year. Why Invest in the State of Mexico: The State of Mexico has a 7,=209@8-0=:1,7=0,/D0>?,-74>30/8@7?49,?4:9,7.:8;,940> (30>?,?0;:;@7,?4:9095:D>,3423<@,74?D:17410(30=04>>4294G .,9?,A,47,-474?D:1<@,74G0/3@8,9=0>:@=.0>,9/?30>?,?03,> an excellent infrastructure. The government of the state actively >@;;:=?>1:=042949A0>?809?>49(,9/:110=>,=4.3>0?:149.09 tives and tax exemptions for investors. Sponsored Report State of Jalisco The State of Jalisco (population: 6,800,000) strongly supports the 2=:B?3:1("0C4.,9.:8;,940>?3,>/0A07:;0/,=:-@>?491=, >?=@.?@=01:=27:-,7.:8;,940>?:.:9/@.?-@>490>>49,9/1=:8 Jalisco and created advanced technology centers. Jalisco’s main cities are Guadalajara, Chapala and Puerto Vallarta. Guadalajara is known as the Mexican Silicon Valley. Over 70 49?0=9,?4:9,7 .:8;,940> >@.3 ,> 090=,7 70.?=4. " 9?07 4?,.34 0B70?? %,.6,=/ '40809> 70C?=:94.> ,9/ ':70.?=:9 3,A00>?,-74>30/1,.474?40>49@,/,7,5,=,(.:8;,940>49@, /,7,5,=,:110=,/A,9.0/(>0=A4.0>49.7@/492,;;74.,?4:9/0>429 /0A07:;809?,9/?0>?49208-0//0/>:1?B,=01:=?30,@?:8:?4A0 and aerospace industries, wireless applications, printers, medical devices, and multimedia. Higher Education and Professional Workforce: Guadalajara is a very important center of universities and educational centers with national and worldwide prestige that include the Universi /,/%,9,80=4.,9,('$)94A0=>4/,//0@,/,7,5,=,":9?0= =0D 9>?4?@?0 :1 (0.39:7:2D ,9/ ?30 )94A0=>4/,/ @?L9:8, /0 @,/,7,5,=,) (;=:10>>4:9,7>2=,/@,?00A0=DD0,= Why Invest in Jalisco:",9D70,/492(,9/%$.:8;,940> .:9/@.?:;0=,?4:9>49?30>?,?0-0.,@>0:14?>,/A,9?,20>>@.3,> ,.:9A09409?20:2=,;34.7:.,?4:9<@,74G0/(3@8,9=0>:@=.0> excellent infrastructure and state investment incentives. State of Nuevo Leon The State of Nuevo Leon (population: 4,500,000) shares a 9 miles -:=/0= B4?3 ?30 )' >?,?0 :1 (0C,> ? 10,?@=0> , >0.@=0 3423 -,9/B4/?3 .:88@94.,?4:9> 90?B:=6 ,9/ =0>0,=.3 ,9/ ?0.3 nology parks. The main cities in the state are Monterrey, (the capital), Guadalupe, and Apodaca. Monterrey is B077 69:B9 49 ?30 27:-,7 ( 8,=60?;7,.0 ,9/ 8,9D7,=20"0C4.,9,9/9/4,9(>0=A4.0;=:A4/0=>3,A00>?,- lished their delivery centers in the city. Higher Education and Professional Workforce: Monterrey is home to two of the nation’s most prestigious universities, the #,?4:9,7@?:9:8:@>)94A0=>4?D:1#@0A:!0:9,9/?309>?4 ?@?:(0.9:7:24.:/0>?@/4:>'@;0=4:=0>/0":9?0==0D":9?0= =0D9>?4?@?0:1(0.39:7:2D,9/4230=/@.,?4:9$?30==0;@? 0/@94A0=>4?40>49.7@/0?30)94A0=>4?D:1":9?0==0D)",9/ ?30)94A0=>4/,/&024:8:9?,9,(30>?,?03,>34230=0/@., tion institutions from which 3,000 IT professionals graduate every year. Why Invest in Nuevo Leon: #@0A:!0:9-:=/0=>?30)',9/ 49A0>?:=> ,=0 ,??=,.?0/ -D ,9 80=4.,9>?D70 -@>490>> .@7?@=0 ?30 ,A,47,-474?D :1 34237D 0/@.,?0/ ;=:10>>4:9,7> ,9 0C.07709? infrastructure and a high quality of life. The state government offers incentives and tax exemptions to investors. A Report -$%"$/"'&%"'$!&"*""$'+$%"$%&(!&%"#$"* &+'&'$.!&+& ,"!! !&$&(+")$"%&%%&!% #(%&&! !&%"%"&)$!$)$#$" curement, and the legal and IP protection provided by the NAFTA treaty. The decision of where to conduct business in Mexico, however, depends on your fi rm’s strategy. Some companies prefer the states with the largest population of IT professionals, such as Mexico City, Jalisco, and Nuevo Leon. Others prefer locations with a %&$")! !'%&$+""'!($%&%!$!+"!($"! !&%'%"$!&&" Mexico, Puebla, Sinaloa, Sonora and Veracruz. State of Puebla State of Sonora (30'?,?0:1%@0-7,;:;@7,?4:9 4>7:.,?0/49?30.09 ?0=0,>?:1"0C4.:%@0-7,4>,>?=,?024.>?,?01:=?=,/0-0?B009 @=:;0,9/?3080=4.,>(308,49.4?40>49?30>?,?0,=0 Puebla (the capital), Tehuacan and Cholula. (308:>?/D9,84.>0.?:=>49%@0-7,,=0?30,@?:8:?4A0?0C ?470,9/,;;,=0780?,7B:=64921@=94?@=0,9/.3084.,749/@> tries. The state is home to a competitive workforce specialized in industry and services. Higher Education and Professional Workforce:%@0-7,4>, 9,?4:9,7,9/49?0=9,?4:9,7.09?0=1:=34230=0/@.,?4:9?3,?10, ?@=0>8,9D@94A0=>4?40>,9/?0.394.,7>.3::7>>@.3,>?30)94 A0=>4/,/ /0 7,> 8K=4.,> )94A0=>4/,/ -0=:,80=4.,9, 09 08K=4?,)94A0=>4/,/@?L9:8,/0%@0-7,)94A0=>4/,/%:;@7,= @?L9:8,/07>?,/:/0%@0-7,,9/?30":9?0==0D9>?4?@?0:1 (0.39:7:2D,9/4230=/@.,?4:9-.,#"//&,+)/$.! uate in Puebla every year. Why Invest in the State of Puebla:%@0-7,4>=,?0/,>F,90C .07709? /0>?49,?4:9 1:= 1:=0429 /4=0.? 