Orcon's Manila outsourcing under review | Stuff.co.nz

Orcon's new chief executive Greg McAlister says he will review Kordia's decision to outsource the company's customer support to Manila.

The former Vodafone and Telecom executive said he planned to grow the company by providing cloud-based applications and services, so Orcon could become a one-stop technology shop for small businesses.

McAlister was appointed chief executive yesterday by the group of private investors who bought the company from state-owned enterprise Kordia this week, but said he was not personally a shareholder.

The investors, led by Auckland technologist Warren Hurst, are understood to have paid between $30 million and $35m for the business.

Fifty jobs went at Orcon when Kordia decided in October to outsource its contact centre to a service provider in Manila. McAlister said the provider had since been sold to another firm.

"One of the things I will be looking at is how well is that working for us and our customers. That is what I want to understand before making any decisions." ?

Several telecommunications firms are understood to have turned down the opportunity to buy Orcon for between $40 million and $60m.

The company has just under 60,000 customers, most of them consumers.

McAlister said he planned to expand Orcon's consumer business but saw an opportunity to develop a new set of products for business customers.

"The buyers and I believe that is a segment we need to go after. With the roll-out of ultrafast broadband and affordable bandwidth, I see there is a role for Orcon to start to bring that together with software-as-a-service and to provide cloud-based services, which include connectivity and applications.

"People have been talking about the cloud for a long time, but I still don't see a provider in the market saying 'here a service that works for you that has got your payroll, inventory management and accounting'. The local dentist could run their practice without the need to buy hardware or own software."?? ?

Wellington-based IDC Research analyst Glen Saunders agreed no-one had "cracked" the small business market, but said Telecom and Vodafone were making strides.

"You are start to get a lot more complex information technology requirements from small businesses and I think they are looking to their telcos to provide solutions, or at least access to those solutions."

- ? Fairfax NZ News

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/8571111/Orcons-Manila-outsourcing-under-review

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