UBS to sell BPO and KPO units

Switzerland-based financial services provider UBS is reportedly selling its business process outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing units. And is said to be in talks with Indian offshoring giants Infosys Technologies Limited and Wipro Limited . The UBS Indian Service Center and UBS Krakow centre has an estimated value of $200 million.

UBS decision to sell its BPO and KPO units might not come as a surprise as Citigroup Inc. 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 Mahalingams statement. Datamonitors 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 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.

Source: http://www.offshoringtimes.com/