49A0>?809?I -D '?,9/,=/ %::=> ,9/ 4?.3 &,?492>(30 8,49 1:=0429 .:8;,940> B4?3 :;0=,?4:9>49%@0-7,,=0:10=8,9=,E474,9,9,/4,9'B4>> =09.3,9/80=4.,9:=4249(30:A0=9809?:1%@0-7,:110=> ,??=,.?4A049.09?4A0>1:=(49A0>?809?> State of Sinaloa The State of Sonora (population: 3,100,000) shares an extensive -:=/0=B4?3?30)'>?,?0:1=4E:9,,9/,>3:=?0=:90B4?3#0B Mexico. The main cities in the state are ".*,/&)),0%" -& tal), Ciudad Obregón and Nogales. (30 49/@>?=D 49 ':9:=, 3,> -009 :=409?0/ ?: ,@?:8:?4A0 ,0=:>;,.0,9/070.?=:94.>,9/4>9:B2=:B4921,>?4991:=8, ?4:9(0.39:7:2D ':9:=, 3,> -@47? ,(0.39:7:2D %,=6 /0>4290/ >;0.4G.,77D1:=?30(9/@>?=D,9/?B:,//4?4:9,7(0.39:7:2D %,=6>,=049?30;7,99492>?,20 Higher Education and Professional Workforce:':9:=,10, tures 48 Universities and multiple specialization schools. The main institution of higher education is the University of Sonora )#'$# (30=0 ,=0 @94A0=>4?40> 49 ':9:=, 49.7@/492 ?B: .,8;@>0> :1 ?30 ('" ":9?0==0D 9>?4?@?0 :1 (0.39:7:2D 1000 IT professionals graduate every year. Why Invest in the State of Sonora: The state’s proximity to ?30)'?30,A,47,-474?D:1?,709?0/;=:10>>4:9,7>@>@,77D0/@ .,?0/49?30)'?303423@>0:19274>37,92@,20,9/?30>42 94G.,9?7:B0=:;0=,?4:9>.:>?>8,60':9:=,,A0=D,??=,.?4A07: .,?4:91:=(49A0>?809?>,9/,9,?@=,7:;?4:9?:>0=A0?30)' West Coast. The government of Sonora actively supports foreign 49A0>?809?>49(?3=:@234?>F>:1?7,9/492I;=:2=,8 State of Veracruz The State of Sinaloa (population: 2,700,000) is located in the 9:=?3B0>?:1?30"0C4.,9&0;@-74.(308,49.4?40>49?30>?,?0 are Culiacán (the Capital), Mazatlan and Los Mochis. The technology sector of the state of Sinaloa is growing at a D0,=7D=,?0:1 (308,491:.@>:1?30(49/@>?=D49'49,7:, 4>:9:9?,.?09?0=>,9/90,=>3:=492:1,;;74.,?4:9/0A07:; 809? >0=A4.0> (30 >?,?0 3,> :90 :1 ?30 7,=20>? ( .7@>?0=> 49 "0C4.:?3,?2,?30=>G1?DGA0.:8;,940>:1,/A,9.0/(8,?@ rity level. Higher Education and Professional Workforce:'49,7:,10, tures 48 Universities and multiple specialization schools. 3000 IT professionals graduate every year, and a large percentage of ?308,=09274>3H';,94>3-47492@,7 Why Invest in the State of Sinaloa: Sinaloa is an excellent 7:.,?4:91:=(49/@>?=D49A0>?809?>1:=27:-,7(;=:A4/0=>?3,? B,9??:0>?,-74>3,90,=>3:=0/074A0=D.09?0=49"0C4.:B4?3?30 7:B .:>? 09A4=:9809? :110=0/ -D , ?40= 7:.,?4:9(30 >?,?0 4> conveniently located very close to the U.S., and its time zone is '((30>?,?02:A0=9809?:110=>2090=:@>49.09?4A0>1:=49A0> tors in technology. The State of Veracruz (population: 7,200,000) is located in the 0,>?.09?=,7 ;,=? :1 ?30 @71 :1 "0C4.: (30 8,49 .4?40> 49 ?30 state are Xalapa (the capital), and the port cities of Veracruz and Coatzacoalcos. The state’s principal natural resource and dominant industry 4> :47 4? 4> ?30 8,49 0C?=,.?4:9 ;=:.0>>492 ,9/ ?=,9>;:=? 3@- for much of the country’s oil reserves and is a leading producer of agricultural products. The ver@cluster is a regionally highly .:8;0?4?4A0(.7@>?0= Higher Education and Professional Workforce: Veracruz has 49 universities that offer degrees in information technology. (30 8,49 @94A0=>4?40> ,=0 )94A0=>4/,/*0=,.=@E,9, )94A0=>4 /,/@?L9:8,/0*0=,.=@E,9/)94A0=>4/,/"0C4.,9,;7,9?07 Veracruz. 1100 IT professionals graduate every year. Why Invest in the State of Veracruz: The government of Ve racruz is strongly committed to the growth of the state and pro A4/0>49.09?4A0>,9/?,C-=0,6>.=0,?4920C.07709?:;;:=?@94?40> for investment. The environment is friendly and the cost of living, .:9/@.?492-@>490>>,9/-@47/492491=,>?=@.?@=04>A0=D7:B Daniel Tkach is the CEO of PartnersMarket Consulting, Inc. Strategic Marketing advisors to MexicoIT. Contact: [email protected] Learn more about the Mexican states and cities at ZZZPH[LFRLWFRPRUFDOO 21 Quezon City, The Philippines Supportive government, world-class infrastructure, vast and affordable talent pool help the city to bag 21st position in the list Q uezon City is the most populous city in the country with 2.3 million people; a third of its residents under 15 years. These demographics point toward the city’s readiness to tackle new opportunities in the next three to five years. With the help of 65 colleges and universities, the city produces an enormous number of educated workerforce every year. To leverage the vast talent pool for the growth of the BPO industry, the city’s government is taking several innovative steps including the introduction of a 320-hour competency course for call-center agents