Beyond BPO: Xansa to adopt two tsunami-hit villages
Tuesday, January 18 2005 14:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time - 
London:
Xansa, the UK-based IT services company, which plans to increase its workforce in India by about 7,000 in the next five years, will adopt two fishing villages affected by the tsunami disaster near its Chennai facility, the firm's Chief Executive has said.
"At present we have about 3,000 employed in our outsourcing centres in Pune, Noida and Chennai and the strength will go up to 10,000 in about five years as the Business Process Outsourcing in India is doing extremely well," Alistair Cox told reporters last night on the sidelines of a conference, 'Beyond BPO,' jointly organised by India Business Forum and Commonwealth Business Council in London.
He said Xansa has decided to adopt two fishing villages on the coast near the company's Chennai facility to help with rehabilitation of the Tsunami victims in Tamil Nadu.
Its employees in the UK and India have donated about 50,000 Pounds and Xansa provided an equal amount to assist in rebuilding of the local communities throughout the Indian region, he said.
Cox said Xansa's clients including Yorkshire Water were also planning to contribute either money or assistance.
Spotlight: Tidal Waves hit South Asia
"Xansa has been involved in the Chennai region since 1997. We are pleased to be able to do something to assist in this desperate disaster and are proud that our Chennai colleagues are carrying on Xansa's long-established commitment to local community relations.
"We have already contributed 5,000 food packets to the affected people, and in Chennai have mobilised essentials such as blankets, supplies and cooking utensils to be distributed to the marooned people in fishing villages near our Chennai offices."
Speaking at the conference, Cox said his company did a lot of work for European credit card companies - handling their finances and accounts - and in the UK, it worked for BT
and Mytravel and the outsourcing experience in India has been quite satisfactory.
Jerry Rao, Chairman of NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies), said India has become "a centre of excellence" for offshore services despite several operational challenges. He said 85 per cent of the Indian IT outsourcing was from the UK and USA.
He said "BPO (Business process outsourcing) services are moving up the value chain into KPO (Knowledge process outsourcing) and RPO (Research process outsourcing). IT and
BPO services are converging to offer integrated solutions in certain areas."
BPOIndia.org
Malcolm McKinnon, Head of Trade in services and off-shoring Policy Coordinator, Department of Trade and Industry, UK, said several studies had indicated that outsourcing from UK to India had benefited the UK companies greatly.
"Off-shoring had reduced costs, improved productivity, enhanced competitiveness and helped inward investment."
He asserted that UK would not resort to protectionism like the USA or France as far as outsourcing was concerned.
"The UK will continue to offer high quality value added business services as the country gains overall from global sourcing."
PTI
Related Stories
BPOIndia.org
| 
