Keynote address "Fasten Your Seatbelts" by David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor's, kick started the event as he deliberated on the most topical issue in the U.S. currently, the dreaded 'Recession.' According to Mr. Wyss it is a 'W' form of recession experienced by the U.S. which is
most likely to fade away by 2009.

The panel discussion on strategies in "Global Sourcing" threw light on how some firms are looking at re-onshoring services. In the realm of KPO, the project scope has to be clearly defined and the panel opined that clients don't have to wait for the KPO industry to mature. Leveraging of costs and quality is possible even by current standards.

The final session, discussing outsourcing models, came up with interesting observations stating that most in-house operations can meet 50 percent efficiency, but resorting to outsourcing techniques can increase efficiencies up to 80 percent.

FSO Excellence Awards provided a fitting finale gracefully presented by Rekha Vatsa, CEO of FSOkx. The winners felt duly recognized and pleased to walk away with trophies for their commendable contribution in business partnerships. Award winners announced in five categories are :

- Onshore Deal of The Year - IBM Corporation
- Offshore Deal of The Year - Wipro Technologies
- Outsourcing Relationship Excellence - Computer Sciences Corporation
- Technology Innovation - HCL Technologies
- Globalization Strategy - Tata Consultancy Services

Dr. Shubhro Sen, one of the esteemed judges for the awards said, "I think what stood out was the fine quality of the nominees, each of the award categories showcased global companies performing very well on complex projects and multi-year initiatives." This feeling was seconded by another judge William Gibson, CEO, Ivy Creek Associates, who stated, "It was my pleasure to serve as a judge for the 2008 FSO Excellence Awards. The quality of the participants made this process enjoyably difficult...it was difficult to choose from amongst the submissions; it was enjoyable because they were of such high quality. These awards were significant because the winners were chosen from an elite group of peers...service providers that are recognized in the industry as being the 'best of breed.' As the initial awards bestowed by FSO, this class of participants established a very high bar for succeeding years; that is a challenge to which quality service providers should aspire. My heartiest congratulations to all of
the participants and applause to FSO for initiating this process."

Rekha Vatsa summed up by saying, "FSO Excellence Awards recognized resilience and brilliance of the service providers in the financial industry. It was a tough task for the judges to select the nominees and the winners due to the high quality nominations that were received. Congratulations to all the nominees and the winners."

About FSOkx
FSO Knowledge Xchange is a unique media and research initiative focused on all aspects of financial services worldwide. FSO Knowledge Xchange produces and promotes world-leading publications, summits and conferences. The events focus on various topics in the financial services industry for
senior decision makers at exclusive locations around the world.

www.FSOkx.com