Filed under: Outsourcing
It is no doubt that “development” is the holy grail of technology. The faster you develop the technology the faster you dominate the world. America has been the leader of all the nations based on this principle.
The same state is now wooing other, Asian nations for innovations in technology, according to a survey published recently. Read the news here.
Can India read this and dream of become the leader?
Now Google has delivered a new age mail (Gmail ) and calendar (say, gcal) . Calendar lacks a lot of punches to beat even its Gmail for functions but we can live with it. Calendar application must have a to-do, list management to call it a calendar in first place. Google calendar lacks it.
What will we want Google to do with these applications now?
1. Merge these two to create a good environment for a trusted delivery and time management.
2. Integrate it with gtalk to offer alrms from gcal on the client. SMS is available now but only in limited regions and service providers.
3. Offer both of them on a Symbian S60 model. This could be a killer with a GtalkIn and GtalkOut.
4. Enhance Gmail rules management to include gcal to have a robust Business Rules Manager.
5. Create a neat workflow management system comprising Gmail, Gtalk, gcal that may beat all the MSExchange, Lotus Notes crowd and it will bring the same enterprise functionality to the masses. MSExchange, Lotus Notes etc. have been real suckers for a long time now.
6. Add a dash of GTD, Getting Things Done (a favorite passtime of all the bloggers). It is effective if done properly. I have tried Outlook plugin for GTD with good results.
I forgot Writely. I should not because Writely can be at the root of all this system and it can bring a complete document management system to the Google Free Enterprise.
While creating gcal it seems that it has looked at Yahoo Calendar for functionality. Truely speaking it sucks. Google should look at MSExchange, Notes for their future as this strategy will bring a real business to Google apart from the ubiquitous search ads.
Wouldn't it be great to be able to keep track of all the events in your life, coordinate schedules with friends and family, and find new things to do — all with one online calendar? We thought so, too.
Seeing the big picture
With Google Calendar, you can see your friends' and family's schedules right next to your own; quickly add events mentioned in Gmail conversations or saved in other calendar applications; and add other interesting events that you find online.
Sharing events and calendars
You decide who can see your calendar and which details they can view. Planning an event? You can create invitations, send reminders and keep track of RSVPs right inside Google Calendar. Organizations can promote events, too.
Staying on schedule
You can set up automatic event reminders, including SMS notifications, and instantly bring up anything on your calendar with the built-in search too
Filed under: Outsourcing
In 2006, there’s not likely to be a deal bigger than General Motors’ announcement in February that it would split information-technology outsourcing contracts—worth an estimated $15 billion over the next five years—among six suppliers: EDS, Capgemini, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Compuware’s Covisint subsidiary and Wipro.
Bobby Cameron, a principal for I.T. management at Forrester Research, sees GM’s move as a “definitive tipping point” in the trend of companies soliciting outsourcing bids using the standardized Information Technology Infrastructure Library descriptions, a set of definitions developed by the British government for information-technology services. “That starts to allow more apples-to-apples comparison across suppliers,” he says.
Read it here:
http://www.baselinemag.com/article2/0,1540,1933249,00.asp
Filed under: Outsourcing
Here is an entire array of web essays from EWeek on outsourcing. It’s heavily bent on India but outsourcing, per say, is bent towars India. India has more than half of the world’s outsourcing share.
Start reading it here.
http://www.eweek.com/category2/0,1874,1543526,00.asp
As per a CEO of an Indian company outsourcing has reached only 10% of the total available jobs. So there is a lot of potential for growth. The same magazine, Business Week had a cover story of a ‘Transformational Outsourcing’ which has a potential to grow to about $500 billion. A long way to go baby…
Read the interview here:
http://businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2006/tc20060217_160237.htm
Labor Arbitrage: Is the Clock Ticking on Outsourcing?
The key finding of the report, released by Everest group, reveals that if current conditions persist, labor arbitrage will sustain in most offshore destinations for 30 years or more. The exceptions being Ireland where arbitrage with the US will last for three to five years, and Canada, and Czech Republic where it is expected to last for 8-20 years.
Gartner: Five reasons why offshore deals go bust
Many projects will fail because of poor planning, the research firm says
Businesses will spend more than $50 billion on offshore and near-shore outsourcing by 2007, but many of the offshore projects will fail because of poor planning, according to a recent report from Gartner Inc.Some organizations are rushing into deals hoping to gain a competitive advantage, often through cost-cutting or a boost in productivity. But the expected gains can be severely crimped by many factors. Gartner’s report identifies five areas where outsourcers should apply more thought before taking the plunge:
Read the complete story here: http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/outsourcing/story/0,10801,102677,00.html
Egypt touts itself as next offshore outsourcing hot-spot
Ancient land of the Pharaohs looks towards a high-tech future…
Egypt is making a pitch to be the next offshore outsourcing hot-spot, claiming that its foreign language skills and low labour costs put the country in a strong position to compete with India and eastern Europe.
AT Kearney recently ranked Egypt number 12 in a list of top offshore outsourcing destinations and while the country’s share of the offshore call-centre market is still very small, analyst Datamonitor predicts it will grow by 52 per cent over the next 12 months.
Read it here http://services.silicon.com/offshoring/0,3800004877,39156347,00.htm
Welcome to Outsource to Win. This site delves deeper in the benefits (naturally!) of asking your necessary but not-so-critical jobs to somebody, somewhere.
Outsourcing has got attention from both the sides and it is good that both agree that it is crucial for the world economy. No wonder 90% plus Fortune 500 companies outsouce their jobs, from departments like HRD, accountancy, manufacturing etc. Review predict outsourcing will stay for next 30 years.
This site will provide news and views on outsourcing from around the world. So, join the party.
