Best practices of strategic global outsourcing - including evaluating whether there is a need to utilize offshoring - were the focus of a presentation by Geeta Sankappanavar, vice president, strategic global outsourcing, Cambridge Integrated Services, the business process outsourcing (BPO) arm of Scandent Solutions Corporation. The presentation, entitled "Navigating a Brave New World: Best Practices in Strategic Global Outsourcing," was given to executives attending the Global Services Conference, February 2, 2006 in New York.

"Making the decision to offshore is not a guarantee that the potential cost savings and quality improvement will be realized," said Sankappanavar. "By using best practices as implementation guidelines, companies can avoid major pitfalls and achieve greater returns."

She cited the need to develop a complete process map or documented knowledge repository, and ensuring the availability of a supplier, especially for knowledge-based processes, as examples of important best practices.

A proven expert with years of experience managing all aspects of outsourcing and offshoring for major multinationals, Sankappanavar is leading Cambridge's strategic expansion in the U.S. into specific industry and service verticals including finance and accounting, banking and mortgage, insurance, and healthcare BPO. She has been an invited panelist and speaker at numerous conferences including the Conference Board's European Shared Services Council, the Wharton India Global Conference and the P&R Cross Border Services Conference.

Scandent is a broad based IT services company that offers business consulting, application implementation, software engineering, maintenance and support services. It is promoted by Scandent Group, which has in its fold IT (Scandent Solutions) and BPO (Cambridge) companies that collectively employ over 3,500 professionals serving customers on 4 continents through over 70 locations worldwide. Scandent strives to deliver differentiated solutions with impeccable quality.

The IT services of the firm include strategy, application implementation, software engineering and support solutions. BPO services focus on process consulting; transaction processing including mortgage application and renewal; medical billing; finance, accounting, and banking back office support; insurance claims administration and processing; inbound and outbound contact centers to support all of these activities; and other transaction processes that require knowledge-based decision making.

On September 6, 2005, the Board of Directors of Scandent Solutions decided to merge the company with Cambridge Services Holdings LLC. The merger is subject to the requisite regulatory and shareholder approvals. The resultant entity will be renamed as Cambridge Solutions Ltd.

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