NASSCOM ITES-BPO summit on June 7, 8

Bangalore, May 31 (UNI) The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) will hold its annual ITES-BPO Strategy summit here on June seven and eight.

Union Communications and Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran would address a special summit at the two-day summit, which would see industry leaders deliberating and debating issues and trends ranging from Next Generation BPO, The Maturing Marketplace: Global Sourcing and Managing Cost Competitiveness and Setting Benchmarks in Global Outsourcing, NASSCOM said in a release here today.

A key highlight at the summit this year would be a high-powered panel discussion by industry CEOs on managing cost competitiveness and setting benchmarks in global outsourcing, combined with NASSCOM's findings on the subject, the release said.

NASSCOM President Kiran Karnik said the Indian ITES-BPO industry had been on a high growth path. The NASSCOM-McKinsey Report 2005 indicated even greater prospects with huge head-room for growth.

However, along with the opportunities, there were many challenges and ''these call for a deep understanding of the evolving global BPO landscape and exceptional leadership.'' As companies rapidly ramp up scale, they were increasingly facing challenges ranging from operational issues such as rising costs, wages and increasing demands, to providing innovative products and services.

Some of the focus areas for the industry that would be discussed at the summit were squeezing margin pressures, addressing needs of maturing customers and people and performance management.

With falling billing rate and rising operational costs, companies would have to explore new levers such as productivity improvements and value through innovation.

The release said the summit would serve as an interactive platform for the industry stakeholders to deliberate on issues of relevance such as staying fit to survive, the future of third-party BPO vendors, the evolving ITES-BPO landscape and using operational excellence to optimise costs.

UNI VK GD RKN1843