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stories filed under: "outsourcing"
Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick

Wed, Apr 8th 2009 3:57pm


Filed Under:
outsourcing, patents, publicity

Companies:
ibm



IBM Abandons More Outrage-Provoking Offshoring Patent Requests

from the patent-review-by-pr dept

theodp writes "As we've seen before, sometimes all it takes is a little bad PR to get IBM to ditch a patent. More recently, Big Blue took a break from its stealth U.S. layoffs to withdraw a patent application for offshoring jobs while maximizing government tax breaks, saying it was 'filed in error'. And before bad PR lightning could strike thrice, IBM preemptively abandoned another patent application last Friday, this one for Selecting Shared Service Centers in another country ('e.g., India') and staffing them with less-productive-but-cheaper IT workers. Guess this one was 'filed in error' too!"

7 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
News You Could Do Without

News You Could Do Without

by Mike Masnick

Wed, Apr 9th 2008 3:31pm


Filed Under:
ads, antitrust, outsourcing, partnerships

Companies:
google, microsoft, yahoo



Yahoo So Desperate To Stay Away From Microsoft, It's Starting To Use Google Ads

from the now-that's-desperation dept

Last summer there was speculation that a bold step for Yahoo to take to revive its sagging prospects would be to ditch its own ad system and outsource it to Google. Despite Yahoo trying to catch up for many years, Google's ad system just works much, much better. It would save Yahoo a ton of money and probably create better returns -- even if it would help fuel Google too. However, Yahoo pretty much laughed off the suggestion... until now. Being aggressively pursued by Microsoft can have that effect -- especially as white knight rescuers seem few and far between (i.e., they don't seem to exist at all). So, with that, the news is breaking that Yahoo is finally going to test running Google's ads. It's a "small scale" test, only running for a couple weeks and only on a small percentage (less than 3%) of Yahoo's inventory. But, assuming it goes well, it'll likely lead to a much bigger shift. Of course, Microsoft was quick to denounce the deal, claiming that the Justice Department would have a field day over the antitrust issues raised, but so far Microsoft doesn't have such a great track record in getting the DOJ to act on its antitrust complaints.

17 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
News You Could Do Without

News You Could Do Without

by Mike Masnick

Fri, Nov 9th 2007 5:02pm


Filed Under:
business model patents, call centers, offshoring, outsourcing, patents

Companies:
at&t



AT&T Seeks Patent For Limiting Access To U.S. Workers

from the this-is-patent-worthy? dept

theodp writes "To be fair, IBM isn't the only corporation guilty of demanding U.S. patents for outsourcing methods. For example, AT&T Knowledge Ventures has a patent pending for Managing Incoming Telephone Calls at a Call Center, an invention that calls for transferring callers to offshore call centers unless advance payment is received for the privilege of speaking to someone in the United States. 'Such an option may be beneficial to callers who have difficulties with accents or who have personal or political agendas against outsourcing,' explains Ma Bell 2.0. AT&T's patent claims also cover buying down wait time ('The current wait time is 34 minutes. You may reduce your wait time by a minute for each dollar you are willing to pay. Please enter the number of minutes/dollars you want.')."

Beyond the ridiculousness of the very concept, I've heard such an idea talked about for years. It's a pretty straightforward and obvious idea -- but it's one that few others were interested in implementing (or patenting) as it would likely piss off users. Apparently AT&T doesn't worry about such things. In the meantime, in March of 2004 (about a year and a half before AT&T filed for its patent), I wrote about how the company E-Loan was offering something quite similar. Rather than an upfront payment, E-Loan offered customers a choice of an onshore or offshore call center person, with the knowledge that an offshore support person would help them get a loan faster and an onshore one would take longer. That seems pretty similar to the idea of paying -- it's just that the cost is in time instead of money. Even if this isn't direct prior art, it certainly suggests that these types of ideas have been floating around for quite some time and hardly should be entirely "owned" by one company.

24 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
Earnings, IPOs, and the like

Earnings, IPOs, and the like

by Joseph Weisenthal

Wed, Jul 11th 2007 9:58am


Filed Under:
earnings, outsourcing

Companies:
infosys



Infosys Still Humming, Despite Pressures

from the pushing-on dept

There have been a lot of questions raised about the business prospects for Indian IT outsourcing firms, particularly due to wage pressure, the strength of the rupee against the dollar and a shortage of talented workers. One of the big ones in this group, Infosys, has reported earnings that should help allay people's fears, at least to some extent. While the Rupee is predicted to be a drag going forward, the core business, as measured in dollars, remains quite healthy. In other words, labor and currency concerns aren't stopping the company from profitably carrying out its business, at least not yet. The fact that Infosys continues to thrive in spite of theheadwinds is likely a reflection of its recognition that it's not just an "Indian" outsourcing firm, as they're typically perceived as, but a global firm, with a range of value-added offerings that happens to have a large base in India.

8 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
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