for poor on Sept. 15th, 2008. Besides free meal, transportation allowance will also be provided. As of now, the city has lured close to 57,000 business establishments, with BPOs finding the city a cost-effective location. At present the city has over 60 BPOs and about 35 call centers. A BPO agent in the city earns more than $250 per month. Also the labor costs in the city are comparable to other major global outsourcing cities. Even though the monthly rental charges in Quezon City is $2 to $4 per square feet, registering property for any business purposes can take about 39 days in order to complete the eight property registration procedures. Quezon City has good infrastructure, and is well networked with the major highways, thoroughfares and mass transit systems of Metro Manila. Even the longest highway in the metropolis and the country’s widest highway run through the City. Two elevated light rail systems also make commuting, to and from Quezon City easy. GS Above: Libis by night located at the Southeastern corner of Quezon City Below: Katipunan Avenue, a major road in Quezon City 22 Toronto, Canada One of the good options for the U.S.-based companies to nearshore their testing and contact-center functions T Above: Toronto city Below: Yonge-Dundas Square 16 GlobalServices oronto, the city with a population of 2.5 million, is known for the immense R&D activities, skilled talent pool, renowned universities, supportive government initiatives and world-class infrastructure. The information and communication technology sector is the region’s largest private-sector employer in the technology hotbed of Canada, Toronto. The city is home to a mature and diverse IT-services industry. However, labor cost in Toronto is higher than the wages in most of the other global outsourcing destinations. An IT professional in Toronto pockets no less than $2,200, which could go up to $3,000. Even a BPO executive earns between $2,000 and $2,400 per month. The per month rental charges for commercial real estate in the city are $2 to $3 per square feet. In addition, Toronto-based businesses typically can use investment tax credits to offset up to 75 percent of its federal tax for a year, with unused balances carried forward 10 years, according to Toronto’s Economic Development Body. The city has a well-educated and skilled talent pool. University of Toronto, York University and Ryerson University and several other colleges and IT training facilities churn out a large educated workforce suitable for knowledge-based industries. Toronto’s extensive road and rail connections further make it a flourishing destiGS nation in addition to the great international connections. www.globalservicesmedia.com October 2008 26 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil A tempting treat for global outsourcing service providers to set up their shop R io de Janeiro is the second largest city in Brazil with its vibrant population of some 6.1 million. Over years, the city has been a tempting treat to many providers such as DBA, Politec, Satyam and Teleperformance to set up operations here. Apart from playing host to the third-party centers, some companies including Citigroup and Oracle have set up their captive centers in the city. The city’s universities churn out approximately 265,000 students and 20,000 researchers every year. There are almost 110 universities and educational institutions in Rio de Janeiro that offer 566 programs for technical education. Therefore, the city provides an alternative source of highly skilled and low-cost technical professionals for IT projects and staff augmentation. Techies can be hired at a lower cost of $420 to $440 per month. Favorable time zone — depending on the season the city is just one or three hours later than New York — cultural proximity and large pool of English- and Spanish-speaking people make it an ideal destination for setting up call-center facilities and BPOs. An entry-level BPO worker can make $360 to $330 per month. With 15 procedures, starting a business in Rio de Janeiro takes 68 days, and the total start-up cost could go up to 10.9 percent of GDP per capita. The per month rental charges in the city are between $4 and $5 per sqft. With 14 procedures, it takes 75 days to register a property and set up a shop in the city. And it takes about three GS