The opening keynote will set the stage for the conference by examining some key issues in the global sourcing arena and providing a vision for companies in the New Era. As the global economy recovers companies find themselves at crossroads, having to balance curtailed budgets with the need to gain more agility and a competitive edge. In this changed business environment Global Sourcing has assumed a new significance.

Larry Quinlan, CIO of Deloitte will speak from his experience on how executives can play this balancing act and leverage Global Sourcing to harness emerging opportunities as well as streamline operations. This keynote will provide valuable insights into today’s strategic priorities that will drive decision making for the coming year.

Few topics provoke more heated debate than globalization. On one hand globalization is considered essential for companies that want to survive in today’s economy, while on the other side it is blamed for job losses and the economic decline of the U.S. Executives say they hire from abroad because of deficiencies in the U.S. workforce and skills shortages while worker advocacy groups say it is all about cheap labor.

This exclusive and insightful keynote from one of the most vocal and well read globalization thought leaders will open your eyes and provide a true picture based on in depth research and objective analysis. Through some pathbreaking research which shatters some of the myths in the globalization debate, Wadhwa exposes how contentious public debates on globalization and outsourcing commonly use data which isn’t grounded in reality. He shows why globalization and outsourcing are the new reality and how this trend will continue to build even more momentum.

Finally, Wadhwa will provide concrete advice and ideas on how the U.S. can regain its edge in the global economy by understanding the new reality and focusing on its strengths such as entrepreneurship and innovation. By effectively harnessing its highly educated and skilled workforce, and balancing immigrant intellectual capital, the US can continue to be the winner rather than the victim of globalization.

Today’s globally competitive organizations require dynamic sourcing, globally integrated tools and integrated delivery. Going beyond the onshore, nearshore, offshore debate companies are now looking at ways to map their global sourcing footprint to their customer’s geographic spread and unique market needs. But how do you ensure seamless results across a complex web of functions, vendors and delivery locations?

Discovery Communications which is a global organization with presence in over 100 countries uses a Blended Sourcing approach creating the right balance between costs, risk management, quality and innovation. This session will take you on a journey through Discovery’s story which has evolved its strategy to leverage global sourcing for quality and product ingenuity while retaining their branding and strong positioning in diverse markets. Learn from the world’s leading media brand, how sourcing can be optimized without compromising on market perceptions or the need for continuous innovation.

There is significant “head-room” for further growth of the offshore IT/BPO services industry. The NASSCOM study 2008 forecasted close 4-5 times in IT and 7-8 times addressable market exists. Moreover, the current slowdown, global sourcing is likely to increase in the medium and long term.

Leading off shoring destinations like India, China, and Philippines are facing talent supply bottlenecks to meet the future demand. New locations with different process and language expertise to fill the gap of markets, which India, Philippines (largely English based) are not able to address due to inherent dynamics. In last few years, Egypt has moved step-by-step as rising start in off shoring market. This is due to its unique multilingual talent pool. This provides a unique opportunity for global sourcing requirements of customers to balance other scale locations.

In this session, Dr. Sadaany, will explain some of the global sourcing dynamics and how Egypt can help global sourcing players to succeed in their business needs; to create a win-win value proposition for all the stakeholders.

Fireside Chat with PK Agarwal.

More than ever, the pressure is on CEOs to drive bolder — and more rapid — change into their organizations. With many now turning to outsourcing initiatives that promise to further rationalize costs, install common business standards, and integrate their businesses on a more global basis, the challenge is now firmly made to both outsourcing executives and service partners to deliver on this promise. To this end, Phil Fersht and Atul Vashishta will drill deeply into client successes and the latest research on how companies and their service providers are improving business execution through outsourcing of business and IT business processes. Fersht and Vashishta will discuss the strategies CIOs, CFOs, Heads of Shared Services and other operations leaders are adopting to get more from their outsourcing initiatives and also share other strategies that can yield better outcomes.

Government IT, with an annual spend of $150 billion, is going through a dramatic shift driven by the Obama administration as well as other technological and demographic shifts. In 2008, the Obama campaign rewrote the book on campaigning by innovative use of IT and the Internet. The lessons learned during the campaign are being morphed into the business of governance in some very innovative ways.

This new spirit of openness and focus on IT is also likely to bring changes in the way we use IT in government. First, the rapid growth of mobile appliances and wireless technology will significantly support the agenda of government transparency. Second, the emergence of a culture of sharing and collaboration will further the business case for virtualization, Cloud computing, and Open Source. Finally, green IT as a moral and business imperative will continue to gain momentum. The next few years should provide for considerable innovation in the use of IT in government and hopefully the remaking of the institutions of democracy.

This timely keynote will provide valuable advice and lessons on how suppliers can shape their products and strategies to tap into new opportunities, as well as provide insights to organizations on adapting some of these innovative practices.

Some CIOs lead Change and Innovation across their organization by going beyond the traditional Outsourcing models and preferring flexibility to rigid long term engagements. The current financial challenges offer further opportunities to bring about new partnership models within and beyond the organization. This keynote by Joe Simon, CIO of Viacom, discusses how the Smart Sourcing approach focuses on multiple “under the radar” outsourcing deals with different vendors, achieving positive results with much less risk, cost and internal resistance. In short, this is an incremental approach to outsourcing that provides a much more nimble model for a global organization. Joe has pioneered this pragmatic yet strategic model and redefined enterprise boundaries to retain core talent and expertise in house. Joe will discuss how a Smart Sourcing framework based on MSAs and continual competitive bidding can enable a diversified organization to adapt to the new economic realities as well as a dynamically changing business and technology environment.