IBM, QBE ink outsourcing deal

IBM and QBE, a global insurer and reinsurer, have formed a strategic agreement for IBM to transform and manage the IT infrastructure of QBE's UK and Western European offices, states Your Communication News.

The partnership underpins a major change programme at QBE and covers the development and maintenance of QBE's IT support services including helpdesk, desktop, data centre, LAN, WAN and disaster recovery.

IBM's Portsmouth data centre will house the support for the business while virtualisation of the server estate will reduce QBE's carbon footprint and provide higher availability and scalability for business growth.

Personal assistants on the other side of the world are doing paperwork and administration for as little as $2 an hour for Queensland small businesses, says News.com.au.

Overseas outsourcing is being taken to a new level over the Internet, with businesses turning to online contractors to perform everything from IT to bookkeeping and accounting.

But the trend towards outsourcing, once the domain of big businesses such as banks, has alarmed unions and academics who fear it will slow wages growth and cost local jobs.

Multinational outsourcing firms IBM and HP have been shortlisted for an around $700-million contract for managing Microsoft's global network of desktops, servers and other IT infrastructure, as the world's biggest software maker seeks to lower its operational costs and focus better on its core business, according to Economic Times.

India's top outsourcing vendors had also bid for this contract, but they lost out to the multinational rivals who have better global footprints and are even ready to take over assets, including Microsoft's staff.

“This was one contract where most of us were bidding hard, especially given the kind of customer we are talking about, but global service providers seem to have taken a lead,” said a senior executive at one of the tech firms involved during the early stage of bidding.