percent of the property value to register a property in the region. Mexico City, Mexico Above: Rio de Janeiro city Below: Leme Beach 30 The NAFTA status boosts outsourcing in most of the tier-1 and tier-2 Mexican cities such as Mexico City and Monterrey M Above: Mexico City Cathedral Below: Santa Fe business district October 2008 exico City, the capital region of Mexico, is the most vital industrial, economic and cultural center in the country. In the top 50 cities’ list, this new entrant has been positioned at the 30th place, and has left many global, well-known counterparts behind — St. Petersburg (Russia) and Bucharest (Romania) to name a few. Even though Mexico City has been known as one of the top outsourcing destinations in Mexico, this is the first time that this city managed to get a place in our top 50 cities’ list. Today many U.S. and European companies outsource their IT-services requirements to Mexico City. Apart from being a delivery location for many of the global IT-services providers — such as Accenture, EDS, Softtek and TCS to name a few — the city also supports large contact centers and BPO markets. Proficiency in English and Spanish languages helps the country to cater to the large Hispanic community in the U.S. More than 70 percent of the Mexico City BPO market is concentrated in the Mexico City axis. At $340 to $360 per month, the salary of entry-level BPO employees in Mexico City is $20 to $40 higher than the BPO agents in Guadalajara and Monterrey while there is no variation in the salaries of entry-level techies in all the three cities — they earn $360 to $380 per month. Unlike Indian outsourcing cities there is no major difGS ference between the salaries of techies and BPO agents in Mexico City. www.globalservicesmedia.com GlobalServices 17 31 Jaipur, India Being geographically closer (5 to 6 hrs drive) to Delhi NCR, Jaipur’s infrastructure is able to attract and retain global providers W ith the inauguration of the much-awaited IT Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Mahindra World City, in Aug. ’08, Jaipur has allured numerous IT and BPO companies. Many such companies including Infosys, Wipro and Connexions are already operating or intending to operate out of the SEZ. Infosys’ BPO center at the SEZ is the company’s second facility in the city with a seating capacity of 3,200 employees. Infosys’ first such center in Jaipur was built in 2006 with a seating capacity of 890 employees. Beyond the SEZ, the city has other BPOs like Spanco, and captives like Ericsson to name a few. GECIS (now GE) and Genpact were one of the earliest entrants into the city with the employee base of 1,200 and 1,000 people, respectively. An entry-level BPO agent earns from $140 to $160 per month, while an entry-level techie pockets no less than $200 per month. The city with a population of 6.5 million people (estimated in 2007) offers big cost-saving opportunities to the outsourcing industry. Jaipur’s 410 colleges and 15 universities including 25 engineering colleges and 27 business-management institutes churn out thousands of graduates per annum. Even though the standard of living in the city is not as great as many other Indian cities, the per month rental charges in Jaipur is $1 to $3 per square feet. Also Jaipur’s railway and airport are well connected with all major cities in India. GS Above: Hawa Mahal Below: Carving at Amer Fort Singapore City, Singapore 36 Not only does the city have local and skilled talent to pitch on but it also employs thousands of foreign white-collared workers W Above: Central Business District Below: C751B train at Eunos MRT Station 18 GlobalServices ith tremendously increasing countrywide economic developments, there is hardly any difference left between Singapore and its capital region Singapore City. No doubt, it is now referred as the “city-state.” In 2007, the per capita GDP of Singapore was about $37,289, with a 7.7 percent annual growth rate and an annual inflation rate of 2.1 percent. Fourteen bilateral and multilateral trade agreements including USSFTA (the U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement), EFTA (European Free Trade Association: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland), mark the city-state as one of the most business-friendly countries in Asia. Singapore, therefore, houses