Offshore outsourcing: current state of affairs and future trends in Europe.

TEAM International shares some of the findings of the latest Annual Outsourcing Survey conducted by Ernst & Young, a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services.

The 2008 survey questioned more than 600 decision-makers of the largest European companies with a turnover of at least 100 million euros. The survey came up with the following findings:

1. 70% of respondents reported outsourcing at least one business process to lower-cost countries;
2. 49% of respondents agreed that offshore outsourcing served as an efficient cost saving tool;
3. 33% pointed to better quality through hiring the specialists among the major reasons for outsourcing;
4. Computing / telecommunications (68%) along with maintenance (76%) and logistics (73%) are the largest outsourcing segments;
5. Belgium was found to have the highest outsourcing rate (81% of companies), while France was found to have the lowest take-up rate at 63%;
6. At the industry level, the finance industry is reported to be the most mature in adopting outsourcing; banking is considered to be the most focused on IT and telecommunications outsourcing with a 75% take-up rate;
7. Medium-sized companies and multinationals are the major users of offshore outsourcing;
8. The majority of respondents generally report positive experience they have had with offshore outsourcing.
9. 20% of European companies admitted intending to increase their outsourcing level within the next two years.

According to Ernst & Young, the main reason why offshore outsourcing is expected to grow in the next two years is competing in the global economy and dealing with a strong Euro. The traditionally vertically integrated business processes are expected to be fragmented to allow European business and industry players to increase their profits and scalability. Outsourcing, serving as an efficient fragmentation tool, has proved to be very successful in delivering absolute competence to each element of the existing value chain.

TEAM’s own analytical experience fully confirms the findings of the 2008 Ernst & Young survey. In today’s business world many Western European countries choose to offload their processes to Eastern Europe for the purpose of saving costs and increasing the level of competitiveness.

Another important finding of Ernst & Young is that many respondents point to poor communication between a vendor and a client as a main obstacle in the way of effective outsourcing partnerships. Realizing that improved communication with clients is one of the key paths to success, TEAM International recognizes and established close relationships with each client regardless of its size and project scope.

source:- itworld.com/

Web Portals Must Improve Privacy Protection

Even an insensitive person does not dare to read all comments on the Internet because of indiscriminate posts espousing vicious attacks. False rumors such as suspected plastic surgery or a fake story can kill the career of a celebrity. One celebrity who suffered from a scandal has proposed the designation of attempted online murder as a crime. Justice Minister Kim Gyeong-han said yesterday that he will consider designating as a crime cyber humiliation. Vicious comments that damaged the government while candlelight protests rocked the country and negative comments linger on the Internet.

The government yesterday announced comprehensive measures for personal information protection on the Internet to reduce the negative influence of the Web. Cyberspace is now filled with libelous statements. Even after a victim asked that the vicious comments be erased, the portals kept and made money from the comments while showing them to their users. They benefited from the lack of punishment and exploited loopholes. A step in the right direction was the revision to a law that includes making it mandatory for Web portals such as Daum to monitor comments, take temporary measures upon request by victims, and punish those who posted the comments.

Korean social security numbers sold on Chinese Web sites can be used in crime, giving the Korean people cause for worry. Early this year, the Internet shopping mall Auction lost the personal information of 10 million clients, and the number of voice phishing has since increased. If no laws protect online privacy, an organization should not collect personal information and if it does, it should strictly protect it. In a similar story, the National Health Insurance Corp. and the National Pension Service should be held responsible for their employees looking at subscribers’ personal information for non-work purposes. A society where privacy is not protected cannot advance.

Major Web portals are largely to blame for prompting the new government measures. For an Internet venture, the new rules can be a burden. This could also hamper the growth of the Internet industry. Major portals that made big money from vicious comments must help venture companies with facility investment and technology development for privacy protection. The portals have a large responsibility to Web users unlike other countries, and another heavy role in maintaining industrial ecology and society. Law plays only a minimal part.

source:- english.donga.com/