BANGALORE: Top Indian tech firms TCS, Infosys and Wipro, along with multinational rivals IBM<http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/TCSInfosysWipro/TCS-Infosys-Wipro-eye-Woolworths-100-mn-deal/articleshow/4342217.cms#>, Accenture and HP-EDS , are currently chasing an <http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/TCSInfosysWipro/TCS-Infosys-Wipro-eye-Woolworths-100-mn-deal/articleshow/4342217.cms#> outsourcing contract worth over $100 million from Australia’s biggest retailer Woolworths, as the retailer plans to deploy a SAP-based solution for transforming its merchandising and supply chain platforms<http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/TCSInfosysWipro/TCS-Infosys-Wipro-eye-Woolworths-100-mn-deal/articleshow/4342217.cms#>.
At a time when new business is increasingly becoming tough to come by, Australia has emerged as a great opportunity for the outsourcing vendors. Other recent outsourcing contracts awarded by Australian companies include the $100-million deal from Telstra and the over $50-million contract from mining firm Rio Tinto. Both were won by India’s second biggest software company, Infosys. When contacted by ET on Tuesday , a Woolworths spokesman confirmed that the retailer is, indeed , evaluating vendors for its SAP project. “Woolworths is currently working with SAP on a project where, over time, we will replace our core merchandising systems<http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/TCSInfosysWipro/TCS-Infosys-Wipro-eye-Woolworths-100-mn-deal/articleshow/4342217.cms#>. These systems are a very important piece of IT for a retailer,” said Luke Schepen , a Woolworths spokesperson. “Woolworths will lead this project internally but we are currently going through the process of determining other technology vendors who will assist (Woolworths) with this project,” he added. With over $18 billion in revenues during the half-year ended December 2008, Woolworths runs several supermarket chains, apart from consumer electronics and hotel businesses across Australia, New Zealand and the UK. According to research firm Forrester , Australian companies will buy around $39 billion worth of software products and services this year, accounting for almost 4.6% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). While Australian enterprises are not as severely impacted by the global economic recession when compared with their rivals in the US and Europe, the country’s leading corporates, including Rio Tinto and phone firm Telstra, have recently intensified their efforts to reduce their operational costs by working with Indian service providers. In October last year, Wipro won a 10-year outsourcing contract from Origin Energy, Australia’s second biggest energy retailer for a SAP-based transformation. A few months ago, Infosys was awarded an over $50-million outsourcing contract by Rio Tinto for managing the global mining giant’s IT applications<http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/TCSInfosysWipro/TCS-Infosys-Wipro-eye-Woolworths-100-mn-deal/articleshow/4342217.cms#>and some back-office procurement activities. Experts such as Arno Franz of offshore advisory firm TPI say that Australian customers will continue to outsource because of obvious benefits. “The business case for outsourcing<http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Features/TCSInfosysWipro/TCS-Infosys-Wipro-eye-Woolworths-100-mn-deal/articleshow/4342217.cms#>, including offshoring, is compelling and, given current economic circumstances, even more so; organisations are increasing their focus on cost realignment, and outsourcing/offshoring offers the best and most risk mitigated and timely way of doing this,” he said. Many Satyam customers in Australia including Telstra, Qantas and the National Australia Bank have been criticised by local experts for their offshoring initiatives. However, these companies continue to outsource because business benefits far outweigh the risks involved . “In fact, we have seen no curtailing of plans that companies have in train or are contemplating in relation to offshoring,” Mr Franz added. “Current Satyam clients seem to have taken an appropriate approach of wait and see, while at the same time putting in place risk mitigation approaches.” B.KARTHICK RESEARCH ANALYST WWW.KENCES1.BLOGSPOT.COM <http://www.kences1.blogspot.com/> --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Kences1" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/kences1?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
