IBM opens new Manila centre

IBM opened its new global services delivery centre in Manila this week. The centre consolidates and expands IBM`s operations to meet the growing market demand for business transformation outsourcing (BTO) services in the Asia Pacific region reports Sunstar.

The new offices house 370 employees. Malaysian President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and senator Mar Roxas were among the guests at the facility`s inauguration.

South Wales is emerging as a niche outsourcing destination for UK companies lured by an abundance of technical skills, government grants and lifestyle quality - but faces increasingly stiff competition from other English-speaking "nearshore" locations reports Silicon.

Admiral Insurance uses offshore locations in India and SA for some of its call centre work but has combined that with using South Wales, as opposed to London, as its primary corporate headquarters for sales, legal and IT work. Cost savings and a large pool of available skilled workers were the main reasons for Admiral Insurance`s decision to set up in Wales in 1993.

There is a lot of competition for this kind of business among several strong native English-speaking locations both within the UK and further afield, warned Eamon Kennedy, senior analyst at Ovum Holway. "Wales has quite stiff competition. There are quite a few native English-speaking locations Wales has to compete with Canada, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the Northwest and Northeast of England and even Manila" he said.

The Malaysian government says that companies intending to hire fewer than 50 foreign workers will have to use the services of outsourcing companies appointed by government reports the New Strait Times.

The use of agents was disallowed by the immigration department, but the ban had to be lifted

as it had become an "unstoppable trend", Malaysian home affairs minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid said.

Since the government decided to allow outsourcing companies to operate in August, 20 agents had been appointed to handle the recruitment of foreign workers, he said. "The companies will be responsible for the foreign workers, including their wages and welfare."

All foreign workers would be issued with smart cards, a move expected to be implemented by the end of the year. With about 1.2 million foreign workers in the country, the biometric card system is expected to cost RM30 million. The cards, which will contain bearers` personal details and fingerprints, are part of the government`s effort to improve the management of foreign workers in the country.

Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever is considering options for outsourcing its finance, human resources and IT divisions although no final decisions have been made, according to a company spokesman.

Unilever have selected IBM and Accenture as potential service providers, reports Reuters.

"If you consider the size and global reach of Unilever, then obviously hundreds of jobs would be affected by any decision to outsource," the spokesman added.

He dismissed a German media report that up to 2 500 jobs could be lost as "highly speculative". Unilever employs 234 000 people in about 100 countries worldwide.

"As we are exploring these options now, it would be unusual if we did not start to implement any decisions by 2006," he said.