Ordina finally gives up on BPO

(By Anthony Miller – Friday, 27 Feb 2009 9:55am). Netherlands-based mid-cap ‘local hero’ Ordina has finally thrown in the towel on its loss-making BPO operations, as the company mooted back in November. This is a huge back-down for CEO Ronald Kasteel, who had pitched Ordina’s BPO tent in the heart of the financial services sector, focusing on Tier 2/3 banks. BPO was also Ordina's primary source of new-name accounts. Wrong time, wrong place. Ordina is also one of the last bastions of onshore delivery. In my previous incarnation ‘on the dark side’ as an equities analyst, I had many spirited conversations with Kasteel on the need to develop offshore delivery capability. He was never a believer until December 2006 when the only way he could win a major 7-year deal with Rabobank was by partnering with Cognizant. Cognizant is great at playing ‘Trojan horse’, doing a similar partnership with Germany’s T-Systems. As Logica and others beef up their offshore delivery into Ordina’s home market, the future just has got to look bleak.