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IT Outsourcing
Companies globally are struggling with the challenge of balancing the increased demand for innovation, integration and maintenance of multiple systems. This demand is putting immense pressure on overstretched, resource-strapped technology departments, impacting on deliverables and quality. A significant portion of the work is driven by the maintenance of legacy systems, developed in COBOL, C++ and RPG. The shortage of these skills in most countries is becoming more acute as the new professionals entering the market are not proficient in these systems and languages. To date, the only alternative to this challenge has been to turn to India as a resource pool, and has been used extensively; however there is a strong and compelling alternative. South Africa as an outsource destination South Africa has become a compelling alternative to the current accepted destinations for outsourced code development and maintenance. For international firms, South Africa slots in between near-shore locations such as Canada, Mexico or Eastern Europe, which offer close proximity as well as cultural affinity to domestic markets, and more traditional offshore locations, such as India and the Philippines, that offer cheap labour. Reasons for offshore growth include: · South African English is recognized as the easiest international English to understand (neutral accent), and is the language of business. · The time zone is favorable for all global destinations. · The infrastructure, including telecommunications has had a significant upgrade in preparation for the 2010 World Cup: the construction and infrastructure sector had outstripped the pace of the country’s GDP growth since 2000 and was expected to do so until 2015 and beyond. · High availability of COBOL and C++ resources: Gartner, the international research group, rates South Africa as one of its top 30 software development outsourcing destinations, with 2007 research putting it on par with Israel in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region, and next to Australia and India globally. · South Africa as a nation has an excellent delivery record, with significant milestones being achieved, which filter down to individual pride in delivery. · Very strong government support for South Africa becoming a destination of choice for ICT orientated initiatives: A government-backed BPO&O support programme, launched in 2007, aims to enhance South Africa's competitiveness and includes a budgeted R1.1-billion in investment incentives. · Very favourable exchange rate · State-backed incentives, such as start-up and expansion grants and discounted telecommunications prices. · An advanced and growing telecommunications industry International companies that have already chosen South Africa as a BPO&O destination include IBM, Fujitsu Siemens, Lufthansa, Virgin, Sykes, Avis and the Car Phone Warehouse. South Africa's commitment to the BPO&O industry was underscored in 2007 by the decision to build a R125-million, 1 500-seat call centre at the Coega Industrial Development Zone outside Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. Other recent investments include: · In May 2008, oil multinational Royal Dutch Shell opened a call centre in Cape Town. The centre will service Shell's customers in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, with native Afrikaans-speaking operators trained to converse in Dutch and Flemish. · In November 2007, US-based business process outsourcing giant TeleTech started building a new facility outside Cape Town - its first base on the African continent. Why The IQ Business Group? The IQ Business Group (IQ) is a global company headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with offices in Australia, the UK and the USA. A strong background of delivering consulting services, business process outsourcing and system maintenance outsourcing, has made it a truly global company with customers on three continents. IQ has attracted and retained world class skills, especially in the outsource legacy maintenance space: COBOL and C++. Having done this before – IQ has been providing operational support, testing, custom coding, maintaining current systems, software stand-by services to a large financial institution since 2000, the company is aware of any potential pitfalls has the ability to mitigate risk, improve overall product quality, and reduce costs for your organization. IQ has a very strong social commitment, with significant support being given to institutions such as Starfish, which provides support to children suffering from AIDS in Africa.
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