Outsourcing services provider Progeon, a subsidiary of Infosys Technologies Inc., is the company that distributor Ingram Micro Inc. has picked to handle the jobs it is moving overseas, The Channel Insider has learned.
Progeon, which has operations in various countries, including the United States, India, the United Kingdom and Czech Republic, will handle finance functions and basic support customer calls for Ingram Micro.
Progeon is a proven business-process outsourcing provider, according to Keith Bradley, president of Ingram Micro North America. "They take business seriously and lead with customer service," Bradley said. "The Progeon team is highly skilled, professional and personable. We were impressed Day One and are confident our customers and business partners will be too."
Progeon was one of two outsourcers to which the multibillion-dollar distributor, based in Santa Ana, Calif., had narrowed the field of candidates.
Ingram Micro is in the final stages of negotiations with Progeon and expects a contract to be finalized within weeks. The distributor had hoped to have a final contract at the end of April, but as often happens in negotiations of this nature, it has taken a little longer.
During the next several months, Ingram Micro will conduct in-depth knowledge sharing and training sessions with the Progeon teams. During this time, it will run parallel operations and conduct tests to determine if and where process improvements are needed, according to Ingram Micro executives.
According to the company's Web site, Progeon provides outsourcing services in several industries, including telecom, banking and insurance. Sources said Progeon handles a number of Fortune 500 accounts. Its parent company, Infosys, is a consulting and outsourcing provider with operations in North America, Australia, Asia and Europe.
Ingram Micro's outsourcing plan is part of the company's strategy to cut costs and streamline operations.
Executives have vowed to maintain the company's level of service to customers and are taking steps to that end, including outsourcing job functions that require customer contact to a call center in the Philippines.
The Philippine call centers Ingram investigated handle U.S. calls in a more natural way than those it observed in India, whose operators tend to sound scripted, according to Bradley.
Indian locations will handle backroom transactional functions, however.
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