Manila attracts business

A public-private advisory council will be created soon to provide general directions for an initiative to attract business process outsourcing firms to locate their operations outside Metro Manila, says Inquirer.net.

This was the decision reached during the first meeting of the "next-wave cities" working group convened by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP), the Commission on ICT, and the Department of Trade and Industry Regional Operations Group.

The next-wave cities initiative is part of 2010 roadmap of the BPAP, which identified possible locations for investment by outsourcing companies.

IT services company Satyam will build a 25-acre campus in Geelong, Victoria, that will house 2 000 employees and help entice graduate recruits to the outsourcing firm, says Australian IT.

The campus will sit inside the Geelong Technology Precinct and be used for software development, research and training. Having a major ICT training centre in Australia should help Satyam's recruitment efforts.

Satyam has about 1 400 employees in Australia and is constantly chasing more to feed its double-digit growth rate.

While Indian ITeS companies may be looking at Europe as a big market waiting to be tapped, are European firms as bullish about outsourcing work to India? Maybe not, says The Times of India.

While they may be interested in sending work to India, they are not confident to do so, says a new report by independent analyst, Forrester Research.

Its latest report "Offshoring Strategies for Continental European Firms", tracks the outlook of European firms to outsourcing work. It says, Indian offshore providers looking at expanding business in Europe must first change their risk-averse attitude and invest in building a sizable local capability to win deals there.