Pune, India, 19 May 2009

Although legal services outsourcing has garnered a lot of media attention, there still is a sizeable proportion of the legal community that has not considered outsourcing legal services to lower cost destinations.

Offshoring of legal services to India began way back in 1995 when law firm Bickel & Brewer opened a captive facility in India. The legal services outsourcing industry started to attract significant attention only around 2005. In a matter of just a few years, the industry has grown to reach $225 million in revenues in 2008. However, this is only a very small portion (<5%) of the addressable market. According to the recent survey results, there is a low perceived benefit of outsourcing legal services amongst law firms and (if not addressed) this is likely to stunt the growth of the LPO industry.

Most of the law firms are relatively new in terms of their offshoring initiatives and have not integrated offshoring in their overall strategy. A large number of law firms, irrespective of their size, are apprehensive about sending their legal work to another country. While this does result from lawyers not being convinced about the benefits of offshoring, they also indicate concerns such as data security, client confidentiality and quality of work delivered.

Cost reduction was rated as the primary driver for offshoring legal services. Other significant drivers include client pressure to cut costs by offshoring, increasing workload, time differences and competitors’ decisions to offshore. According to Neeraja Kandala, lead analyst – Legal Services, “There seems to be some awareness about the benefits of offshoring, especially amongst those who offshore. However, for the majority, the drivers do not seem to be strong enough. Obviously, the benefits do not appear to be substantial to help over-ride their concerns.”

Data security and quality of work delivered emerged as the key concerns for law firms. Given the confidential nature of legal documents, it is understandable that law firms have apprehensions on the security aspect.

While several leading and experienced offshore legal service providers take adequate precautions to ensure that there is no data theft, this needs to be communicated to the law firms in a more convincing manner. Further, service providers need to gain the confidence of buyers that a satisfactory end product will be delivered. According to Arun Jethmalani, CEO, ValueNotes, “This is the challenge for the provider community as a whole, but inconsistency in quality between the good and not-so-good providers will remain a problem until sufficient maturity is achieved – both by buyers and sellers.”

The ValueNotes report: “Legal Services Outsourcing: What do Law Firms Think?” provides an understanding of the offshoring awareness, drivers and concerns of US and UK based law firms. The survey throws light on the perceptions towards the associated risks and rewards of outsourcing legal services to low cost destinations.

16 December, 2009 –  Kiev – Central and Eastern European Outsourcing Association are to host a set of webinars designed to present IT outsourcing potential of the largest countries from Central and Eastern Europe. The webinars are scheduled for January 2010 through March 2010 and will provide the presentation of  the opportunities for IT outsourcing development in the countries of the CEE region – Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria. The national industry associations will host the separate webinars on each country presentation.

The main objective of the webinars is to popularize the Central and Eastern European region as a provider of offshore and nearshore outsourcing IT services. The participants of the webinars will be able to receive the detailed information about each country from the region, learn the advantages of business setting up and development in the countries, level of attainment and number of the graduates of IT professions. The speakers will present the main centers of IT outsourcing in the countries and the most significant case studies.

The webinars are intended for  the audience of outsourcing services consumers, who are looking for the opportunities to collaborate, set up R&D offices in the CEE countries, and those who are interested to start working in the IT outsourcing industry.

Mr. Saulius Masalskis, Chairman and Managing Director of Baltic Outsourcing Association, noted, “It is our first series of online presentations on the general overview of the CEE countries, but we intend to hosting the webinars on continuing basis with the detailed reporting about the separate market segments and presentations from the leading CEE companies. The webinar format allows us to be more closer to our clients and to cover the sector of middle and small business, which is still not enough using the advantages of outsourcing for their business activities.”

The series of webinars will consist of 6 independent webinars, first of which will be held on 13th of January.

Webinars schedule and organizers:

13 January, 2010 – Ukraine, the webinar is hosted by Ukrainian Hi-Tech Initiative

27 January, 2010 – Romania, the webinar is hosted by Employers’ Association of the Software and Services Industry –ANIS

10 February, 2010 – Hungary, the webinar is hosted by Hungarian Service and Outsourcing Association – HOA

24 February, 2010 – Lithuania, the webinar is hosted by Baltic Outsourcing Association – BOA

10 March, 2010 – Poland, the webinar is hosted by Association of IT & Business Process Services Companies – ASPIRE

24 March, 2010 – Bulgaria, the webinar is hosted by Bulgarian Web Association – BWA

Attending of the webinars will provide an opportunity to make the first step in  the collaboration with outsourcing companies from Central and Eastern Europe.

