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At one time or another we have all
heard it said that “money isn’t everything”.
It usually comes from our elders, someone presumably
having a great deal of wisdom, or from those who simply
find it appropriate on occasion to lob a philosophical
cliché in our direction. The point being, of
course, that without happiness, without health, without
quality of life, money just doesn’t factor into
the equation.
Well, life’s lessons can often
be applied in the boardroom as well. And nowhere does
the notion that “money isn’t everything”
ring as true as it does when considering an offshore
outsourcing strategy. While cost reduction is widely
accepted as the primary driver behind the boom in Business
Process Outsourcing and IT Outsourcing to offshore locals,
many early adopters have taught us that quality, process,
communication, infrastructure, and other factors must
also be present at extraordinary levels, in order for
the model to truly deliver 60% - 70% or more in savings.
A penny saved is not a penny earned if your in-house
team is spending excessive time and energy untangling
an error-ridden program or misinterpreted specifications.
So where does a small/mid-market company turn in an
effort to put its best foot forward, when planning it's
first offshore IT outsourcing endeavor? In a word -
India.
Is China slowly closing in as an
economic power and worthy competitor to India? Yes.
Are the average billing rates on decline in Brazil and
Ireland? The rates are coming down. Is the pool of highly
educated management and technical personnel on the rise
in the Philippines? Absolutely. Does Mexico make a good
case when touting minimal time zone differences? Can’t
deny it. Can any of them achieve the level of across-the-board
excellence that has become the very definition of India
and the true measure of value in offshore IT outsourcing?
Not anytime soon.
Consider the following:
- Swelling volume of math and science graduates entering
IT (17 mil. by 2008)
- Becoming the largest pool of fluent English-speaking
IT professionals anywhere
- Massive Gov’t reforms supporting software
development and global access
- Continuous Gov’t investment in supportive
infrastructure for the IT industry
- Largest number of IT companies accredited for excellence
in quality and process
- Rapid evolution from data processing to complex
application development.
- Unparalleled telecom, power, and transportation
among developing nations
- A ten year head start
ZSL has signed a memorandum of understanding
(MoU) with BCS Information Systems Private Limited (BCSIS)
to market, sell, implement and integrate real-time gross
settlement (RTGS) payment interface and intra-day liquidity
management system in India.
We shall increase our infrastructure
by building our own facility in the two acres that we
have acquired in the IT corridor as we see an increasing
success work being outsourcing to India" said Sudarshan
Venkatraman, Chairman and CEO, ZSL. The investment for
the expansion will be funded mostly from internal accruals.
RTGS PayWare offers banks the capability
to regulate and optimise funds for RTGS transactions
before releasing transactions to Reserve Bank of India
(RBI). It provides real-time position for all incoming
and outgoing payment instructions.
"We see a greater adoption of
RTGS in two to five years, already the RBI has initiated
RTGS implementation, use of IT has increased by both
private and public sector banks and greater awareness
about the benefits of RTGS is spreading," said
Venkatraman.
ZSL's banking clients include State
Bank of India, State Bank of Hyderabad, ING Vysya Bank,
Corporation Bank, Canara Bank, UTI Bank Ltd and Allahabad
Bank.
"ZSL's marketing reach and domain
knowledge of the banking industry makes them an ideal
partner for us and going forward there will be a transfer
of technology and maybe even dual product building.
We also foresee ZSL playing the role of a global implementation
and integrator partner for our RTGS suite of products,"
said Kannan Krishnan, regional business director, BCSIS.
The company is a subsidiary of Overseas Chinese Banking
Corporation (OCBC).
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