thousands of multinational corporations. The labor costs in Singapore are relatively higher than other Asian countries. However, they are lower than those in the U.S. A BPO agent in Singapore earns (from $1,400 to $2,000) seven times more than what an agent in India gets for the same job. Interestingly, techies earn almost double than BPO employees in Singapore. Even the real-estate costs are very high in the city. The per month rental charges are $10 to $11 per square feet. However, the city-state enjoys the benefit of having the strongest intellectual property protection in the entire region of Asia, according GS to The World Economic Forum. www.globalservicesmedia.com October 2008 37 Chengdu, China An important outsourcing hub in China and home to global providers such as EDS, Wipro and Genpact to name a few C hengdu is the economic center of Southwestern China. The city is an important global IT outsourcing destination. Several IT companies such as EDS, IBM, HP, Neusoft, Dextrys (formerly known as DarwinSoft), Augmentum, Wipro, Genpact have their presence in the city. The city with a population of 7.8 million people has a large pool of highly skilled IT professionals. A large number of universities and research institutions in Chengdu churn out over 20,000 students per year. In addition, Chengdu’s labor cost is quite competitive, which is about two thirds the wages in coastal cities, and the employee turnover rate is below 10 percent, according to Invest Chengdu’s statistics. On an average, a mechanical engineer earns about $4,488.65 per year, while a software engineer gets $9,299 per annum. Also, Chengdu is an important R&D center in China. The city houses several SEZs including Chengdu Hign-tech Industrial Development Zone and Chengdu Economic and Technological Development Zone. Chengdu Information Association and Chengdu New and High Technology Industry Area have established an “Implementation Plan for Speeding up the Development of Chengdu Software Outsourcing.” Chengdu has a world-class infrastructure, and is well connected with the other metropolis such as Beijing and Shanghai. Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport is the sixth largest airport in mainland China. The city has one of China’s densest highGS way networks with 10 expressways so far. Guadalajara, Mexico Above: Jin RIver & Anshun Bridge Below: Temple in Chengdu 44 The city’s educational system makes it suitable for engineering services outsourcing G Above: Puerta de Hierro Below: Mormon Temple October 2008 uadalajara, Mexico’s Silicon Valley and the second largest city with a population of 1.7 million people, has attracted significant levels of foreign investment. The multinational enterprises that Guadalajara hosts have helped to transform the city into an excellent place to do business. The city’s IT industry in the city boomed after the inking of the North America Free Trade Agreement. Since then the foreign direct investments has been growing. However, the industry noticed a shakeout in 2001 to 2003 when most of the MNCs started shifting their shops toward “far” East. Guadalajara is the hotspot for the engineering-services industry because of its capability to churn out engineers from universities such as Universidad de Guadalajara and Universidad Panamericana, to name a few. Many educational institutions and the government are working together to groom up world-class techies. The engineering services in the city were earlier related to just the manufacturing segment but now it has grown to other areas such as design engineering. Guadalajara houses several IT outsourcing firms such as Perot Systems and TCS. The BPO sector is already flourishing in the city with key BPO providers such as Hispanic Services and TeleTech. An entry-level BPO executive can make $320 to $340 per month. In addition, Guadalajara is also a major national and international transportation and shipping hub. The city is also served by Guadalajara International Airport. GS www.globalservicesmedia.com GlobalServices 19 45 Mandaluyong City, The Philippines Besides entering our list for the first time, Mandaluyong has recently bagged The World Bank’s business-friendly city status I n a small population of 295,733 people, the overall literacy rate in the City of Mandaluyong is pegged at 99 percent with exactly one