South Africa: 2010 Opens BPO, Tourism Opportunities for Gauteng

Johannesburg – The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), infrastructure and tourism are some of the opportunities presented by the 2010 Fifa World CupTM.
“In terms of business opportunities brought about by the 2010 Fifa World Cup, South African entrepreneurs can invest in infrastructure, particularly the maintenance of newly built structures, tourism and the BPO industry,” said Gauteng MEC for Finance and Economic Affairs, Mandla Nkomfe.
“The tourism industry is basically our new gold, as it contributes more than the actual gold mining industry does to the country’s Gross Domestic Product [GDP],” highlighted the MEC.
Speaking at the biggest inter-business soccer exhibition in the world, Soccerex 2008 on Wednesday, Nkomfe indicated that Gauteng was also the home of the BPO industry or call centre industry in South Africa.
Over 70 percent of all call centres in the country is based in Gauteng, he said, adding that in recognition of the importance of this industry, both IBM and Virgin Mobile have located their call centres in Gauteng. more

Call centers and business process outsourcing providers are among industry sectors in India that are likely to cut more than 25% of their staffing

Call centers and business process outsourcing providers are among industry sectors in India that are likely to cut more than 25% of their staffing soon, according to a report by a trade body.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) said on Wednesday that companies in those sectors were faced with shrinking margins.

The prediction comes as the Diwali festival in India draws to a close. Companies postponed layoffs until the festival was over on humanitarian grounds, ASSOCHAM said.

Earlier this month, top Indian outsourcers like Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services reported slower revenue and profit growth in the quarter to Sept. 30. These companies get most of their revenue from the U.S. and Europe, with a large number of their customers in the troubled banking and financial services sectors. (Listen to a podcast asking whether outsourcers can survive the down economy.)

India's economy is also slowing down. The country's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, last week cut its estimate for the country's gross domestic product growth for the fiscal year ending next March 31 to a range of 7.5% to 8%, from an earlier forecast of 8%.

New hiring by India's IT and services outsourcing industry has slowed down, but companies are not yet considering large-scale cuts, according to analysts.

Demand for data entry work in india

There is Demands increasing for data entry work in india. Most companies provide a list of prerequisites on the basis of which they assign work at home. They provide training for an entire batch and then have the software installed in the at-home employees computer system.

The employers either pay on a monthly basis, or per job basis, depending on their company policy. They have do require the data entry personnel to stay connected with the main office server.

The advantage of this is that one can seek assignments for a couple of companies at a time so that monotony does not step in, and can work as many hours as one wishes, not going below the desired minimum working hours set by the company.