Headstrong allots $50M for global acquisitions

Posted September 16, 2008

IN a bid to become a global leader in its industry, global consulting and information-technology (IT) services company Headstrong sets $50 million for global acquisitions in the business process outsourcing (BPO) and IT services industries to realize the targeted $500-million revenues by 2011 and expand its total workforce by 10,000.

Of these numbers, its offshore Manila Global Delivery Center (MDGC) is expected to contribute 15 percent of revenue target and 4,000 of the workforce goal.

“Right now we’re looking at two to three local companies for acquisition,” disclosed Arjun Malhotra, Headstrong’s chief executive officer and chairman of the board. “We still don’t know how much of the $50 million will be allotted to the Philippines [unit], but it the prospects are great. Maybe we can pour it all [here]?”

Headstrong intends to establish a strong network for its consulting, application outsourcing, product development services and business process outsourcing services. It has invested $18 million for MDGC’s operations, infrastructure and manpower.

Despite the crisis brought by the subprime mortgage in the United States, where business are forced to lower operational cost and seek outsourcing option, Malhotra is confident that growth in its Philippine operations will be sustained, mainly through operational efficiency.

Although the high turnover rate remains to be a problem in the BPO sector, MDGC believes putting other outlets in the provinces is not an option at the moment, saying they can still manage human resource requirements. At present MDGC has 650 employees and hopes to employ an additional 60 to 200 this year, most of whome are software professionals. The company’s operations are 80-percent software related.

“We have strategies to find the right people and we want to stick in the city where are pool of resources are located,” explained Nora Terrado, country manager of Headstrong Philippines. “The company has benefited from the government-funded program ‘Train-For-Work-Program’ where we found strong IT skilled people who know JAVA and Oracle applications.”
 

Source: Businessmirror.com.ph, September 16, 2008
By Louise M. Francisco