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29 Indian IT firms in CyberMedia's 100 best global service providers list news
30 January 2008

Twenty-nine Indian companies have been selected among the world's best 100 IT and BPO service providers by Global Services magazine from 17 countries in its fourth annual survey to be made public next month.

The '2008 Global Services 100' listing identified the best companies in 10 categories covering technology providers; customer service and business-process providers; and providers by regions. 

The toppers from each of the 10 categories included four companies each from India and the US, and one company each from China and Mexico.

The Indian companies include Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, Genpact, WNS Global Services; America's EDS, Sitel, EPAM Systems and Computer Sciences Corporation; Mexico's Softtek and China's Neusoft.

The top 100 list includes 43 US and 29 India headquartered companies with four each from China and Malaysia, and three each from Russia and Brazil indicating their emergence as viable outsourcing destinations. 

Two companies each headquartered in Argentina, Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore and the UK have made it to the list, while only one from the Czech Republic, France and Ukraine figure in it.

Functionally, these providers covered a range of services across IT and BPO, including IT Application Services, Infrastructure, Finance and Accounting Outsourcing (FAO), human resources outsourcing (HRO) and contact centres. 

"The 2008 Global Services 100 represents the world's best providers of technology, customer service and business process services," says Pradeep Gupta, chairman, CyberMedia, publishers of Global Services magazine.

  The year 2007 reported a total of 436 M&A deals in the services industry. Nearly one-third of the Global Services survey respondents said that they merged with or acquired one or more providers. Of these, 11 per cent confirmed acquisition of a consulting firm.

Choice of a quick inorganic route to growth helped companies gain a readymade talent base and access to new geographies, and customer base. As the global services industry matures and consolidates, the M&As during 2007 are just a sign of many more to come in the future, the survey adds.

The Global Services survey says that 47 per cent of the respondents saw the sliding dollar and the strengthening currencies of some key outsourcing destinations (India, the Philippines and Canada) as the most critical business concern. Many service providers are compromising on their margins and putting a hold on hiring plans. 

Indian service providers who derive between two-third to three-fourth of their revenues from the US are back to the drawing board to consider non-U.S. avenues. While many IT-services companies were looking towards Europe and Japan as potential markets, others have strengthened plans for servicing the maturing domestic Indian market. 

The survey adds that outsourcers could expect price increases and currency risk sharing defined in the contracts.

ADM, back-office operations emerge at the top

  • Over 46  per cent respondents to the Global Services survey handled outsourced Application Development and Maintenance (ADM) work, followed by 30  per cent who specialized in outsourced managed services while 10  per cent handled engineering or R&D services. On the BPO front, 65.7 per cent providers specialized in back-office operations.
  • While it is challenging to align people and capital to correlate IT and BPO operations, the demand for bundled IT and BPO services by customers of services remained steadily high over the past two years. Fifty four per cent of respondents to the 2008 Global Services 100 survey said that they saw customers seeking more bundled IT and BPO services than in the past. 
  • About 48.4 per cent of the global services providers polled offer both IT and BPO services; 21.6 per cent provide only BPO services and 30 per cent offer only IT services.
    "In its fourth year, the Global Services 100 study has become an industry benchmark and an essential reference for clients starting or re-evaluating sourcing relationships with global service providers," says Eugene Kublanov, CEO, neoIT. India Reigns Supreme as a Delivery Location
  • India has emerged as the hub for global delivery with 57 per cent of the employees engaged in delivery centres located in India, followed by 18 per cent in the US. Coincidentally, software delivery centres of IBM in India also employ 57 per cent of the US headquartered giant's full-time employees world wide. China had just 3 per cent of the full-time employees. Central and Eastern Europe followed with a similar number. Canada and Australia were at the bottom of the pile with just one per cent each of the employees. 
  • The $ 4.3 billion software provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) topped the list of best performing IT services companies list. TCS also featured among leaders in two other categories - infrastructure service provider and human capital development.
  • HCL Technologies was named the best performing infrastructure service provider, one of the earliest providers of remote infrastructure management. HCL Technologies also features in the Global Services' Top 10 list of IT service providers, FAO providers and leaders in human capital development.
  • Genpact, which boasts over 30 delivery centers in the US., Mexico, India, China, Philippines, Romania and Hungary, was ranked the best performing BPO. Genpact, once a GE-promoted company, is also among the best performing FAO providers and leaders in human capital development. 
  • WNS Global Services ranked the best performing FAO providers list. One of the early starters in the BPO space in India, WNS has Travelocity, British Airways and United Airlines among its customers and also ranks among leaders in the top performing HRO providers listing. 
  • The $16-billion outsourcing behemoth, US-based EDS, was the best performing human resources outsourcing company. EDS, which acquired a majority stake in applications and BPO services provider, MphasiS, was also listed among the Top 10 best performing infrastructure service providers. (See: EDS completes Mphasis acquisition) Sitel that has specialized in call-centre management and back office processing for over 20 years, was named the best performing contact centre. Sitel has 155 centers spread across 27 countries with a very strong presence in Latin America. 
  • The Mexico headquartered Softtek was the winner of the leader, south of the border. One of Mexico's most renowned IT Services provider, Softtek expanded to the east by acquiring IT United, a China-based IT-services provider. Softtek was also listed among the top 10 IT-services providers by Global Services 100 survey.
  • Russian services company, EPAM Systems was ranked the leader in the Emerging European Markets segment. The company's well-entrenched delivery capabilities spread from Ukraine to Budapest servicing high profile customers like Oracle and Reuters. EPAM was also listed among the Top 10 best performing IT services providers.
  • The leader of the Emerging Asian Markets title went to the Chinese offshore IT-services company, Neusoft, a 16-year old Chinese application development, maintenance services and engineering services provider that handles work for Boeing, Motorola and Sony.
  • The 49-year old Computer Sciences Corporation won the Leader, Human Capital Development recognition for its immense focus on human capital development. With delivery centers in India, China, the UK and US, Computer Sciences Corporation acquired Covansys and First Consulting Group. 
  • Infosys Technologies was listed among the Top 10 in five categories. The other companies to feature among the top firms across multiple categories include HCL Technologies (4), America's 24/7 Customer and Neoris, India's Genpact, EXL Services, Tata Consultancy Services and WNS Global Services and Philippines' SPi Technologies were listed among top 10 in three categories.

The methodology
The top 100 list and the ranks in the 10 categories are based on a scientific methodology, starting with the responses being clubbed under four broad buckets: Size (revenue, employee strength, geographies covered, etc.), customers (customer base, testimonials and references, average contract size, etc.), skills (depth and breadth of offerings, delivery capability, quality initiatives, verticals covered, etc.) and others (attrition, training, etc.).

A weighted scoring scheme was used to rate each question. For the category lists, weights were assigned to address specific strengths and capabilities. 

The scoring scheme was designed by a panel from Global Services' and neoIT's practice experts. Care was taken to ensure that all service providers (global, niche or regional) were given a level playing field. For a revenue-based question, for example, if the scoring scheme gave weightage to higher revenue, small or niche companies pared this disadvantage by scoring high on better growth rates. 

The 2008 Global Services 100 study along with the list of the top 100 service providers and the toppers in 10 categories can be seen at globalservicesmedia.com in February 2008.


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29 Indian IT firms in CyberMedia's 100 best global service providers list