All webinars are free to attend. Register for the webinars now! (http://ceeoa.org/en/news/ceeoa-news/registration-webinars-ceeoa/index.html)

About CEEOA

Central and Eastern European Outsourcing Association (CEEOA) (www.ceeoa.org) was founded in 2008.  The members of the association are the leading national IT and Outsourcing associations from the Central and Eastern Europe, among them Baltic Outsourcing Association (BOA), Ukrainian HI-TECH Initiative, Hungarian Service Industry and Outsourcing Association (HOA), Employers’ Association of the Software and Services Industry (ANIS) from Romania, Bulgarian Web Association (BWA) and ASPIRE – Association of IT & Business Process Services Companies (Poland). One of the main objectives of CEEOA is to promote the Central and Eastern European Region as competitive alternative to other Global offshoring destinations, and to increase services delivery quality and volume to the recognized standards.

With the ever increasing mergers, failures, competitions and consolidations, the insurance industry is facing tremendous pressure. If you want your insurance organization to gain a competitive edge, consider Outsourcing Insurance Services to India. Outsourcing insurance services to India can enable your organization to increase its efficiency and growth and also meet all the requirements of your valuable customers. India claim administration service providers can help your organization reach greater heights through increased proficiency.

India, a pioneer in providing outsourcing services across a wide range of industries has years of experience and expertise in providing quality insurance policy services, insurance services, annuity insurance services and claim administration services amongst others. Organizations in the U.S and U.K who have outsourced insurance services to India have been able to concentrate more on their core business functions while getting access to quality insurance services.

Outsource insurance services to India and benefit from expert services, organized process, quality control processes, customized services, experienced workforce and domain expertise. Outsourcing Annuity Insurance Services to India can also help your organization benefit from faster time-to-market and lower operating costs. If you are looking for professional claim administrative services, outsource to India and get access to reliable insurance services.

India Offers End-to-End Insurance Services

India offers varied insurance solutions dealing with health, property, life, annuities, reinsurance and property and casualty amongst others. In case you want a customized insurance service, you can approach your partner in India who will provide you with tailor-made solutions designed to suit your insurance service requirements. The following is a list of insurance services that can be outsourced to India:

1. Insurance Claims Services

You can outsource a wide range of insurance claims services such as loss runs, imaging, death claims, data analysis, recovery, subrogation, claims estimation, claims assignment, imaging and matured endowments amongst others. Outsource insurance services to India and benefit from accurate services.

2. Insurance Agency Management Services

India has expertise in offering agency management services such as, data exchange, representative finder, proposal generation, licensing, commission accounting, resource management, compensation and commissions amongst others.

3. Insurance Policy Administration Services

Outsource insurance policy administration services to India and get access to proficient services such as, billing, alpha inquiry, cash control, correspondence, policy changes, online enrollment, cancellations, new product introductions and case manager tools amongst others.

4. Insurance Compliance Services

India can offer insurance compliance services, such as, DMV reporting, checkfree IRS, checkfree 1099, STAT reporting to state agencies and GAAP reporting to state agencies.

5. Insurance Disbursement System Services

India has the expertise to offer disbursement systems services such as cash disbursement system, structured settlements and payments amongst others.

6. General Insurance Services

India offers a host of general insurance services such as policy conversion, imaging, workflow, document management, GL accounting, GL suspense, web channel integration, legacy system rationalization, componentization, straight through processing, architecture standardization and policy conversion amongst others.

7. Insurance Marketing/Sales Services

Outsource insurance marketing and sales services to India and get access to data warehousing, data marts, lead tracking systems, sales channel management and sales force automation amongst others.

8. Other Insurance Services That Can Be Outsourced to India

• Life insurance outsourcing solutions

• Offshore annuity insurance services

• Property and casualty insurance services

Outsource insurance services to India and give your organization a competitive advantage.

Internet Marketing Product Launches