Archive for March 25th, 2009
Egypt bags the award for “Outsourcing Destination of the Year”
Egypt is being hailed as one of the best outsourcing destinations in the world for quite some time now. The recognition for the undeniable appeal of the country to international outsourcers was finally made official recently, when the country was awarded the much coveted title of Outsourcing Destination of the Year at the National Outsourcing Association's 2008 Awards. Egypt beat competent rivals Romania and Philippines to top the list of outsourcing destinations across the globe at the ceremony held in London.
The award was received by Dr Hazem Abdelazim, CEO of Information Technology Industry Development Agency, (ITIDA), of Egypt. Dr. Abdelazim was ecstatic after receiving the award at the ceremony, which was attended by over 350 high-level executives and outsourcing professionals from various top-ranked outsourcing service providers of the world. He remarked, “This award recognizes the vast progress Egypt has made in the outsourcing market”, adding that, “Egypt is putting its mark on the map of favored global services locations. Its young population, large multi-lingual workforce, solid infrastructure and competitive cost structure is fortified by unequivocal government support, making Egypt a compelling destination for outsourcing services.”
The judges explained the reason for their decision by pointing out that Egypt qualified for the prestigious accolade because of three primary reasons – the skilled multilingual workforce, the young population in their 20’s engaging in outsourcing, and the growing list of global sourcing investments in the country. Egypt is already recognized as an outsourcing destination for Europe by market giants such as, Microsoft, Oracle, Teleperformance, and Vodafone.
Martyn Hart, Chairman of National Outsourcing Association commented on the award system of NOA, stating, “The NOA awards celebrate best practice in the outsourcing industry. Our winners have demonstrated excellence in outsourcing and have highlighted the importance of best practice and meeting industry standards. These achievements make an excellent contribution to the Body of Outsourcing Knowledge (the BOOK) that the NOA holds on behalf of the industry.”
NOA grants awards every year to competent outsourcers across the globe. The award chiefly focuses on substantial achievements in IT outsourcing and business process outsourcing operations. However, sector specific achievements in the popular outsourcing fields of telecommunications, utilities, and finance do not go unnoticed by NOA either. Usually, countries that provide great performance with excellent value for money to outsourcers are given preference when they are being considered for the award.
The Yankee Group, which is one of the world’s leading independent technology research and consulting firms, recently recognized Egypt as “by far the Middle Eastern country currently best positioned to take advantage of the boom in outsourcing”.
Tholons, one of the leading full-service Strategic Advisory firms for Global Outsourcing and Investments, published a study on the top 50 emerging outsourcing cities in the world in 2008, with Cairo (the capital city of Egypt) placed at the well-deserved 7th position in the list.
AT Kearney, a global management consulting firm that focuses on strategic and operational CEO-agenda concerns – also placed the country in the 13th position in its Global Services Location Index in 2007.
