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Janet Ong at Bloomberg News reports that Microsoft will add 1,000 engineers in China to the 3,000 it already employs there. About 10% will be in research and the remainder in product development. No word on which products.
Reuters observes that Microsoft’s current total employment in China is 5,000 and Todd Bishop notes that Microsoft currently has 35,000 employees in the Redmond area. No word yet from the labor union trying to organize Microsoft employees and temps, but I’m sure they will have something to say.
The death of popular local film actor Rajkumar on Wednesday threw India’s IT hub Bangalore into disarray as fans went on a rampage, demanding that shops and other establishments close as a mark of mourning for the 78-year-old star.
The facility of Microsoft Research Lab India Pvt. Ltd. was stoned Wednesday evening by fans of the actor, according to a lab spokeswoman.
Expecting more unrest, a number of IT companies have declared today, when the actor’s funeral is scheduled, a day off for their staff.
Microsoft was among those closing according to Reuters:
Leading IT companies – including Wipro, iGATE and Infosys, India’s second-largest software company, along with multinationals Microsoft, Dell Inc and IBM – said they would stay closed today.
“Most companies are forced to close. Nobody wants to take a chance,” an official at a multinational firm said on the condition that that the person and company not be named.
More details by following the links, but the death toll is up to five.
Microsoft’s offshoring efforts continue apace as Barkha Shah reports at the Business Standard:
Microsoft India Development Centre (MIDC) is singularly working on developing the second version (V2) of its disk-based back-up product, Data Protection Manager (DPM).
The first version of the product (DPM V1) was a collaborative effort between the Hyderabad and Redmond centres of the $39.79 billion software behemoth.
According to Srini Koppolu, managing director of MIDC:
The 1,000-people strong centre has almost grown 10-fold in the last four years.
MIDC has worked on adding features like remote access, digital imaging and the likes for Windows Vista too. “While we work on adding features to Microsoft’s products, we have also successfully set up core centres of excellence (CoE) on radio frequency identification (RFID) and data protection,” he added.
…
DPM V2 is likely to be released in the second half of 2007. Meanwhile, the RFID platform technologies (completely done out of MIDC) will be released by the end of 2006 or early 2007. MIDC is also working on developer and platform offerings for mobile devices.
Barbara Darrow at InformationWeek:
Microsoft is weighing a move into “smart shoring.”
The software giant is considering an “onshore-only” support option for new products, including its upcoming Office 2007, sources said.
If the vendor goes this route, it will join the likes of Dell and other tech companies burned by over-reliance on offshore support.
Currently, customers and partners calling support are routed to whatever call center is available. There are exceptions. Some government agencies now mandate onshore support from vendors.
…
Microsoft likely will charge a premium for an onshore support option, sources said.
Much more by following the link, but as we are all aware, language problems add to the general frustration of calling a help desk, particularly when it is a complex problem not solvable via scripted answers. Sweetening the customer support experience with exclusive or selective onshoring seems like a smart move and I’d bet it was suggested via customer satisfaction measurement.
