Proposal for Outsourcing DP tasks to off-shore centre of Excellence:
Definition of In Scope Activities and Roles:
In-Scope Activities will be those covering:
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All Markets
All Clients
All project types (although may take a phased approach to allow for learning
effect)
Any data collection technique or
Data received on any platform
In Scope Roles will be those which are not location dependent – some local
coding/punching activities are required as they have native language requirements but
the following tasks are deemed to be moveable:
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Spec writing/scripting - Production of tables
Validation
Data conversion
Pilot Market
Due to the pressing need to restructure the business model and the fact that it has the
highest cost (as a proportion) for its DP activities, Cyprus has been chosen as a pilot
market.
There are 17 FTE DP people in Cyprus and 4 PT coders/punchers, of these 13 are in
scope and can be removed entirely at the beginning of 2007, a further 3 will need to
transition out over a longer period to ensure a smooth handover process and provide
guidance on complex or specialist projects:
Role
Spec Writers
Validation
Coding /Punching
Total
Total FT
7
4
6
17
Total PT
0
0
4
4
Leaving Q1
07
5
3
8
16
Leaving Q4
07
2
1
0
3
Remain in
Business
0
0
2
2
Interim/Transition support 6-9 months
 Spec Writers : Nina Hadjigeorgiou, Nina Pagla OR Elpida Kanella
 Validation: Elena Soteriadou OR Andri hadjinicolaou
DP Resource remaining in Cyprus
 Cyprus coding / punching: Demetra Agrokypitiotou (Cyprus Field) and
Sotiroula Koliandrou. Any other Cyprus market needs will be outsourced to
part timers.
Initial Choice of Centre of Excellence Location
We have assessed the economic viability of the following markets as the location for
the Cof E:
Country
Egypt
Bulgaria
i-Gate (Target)
India
Romania
Russia
Turkey
South Africa
Poland
i-Gate (Current)
Average
Cyprus
Rank
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
12
13
Excluding Margin
Inc SW
$10.06
$10.18
Ex SW
$9.06
$9.28
$12.43
$15.31
$16.19
$18.34
$18.86
$18.94
$11.52
$14.18
$14.93
$17.34
$17.83
$17.95
$20.21
$61.61
$19.25
$61.18
Including Margin
Inc SW
Ex SW (Rank)
$12.08
$11.07
$12.22
$11.32
$13.00
$14.92
$14.00
$18.37
$17.24
$19.43
$18.17
$22.01
$21.01
$22.63
$21.60
$22.73
$21.74
$23.00
$24.26
$23.29
$73.93
$73.50
(For full costing please see appendix 1)
The assessment looked at the following areas/scenario:
Cost of set up (including 160 sq m space, new furniture and PC equipment)
Ongoing costs (Office space, parking, insurance, 1 x manager, 2 x statistician, 3 x
senior DP and 5 x Junior DP).
Of this list Bulgaria was selected as the initial location, the key criteria considered in
the selection of the location are: cost, stability, future expected economic trends and
availability of skilled resource.
Bulgaria being ex-Soviet Bloc was part of the com-econ set up and as with all Bloc
markets was trained in a specialist area. For Bulgaria this was IT, therefore the % of
skilled IT resource in this market is higher than in many other ex Bloc markets and
wider a field.
Bulgaria is also just about to gain ascension to the EU and as such many of the
economic policies have moved away from their socialist past. Bulgaria was the first
market in this area to adopt both a flat tax for personal and business taxation these are
set at 24% and 15% respectively. Whilst social costs are relatively high at 23% they
are offset by low average salaries.
Whilst the economy is growing very healthily due to the prospect of EU membership,
the average monthly salary remains low at only 300 Euro and is only 50% of the
levels of some neighbouring markets (Romania and Serbia) and is not gaining as fast
as these markets are predicted to.
It is the combination of the reformist government, EU ascension and low starting
point that lead us to the conclusion that this is most suited to our needs in the medium
term.
Initial Set up Required
The plan is to move Cyprus DP by the end of the first quarter 2007. In order to do
this we will need to have the Bulgarian set up in place no later than Mid January.
The basic outline is detailed below:
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Initially a team of 10 script writers/validators plus a DP manager to be
recruited
The DP manager could be seconded from another Synovate BU for an interim
period (6 – 9 months)
Profile of team: Visual basic programming knowledge/experience, plus ideally
some MR DP experience
Target would be to expand size of operation to 30-40 staff by end 2007, and
grow this to 60 – 80 staff by end 2008
Recruitment of staff to be outsourced to local recruitment agency
Initial training to be provided by Synovate Americas. Will require dedicated 5
– 8 days programme
Acquisition of infrastructure – office space, hardware, peripherals,
infrastructure to be supported by local Synovate Bulgaria management
We would commence by taking overflow workload from other markets on simple
project and then aggressively expand the capabilities to meet the deadline.
CofE Expansion
As we gain experience and credibility at the CofE it is management’s intention to
expand its capabilities to cover 80% of all markets in scope activity by the end of
2008.
This would be a mix of opportunistic staffing policy - e.g. as people leave a market
we choose to backfill or absorb work into the CofE and structured off shoring
programs such as that proposed by Cyprus.
The full list of in scope resource can be found in Appendix 2.
It is also anticipated that once the CofE is up to speed and running at expected levels
of efficiency we would be in a position to receive outsourced work from markets
outside of the SU.