Global Sourcing More Important Than Ever, Say Fortune 1000 CIOs at The World BPO/ITO Forum 2013
New York, NY (PRWEB) July 31, 2013 -- For executives planning their strategies in uncertain economic and political times, amidst the rise of protectionism, the sixth annual World BPO/ITO Forum, http://www.worldbpoforum.com, held July 17-18th in New York, gave some key insights on how best to manage the transition from 'old IT' to 'new IT'.
“We are living through a sea of change in sourcing strategy," says Jim Noble, principal of The Advisory Council and World BPO/ITO Forum chair. “While it has taken longer than we anticipated for cloud services to become a practical reality, the impact is proving to be quite extraordinary. The impact of this shift can be truly game changing – business agility through faster outcomes, less capital investment, greater flexibility, escape from the treadmill of software version upgrades, and a technology catalyst for introducing business process best practices," Noble adds. “This is where the World BPO/ITO Forum made a real difference — by enabling buyers and sellers of services to meet each other, and by encouraging experts to share insights in a friendly environment."
Themed "Smartsourcing: Leveraging Collaboration & Innovation," the Forum provided peer-to-peer group learning and influential networking atmosphere for 250+ top executives, http://www.worldbpoforum.com/attendees.aspx, currently using BPO (business processing outsourcing) and/or ITO (IT outsourcing) services. With a roster of 55+ C-executives as speakers, the conference provided invaluable insight into how globalization and disruptive technological changes are making the old multinational structure obsolete.
The nation’s first CIO, Vivek Kundra, as keynote speaker (http://www.worldbpoforum.com/keynote2013.aspx), described the tremendous challenge of leading the federal government’s information technology bureaucracy at a time when cutting costs, increasing efficiency and driving innovation was of paramount importance. Having managed the $80B federal technology budget, Kundra’s efforts yielded significant progress in transforming the way technology is purchased and managed by bringing best-in-class private sector solutions to solve massive public sector inefficiencies. The result has been a highly transparent, efficient and accountable environment focused on making systems and information useful to the public.
The conference, attended by more than 250+ C-level executives from around the world, featured more than 20 sessions in two tracks: Globalization & Leadership, and How the Technology Landscape is Changing Outsourcing. Agenda: http://www.worldbpoforum.com/conference_agenda_2013.aspx
Topics discussed included leveraging cloud computing and mobility, unlocking innovation, multi-vendor approaches, managing risk, and the economic and social impact of global sourcing, among other issues. Additional highlighted speakers, http://www.worldbpoforum.com/event_speakers.aspx, included:
• Atefeh Riazi, Chief Information Technology Officer, United Nations
• Surajit Jha, President & COO, Tata Business Support Services
• Soumitra Rathod, EVP, New York Life Insurance
• Ben Pring, AVP, Center for the Future of Work, Cognizant
• Paul Roehrig, PhD., AVP, Corporate Strategy, Cognizant
• Dr. Marcell Vollmer, Chief Procurement Officer, SAP
• Tanvir Khan, VP & Global Head, Dell BPO
• Hasan Dewan, Head of Global Technology & Operations, Russell Investments
• Shiv Kumar, Global Head, Strategy, EXL Services
• Vishal Ahluwalia, Head Outsourcing Americas, UBS
“Since the Silk Road, global commerce has been a lot more than tea and spice. It has been the exchange of ideas, collaboration, innovation and ultimately acceptance of different cultures, views and perspectives. The World BPO/ITO Forum is an extension of the Silk Road where brilliant perspectives were shared and innovative ideas created,” states Atti Riazi, CITO, United Nations.
As an indication of how important outsourcing and offshoring has become, the summit was attended by current leading offshore country delegations (India), delegates from nearshoring destinations such as Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina, and representatives from emerging offshore destinations such as Bulgaria, Poland and Kenya.
“Companies are re-thinking their offshoring strategies – as the global cost labor arbitrage is narrowing,” says Kartik Kilachand, CEO & Co-Founder, The World BPO/ITO Forum. “'Reshoring' seems to be the new buzz word – bringing jobs back to America. KPMG even announced the ‘Death of Outsourcing’ in a research paper last year. However, the stark reality is that the developed countries will have to compete hard on factors beyond labor costs – most important will be the local availability of high-end skills; work-force re-training ; supply chain management & worker flexibility,” explained Mr. Kilachand.
Outsourcing is no doubt a contentious issue, particularly in light of the struggling U.S. economy. “American jobs going overseas is still an emotive subject,” says Mr. Kilachand
To that end, the World BPO Forum has become the leading C-level executive event of its kind. “With a strong roster of speakers, practitioners and service providers participating in the discussion this year, I believe we are well on our way to become the ‘Davos’ for strategic sourcing,” says Mr. Kilachand.
“Global sourcing has become a transformational lever that empowers businesses to take on new competition. This exclusive Forum provided opportunities to interact, learn & share issues, challenges and solutions from some of the world’s leading thought leaders on the economic, political & technical impact of global sourcing,” further explains Mr. Noble.
The seventh annual World BPO/ITO Forum is scheduled for June 25-26, 2014.
About The World BPO/ITO Forum, Inc., http://www.worldbpoforum.com
The World BPO/ITO Forum conference is in its sixth year, and getting close to its aspirations to become the "Davos" of offshoring. The conference offers a "one stop shop" for executives at mid- to large-sized companies (CIOs, CFOs, COOs) to hear from speakers who can offer best practices in global sourcing, and to meet with representatives from service providers from many (low cost) countries. The conference further promotes the transformational possibilities of the synergies between BPO and ITO. The conference is also strongly supported by the Society for Information Management, which is the professional association for over 4,000 CIOs and the Center for CIO Leadership (3,000 CIO members).
Media Contact: Kartik Kilachand – CEO; kartik(at)worldbpoforum(dot)com
Shelley Ballarino, The World BPO Forum Inc., http://www.worldbpoforum.com, 5086542652, [email protected]
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