EDS has opened a facility in Mumbai, India, that will
provide helpdesk and business process outsourcing services to
clients worldwide.
The Mumbai centre began operating in May and has 150 staff,
but that will grow to 700 before the end of the year, EDS said.
When fully staffed, the centre will provide helpdesk technical
support services via phone, e-mail and online chat, said Doug
DeLay, an EDS spokesman.
The centre will also provide business process outsourcing
services, including data entry, phone-based marketing, management
of financial and administrative processes, DeLay said.
Management of financial processes involves services related to
things such as payroll, credit cards, loans and mortgages, he said.
Management of administrative processes involves things such as
medical and insurance claims.
The Mumbai centre is part of EDS' Best Shore programme for
providing services to clients from various locations worldwide.
The Mumbai centre is one of 16 facilities staffed by about 6,200
employees that EDS has devoted to the Best Shore programme, DeLay
said.
EDS launched Best Shore in November. The company expects to have
about 20,000 employees devoted to Best Shore by the end of
2004.
Best Shore focuses on two broad types of services: help
desk/business process outsourcing (BPO) and application development
and delivery.
EDS, the second largest provider of IT services in the world,
also has Best Shore facilities in Argentina, Brazil, Canada,
Germany, Hungary, Mexico, South Africa, the US and New Zealand.
Although EDS now has about 1,100 employees in India, it expects
to end 2004 with 3,500 staff. India has emerged as the leading
country in the provision of offshore outsourcing services. EDS'
initial capital investment in the Mumbai centre totals around $12m
(£7.1m).
Juan Carlos Perez writes for IDG News Service