percent belonging to the illiterate group, as per the Philippines’ National Statistics Office’s results. There are three major universities — Don Bosco Technical College, The Jose Rizal University, The Rizal Technological University — and 47 colleges in the city. Over 40,000 students graduate every year from these educational institutions. Most of the colleges offer short-term courses on computer and technical education. A techie can earn $320 to $340 per month during his initial professional journey. While Cebu city in the Philippines is the undisputable BPO hub, Mandaluyong City is gearing up to share the load. BPO players such as eTelecare are also expanding in the city. Last year, eTelecare completed a facility in Mandaluyong City — accommodating up to 3,000 employees. An entry-level BPO executive pockets around $280 to $300 per month. In 2007, new businesses in the city grew 21 percent from the year before. Interestingly, it takes only 21 days to register a property in the City of Mandaluyong. The per month rental charges in the city is between $2 and $4 per sqft. Mandaluyong City is considered to be the heart of Metropolitan Manila as it has three routes to link the two cities together. Mandaluyong City’s biggest asset GS is its easy road access – both within the city and to the adjacent cities. Continued from page 27 Makatis. These are the ones that are not only capable enough, but are also gearing up fast to compete with such global “Silicon Valleys” for providing IT and BPO services. To make the location assessment further easier for the global buyers of outsourcing services, we have also identified established and emerging cities by various functions such as application development and management, business analytics, contact center (multilingual and English), engineering services, finance and accounting, HR, legal services, product development, R&D and testing. In addition, we have also identified the top eight global outsourcing locations. Methodology To determine delivery and consumption trends for global outsourcing services in specific destinations, Tholons utilized similar surveys and interviews with tier-1 and tier-2 providers and service buyers. The data gathering methodologies were also applied to determine market and labor sizes as well as expansion strategies of tier-1 and tier-2 providers. In addition, governments, industry bodies and related stakeholders were also interviewed to provide both primary data and validation of analysis. 20 GlobalServices Mandaluyong City skyline We obtained historical stats from governments, global institutions and agencies, and economic-related data from monetary bodies. Publicly released data from government sources were also considered when using country-specific market data. Publicly available financial records such as quarterly and annual reports, industry bulletins and trade publications were used to verify market assumptions and analysis. A combination of comprehensive quantitative and qualitative analysis was considered in developing the rankings. The proprietary weighting and ranking system was developed and refined by senior Tholons consultants. Further, qualitative analysis was implemented to provide perspective to the quantitative results of the report. Tholons carefully considered numerous variables when providing final rankings, and considered the impact which nonnumerical data plays in the assessment of global outGS sourcing locations. Avinash Vashistha is the CEO of Tholons, a global advisory, investment and research firm. With additional inputs from the Tholons' team — Manuel Ravago, Skanda Jankiram, Paul Santos and Vinu Kartha — and Global Services' team — Keerthi Nair and Namita Goel www.globalservicesmedia.com October 2008 GATEWAY to the Global Sourcing of IT and BPO Services Connecting the global buyers and providers of IT and business process outsourcing services. Global Services, your own global media platform, not only helps you to choose your partner but also enables you to leverage its media solutions to make your outsourcing relationship work. Global Services’ authentic and on-time content facilitates right outsourcing partnerships. Our portfolio includes a magazine, a website, newsletters, events and custom solutions. The gateway to the global sourcing of IT and BPO services globalservicesmedia.com