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CMO Axis Outsourcing Services Private Limited, the first MPO, was launched today in Chennai. Founded by Vinod Harith, former global head of marketing communications, Wipro Technologies and Pramod Harith, former head of marketing for MeritTrac Services, this company will address the demand for outsourcing and offshoring of marketing services.
Outsourcing of marketing services have long been associated with advertising or PR or offshoring of peripheral processes like analytics, MIS or research. Core marketing processes like content and marketing communication, email marketing and demand generation, new media strategies and thought leadership are prime candidates for remote delivery with India offering world class skills combined with an over 60 percent cost savings. CMO Axis will also focus on offering an outsourced CMO office service to Indian SMBs where the need for parttime, high quality marketing is very pronounced.
CMO Axis also announced the constitution of a mentor board comprising industry experts and practitioners who will guide the company through its formation and growth. Mentors include Jeff Lande, Senior Vice President, IT Association of America, Ajit Maira, Senior Vice President, IT Services Marketing Association of America ITSMA and former marketing lead at global organizations like CA, Xerox, Digital Equipment Corp., and IBM and Mukul Pandya, Editor, Knowledge at Wharton of the Wharton Business School.
Commenting on the potential for outsourcing of marketing processes, Jeff Lande, Senior Vice President, IT Association of America said, With the growth in maturity of outsourcing, leading global organizations are evaluating newer business processes that can be delivered remotely. CMO organizations are today faced with the challenge of expanding brand awareness globally while under increased budgetary pressure. Many have, or are beginning to realize, that taking advantage of expert marketing and related support functions wherever they reside is one way to achieve this goal.
According to an October 2007 report from First Research, the market for outsourced graphic design services in the US alone accounts for USD8 Bn of which the top 50 firms account for less than 20 percent of the industry revenues. Most firms are small, single location shops with less then 4 employees and average revenues of USD500,000 and 30 percent of the graphic designers are self employed. This infers that the market is cost sensitive and highly fragmented with limited brand loyalty. This presents a big opportunity for offshoring to a professional, scalable outfit.
Speaking on MPOs potential to be the next big outsourcing wave, CMO Axis founder and director, Vinod Harith said There are three key factors driving outsourcing in the CMOs office today the increasing globalization of marketing with specific focus on emerging markets, the cost pressures on the CMO compounded by an impending slowdown and finally, the paucity of skilled people who understand the global and services marketing space. We believe that India is well placed to be a credible sourcing destination for marketing services given the growing pool of qualified marketers and our inherent cost advantages.
As proof of concept, CMO Axis has already been contracted by three SME organizations to be their outsourced marketing office and has also signed on with a leading media group in India to handle their design and content outsourcing requirements.
Commenting on their decision to partner with CMO Axis, Ranjan Sinha, CEO, Summit HR Worldwide, a global recruitment process outsourcing company said, Apart from keeping our costs variable and predictable, outsourcing our marketing to experts helps us hit the ground running and access industry best practices. We are happy to partner with CMO Axis and believe that they have the right credentials to be an extended part of our team and help us in meeting our marketing objectives.
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