ACS Wants 50% Of Workforce Offshore
Outsourcer ACS is boosting its offshore operations in an effort to maximise the window of opportunity concerning low-cost talent, and to keep pace with overseas rivals. Ultimately, the Dallas company wants about 50% of its 74,000 strong workforce in foreign locations.
"We're letting our customers drive this," said ACS executive VP Ann Vezina. Vezina also said ACS is in talks to acquire IT and business shared services units from companies that are looking to farm out activities unrelated to their core lines of business. "People are looking to pare down noncore assets in this economy," said Vezina. She added that talks include negotiations with a major European media and entertainment company.
Vezina said offshore resources allow ACS to offer customers lower prices for business services. They also help the company remain cost-competitive with burgeoning Indian rivals such as Wipro, TCS, and Infosys. Currently, ACS maintains an onshore-offshore employee mix of about 70% to 30%, respectively.
"We want that mix around 50-50," said Vezina.
ACS's blue-chip clients include United Technologies, Ingersoll Rand, and Nike. It also has numerous public-sector customers.
ACS isn't the only Western outsourcer that's drawing heavily from offshore locations. IBM maintains more than 70,000 employees in India, while Accenture now has more workers on the subcontinent than in the United States.
ACS said revenue increased 4.4% in the most recent quarter to $1.61 billion, while earnings per share grew 11.6% to 96 cents.
