UBS sells BPO and KPO units
Switzerland-based financial services provider UBS (NYSE: UBS) is reportedly selling its business process outsourcing (BPO) and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) units. And is said to be in talks with Indian offshoring giants Infosys Technologies Limited (NASDAQ: INFY) and Wipro Limited (NYSE: WIT). The UBS Indian Service Center and UBS Krakow centre has an estimated value of $200 million, reports The Economic Times.
UBS’ decision to sell its BPO and KPO units might not come as a surprise as Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) made the same move when it sold its captives in 2008. But the Switzerland-based bank may have made the decision at the wrong time as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) predicts the decline in global outsourcing demand is over.
According to TCS chief financial officer Seturaman Mahalingam; “The conditions now are little clearer, in a sense decline in terms of demand that was seen earlier appears to have been arrested.”
Market research firm Datamonitor published a report titled “Retailing in a Recession –The Opportunities for Outsourcing” that supports Mahalingam’s statement. Datamonitor’s findings states the demand for outsourcing in North America and Western Europe will continue and suggest economic uncertainties are also driving retailers into the offshoring world to protect margins by cutting operational costs. “The increasing economic pressures affecting the retail industry means that companies will increasingly look to outsource technology and business processes to cut costs and focus on core skills”, Datamonitor.
The Black Book of Outsourcing 2009 also backs the offshore and outsourcing industry’s confidence, as more than half of survey respondents expect spending on outsourcing services to return to pre-recession levels.
Amid different forecasts on the global economic recovery, outsourcing industry experts agree on the healthy picture of the industry at the end of the year.
Author: Kim G.
Tags: Business Process Outsourcing, C, INFY, KPO, outsourcing services, UBS, WIT
July 3rd, 2009 at 12:51 am
Thanks for sharing. Glad I came across this post.
November 27th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
[...] June, I wrote an article about UBS (NYSE: UBS) exploring a sale of its BPO and KPO units. In the second week of October, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (NASDAQ: CTSH) bought UBS’ [...]
December 1st, 2009 at 2:41 pm
[...] June, I wrote an article about UBS (UBS) exploring a sale of its BPO and KPO units. In the second week of October, Cognizant [...]
December 1st, 2009 at 5:18 pm
[...] June, I wrote an article about UBS (UBS) exploring a sale of its BPO and KPO units. In the second week of October, Cognizant [...]
December 1st, 2009 at 7:00 pm
[...] June, I wrote an article about UBS (UBS) exploring a sale of its BPO and KPO units. In the second week of October, Cognizant [...]
March 2nd, 2010 at 8:53 am
This only proves that outsourcing is a great plan for their business.