IT services suppliers will continue to build out their low-cost
sourcing networks across multiple regions in 2009 to improve their
cost base in challenging market conditions.
According to
research from consultant PAC, India was
the most popular global sourcing location for the world's
largest
IT services suppliers in 2008, but vendors are now looking
beyond the country's two former hotspots of Bangalore and Mumbai
for new sites.
The 50 largest IT services companies worldwide opened a total of
49 new offshore or nearshore delivery centres for IT and BPO
services last year (compared to 35 in 2007), with
India accounting for eleven of that number.
None of the new Indian sites was in the country's two major IT
skills hubs of Bangalore and Mumbai, with Chennai, Noida, Hyderabad
and Pune emerging as the most popular locations for suppliers
including Accenture, IBM, Logica and Wipro.
This week, TCS announced a new site in Bhubaneswar in Eastern
India, and plans to open further centres in Pune, Nagpur,
Gandhinagar, Kochi, and Chandigarh.
But while India remains the number one global sourcing location,
another key trend is for large services companies to spread their
sourcing locations across multiple countries.
Ten new centres were opened in Latin America and a further six
in China last year. As local suppliers in these countries mature,
international vendors are increasingly looking to expand through
acquisition rather than setting up their own centres from
scratch.
In the last month, CSC purchased a Bulgarian company, while ACS
moved for an Argentine contact centre services firm.
The top 50 vendors also opened four new sourcing centres in the
US in areas outside major metropolitan areas, such as North and
South Carolina. This is a trend that may be further encouraged in
2009 by the election of President Obama, who is keen for the
technology sector to be one of the drivers behind domestic
employment, said PAC.
Nick Mayes, senior consultant at PAC, said: "Current cost
pressures may see some plans for new sourcing centres put on hold
in the immediate short term. But IT services vendors will continue
to ramp up their use of multiple, low-cost sourcing centres in 2009
- particularly in areas such as infrastructure management and BPO -
in order to remain price competitive and protect their profit
margins."