Indian IT, BPO firms feature among world's best: Survey

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The toppers from each of the 10 categories included four companies each from the US and India and one company each from China and Mexico.

India's top IT services provider and software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has topped the list of best performing IT services companies, besides featuring in two other categories - Infrastructure Service Provider and Human Capital Development.

India's leading outsourcing firm, the NYSE-listed Genpact has bagged the top spot for Best Performing BPO Provider, while HCL Technologies was voted No.1 in the Best Performing Infrastructure Service Provider.

WNS Global Services won the title of Best Performing FAO (Finance and Accounting Outsourcing) Provider.

"With nearly one fourth of WNS Global Services' 17,000-employees working with FAO customers, it is not surprising to see this company top the best performing FAO providers list," CyberMedia, publishers of Global Services magazine, said in a press release.

Among US-based companies, EDS and Sitel won the titles of the Best Performing Human Resources Outsourcing Company and Best Performing Contact Center respectively.

While the title of the Leader, Human Capital Development went to Computer Sciences Corporation, EPAM Systems bagged the title Leader of the Emerging European Markets.

Chinese offshore IT-services company, Neusoft won the title in the Emerging Asian Markets category.

The winner of the Leader, South of the Border title was Mexico-headquartered Softtek.

The survey identified the 100 best IT and BPO service providers from 17 countries, including 43 US-based and 29 India-based companies, across 10 categories such as technology providers, customer service, business-process and regions.

However, "the presence of four companies each from China and Malaysia, and three each from Russia and Brazil serves as a gentle reminder that these countries are emerging as viable outsourcing destinations," the release stated.

Two companies each headquartered in Argentina, Canada, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore and the UK have made it to the list, while only one from the Czech Republic, France and Ukraine figure in it.

India's No.2 IT services provider Infosys Technologies was listed among the top 10 in five categories.

The other companies to feature among the top firms across multiple categories include India's HCL Technologies (among top 10 in four categories), and America's 24/7 Customer and Neoris, India's Genpact, EXL Services, TCS and WNS Global Services and Philippines' SPi Technologies (among top 10 in three categories).

According to the survey, a total of 436 M&A deals took place in the services industry, with nearly one-third of the respondents saying they merged with or acquired one or more providers.

Of these, 11 percent confirmed acquisition of a consulting firm.

Forty-seven percent of those surveyed saw the sliding dollar and the strengthening currencies of some key outsourcing destinations like India, the Philippines and Canada as the most critical business concern.

In the survey, India emerged as the hub for global delivery with 57 percent of the employees engaged in delivery centers located in the country, followed by 18 percent in the US.

"The 2008 Global Services 100 represents the world's best providers of technology, customer service and business process services," said Pradeep Gupta, chairman of CyberMedia.

According to Global Services magazine, the top 100 list and the ranks in the 10 categories are based on a scientific methodology, starting with the responses being clubbed under four broad buckets: Size (revenue, employee strength, geographies covered, etc.), Customers (customer base, testimonials and references, average contract size, etc.), Skills (depth and breadth of offerings, delivery capability, quality initiatives, verticals covered, etc.), and Others (attrition, training, etc.).

A weighted scoring scheme was then used to rate each question. For the category lists, weights were assigned to address specific strengths and capabilities.