News that Accenture Life Insurance Services has won an eight-year business process outsourcing (BPO) agreement with BNP Paribas Cardif may be a sign that the European life insurance and pensions market is set for increased outsourcing activity. According to Accenture’s press release, “Accenture will manage an important portfolio of BNP…
In the waning days of 2011, a measure was introduced in Congress directed at U.S. companies utilizing overseas call centers that may not have attracted much attention. However, given the current economic environment, industry press and at least one foreign government have taken note of the bill. On December 7,…
Making the decision to terminate an outsourcing agreement is often very difficult and is usually only pursued if enforcing existing rights is not sufficient to address a customer’s major concerns or renegotiating the agreement can’t achieve the desired outcome. If a customer begins to think about terminating an agreement, it…
We have previously discussed on this blog the increasing difficulty that offshore service providers are facing in obtaining U.S. visas for its employees that are non-U.S. citizens (see “The Buzz about Visas for Offshore Service Provider Personnel and the Link to On-Shore Hiring“). The rejection rate for H-1B visa applications…
In the wake of some extreme weather during 2011 (earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, and mudslides), what better time to review your disaster recovery and business continuity (DR/BC) solution and planning processes? In some cases, DR/BC planning is a legal or regulatory requirement, but even where it is not, common sense…
Because evaluating a service provider’s security posture is more challenging in the cloud, in Part Three of this article we looked at ways to evaluate a cloud service provider’s security prior to signing the contract and some of the issues between customers and suppliers created by the SEC Guidance. In…
In Parts One and Two of this article we discussed the new Guidance issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Division of Corporation Finance that provides guidance to companies with regard to whether and how a company should disclose the impact of the risk and cost of cybersecurity incidents…
With cloud services now obtaining as much press as the fallout from Kim Kardashian’s wedding, it seems safe to say that clouds are likely to be in the business forecast for the foreseeable future. A strong answer to every IT infrastructure manager’s prayers, cloud computing can provide both a scalable…
Hot on the heels of the UK Information Commissioner’s approval of First Data’s binding corporate rules (BCRs), Viviane Reding, the Vice President of the European Commission and EU Justice Commissioner has signalled reform of the BCR scheme aimed at making BCRs even more effective. BCRs are a way of ensuring…
14 November 2011 saw First Data Corporation become the 11th entity to have binding corporate rules (BCRs) approved by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). First Data Corporation is a global electronic commerce and payment processing company. As a payment processor, secure handling of data is at the heart of…