Outsourcing Malaysia (OM) to Drive the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) - Malaysia Chapter

Cyberjaya, Wed, 31 October 2007 – Outsourcing Malaysia (OM), an initiative of the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (PIKOM), announced today that it will drive the Malaysia chapter of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP).

Chairman of OM as well as PIKOM David Wong informed that Malaysia is the first South East Asian country to set up the IAOP chapter. “The primary purpose of the IAOP Malaysia chapter is to position the country as a strategic location focused on outsourcing services spanning its core competencies. Its principal aim is to enable IAOP members and the global sourcing industry with thought leadership and information from Malaysia,” Wong said.

Currently, there are three professional individuals from Malaysia who are IAOP members and Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) is the only Malaysian corporate member. “The target is to recruit 50 professional individuals by the end of next year,” Wong said adding that IAOP professional membership costs US$345 (RM1200) per annum and corporate membership costs USD15,000 per annum .

At the opening speech of the inauguration of the IAOP Malaysia Chapter, Wong said that the chapter will work closely with other regional (and global) chapters as well as the government via MDeC to bring together shared competencies, including contributing directly to creating outsourcing professionals within the larger region through IAOP’s Certified Outsourcing Professional program. “To support the COP program, OM and MDeC will allocate RM100,000 in subsidies,” said Wong who is targeting to qualify 10 Malaysian COPs by end of 2008 by subsidising 50 per cent of their certification programs. The COP program costs US$1000 for each individual.

“Apart from focusing to provide insights into location competencies specific to South-East Asia, this chapter will also serve as a forum for chief-level decision makers, providers, buyers and advisory firms in South East Asia to network, collaborate and share best practices in the industry”, Wong explained.
He added that more activities by OM will be incorporated to drive IAOP’sMalaysia chapter. These include collaborations with local institutions of higher learning and professional organisations on the development of training materials, thought leadership seminars and white paper series on outsourcing.

Wong informed that the setting up of the chapter will encourage more knowledge workers to be involved in the local shared services and outsourcing (SSO) industry. He cited that the local SSO industry is currently worth US$ 300 million growing at a CAGR of 30% year on year, compared with the current global IT outsourcing size of US$ 24 billion. In 2012, the Malaysian SSO industry is targeted to be worth US$ 2 billion providing 300 000 jobs.

The IAOP Malaysian chapter was inaugurated by Dato’ Narayanan Kanan, senior vice president of MDeC’s industry development division. “MDeC recognises that OM is one of the key organisations that are driving the SSO sector in Malaysia. We will continue to work with all parties that are willing to come forward with progressive and innovative programs for industry development,” said Kanan.

About IAOP -The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP) is a global membership-based organisation headquartered in New York. It was formed in 2005, having been carved out of a previous entity called "Michael F.Corbett & Associates", a firm that has been in action since 1989, hosting the Outsourcing World Summit each year.

Comprising a total of over 500 corporate members and over 40 000 professional members worldwide, its members are line and staff, executives and managers, with the vision and expertise it takes to design, implement, and manage their company’s global corporate ecosystem, thus shaping the future of outsourcing as a management practice, as a profession and as an industry. 
This new breed of outsourcing professional enhances their company’s success and their own careers by taking advantage of a wide-array of association services including networking, research, training, and certification.

IAOP works through focused committees namely the "Strategic Advisory Board'. The board is comprised of executives representing the association’s Founding Members as well as key industry participants invited by the board to be Executive Members. Through their commitment to advancing outsourcing’s professional standards, IAOP members distinguish themselves every day as preferred customers, providers, and advisors with whom to work. IAOP’s standards program is led by the Outsourcing Standards Board -- a separate not-for-profit organisation created by IAOP expressly for the purpose of developing and advancing industry-wide standards and certification programs.

MDeC (Multimedia Development Corporation) has been an active member of IAOP for over two years. Recently MDeC, as a corporate member of IAOP received approval to commence the Malaysia Chapter, which shall form part of the international network of chapters. As one of the Outsourcing Malaysia (OM)-MDeC strategic partnership program, OM which is the initiation of PIKOM; will be taking the lead to drive this chapter.

About OM - Outsourcing Malaysia is a consortium led by senior industry leaders with the collaboration of the Malaysia Debt Ventures (MDV), Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (PIKOM). Its mission is to promote and develop Malaysia’s outsourcing service industry as a global hub for high-value sourcing activities.

The prime objective of this organisation is to enhance global visibility of Malaysian service provider capabilities to the global buyers, and to promote the outsourcing industry to another level. OM shall focus on enabling both buyers and providers of services to work together on addressing service needs, within the aegis of global best-practices and competencies.