NEW DELHI: Software company NIIT has bagged an industry accolade of the
"Outsourcing Contract of the Year" for its partnership with ING Group,
an integrated financial service organization.
The award was conferred on NIIT as part of The Banker's annual "Service
Contracts of the Year 2001" awards in London. The Banker is a premier,
global business publication from the Financial Times Group.
The award comes in recognition of NIIT's expertise in "Legacy"
technologies and platforms that provide the key to its partnership with ING.
Since 1999 ING has outsourced a series of major projects to NIIT. Specific
strategic projects have included the continuous maintenance of ING's constantly
evolving Project Information Tracking System; participation in the development
and design of ING's first Shared Service Center for mortgages in the
Netherlands; the establishment of the first Global Support Competence Center and
the upgrade of a common payment system for ING Europe.
The outsourcing model can provide significant advantages for the financial
services sector. In 2001, NIIT's work on ING's Project Information Tracking
System reduced costs for new phases of the development by approximately 30 per
cent and also drastically shortened the throughput time.
Over the last 12 months NIIT has established a dedicated Center of Competence
in Legacy technologies and platforms for ING in India, with a team that has
grown from four to nearly 100 software professionals.
Rahul Patwardhan, president, NIIT Europe, commented, "NIIT and ING have
established an extremely successful working partnership. What started as an
onsite pilot project has matured into a large outsourcing assignment."
"The banking sector has lagged in its committment to outsource but is
now the single largest sector with a £5.16 billion annual spending on
outsourcing in the UK alone. We expect this to grow strongly. ING is a
frontrunner in this sector, having acknowledged the strategic benefits of
outsourcing and having adopted this model for IT project development," he
added.