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Economic Times/ India Times BANGALORE: Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, which has so far been dependent on its in-house IT division, is evaluating a business process outsourcing (BPO) contract worth $300-500 million, as it seeks to outsource non-core processes of procurement, merchandising, finance, accounting and payroll.
IBM, along with TCS, WNS and Wipro are currently exploring this opportunity, a person familiar with Wal-Mart’s outsourcing decision told ET, on conditions of anonymity.
“Despite becoming such a case study for global retail, Wal-Mart has not yet looked at BPO or IT outsourcing,” he said. “However, the current economic challenges are making the retailer seek more cost-saving options, including outsourcing of non-core processes.”
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An email sent to Wal-Mart did not elicit any response. However, a factsheet available on the company’s website provided details about Wal-Mart’s future IT outsourcing from India.
“Wal-Mart will expand staffing of certain elements of IT application maintenance and development with some of India’s leading IT firms,” the company said in a statement. “India is one of the several countries that the company is targeting as part of its remote sourcing model for IT activities.”
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According to Forrester Research, the US will have a 34% share of the global market for IT services and outsourcing in 2009 and 2010, just ahead of Western and Central Europe at 27% and Asia Pacific at 23% for 2009.
“A review of the top 15 country markets for IT goods and services shows the US on top with $573 billion in purchases of IT goods and services in 2009. China moves to second place at $143 billion,” Forrester analyst Andrew H Bartels said in his January report. “IT outsourcing will get a small lift from economic slowdown in 2008 as companies turn to vendors that can help cut IT costs,” he added.
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