Be prepared for BPO
Learn how IT and the Web have enabled companies to outsource entire business processes and understand how BPO can create a competitive advantage.

The Rush to Send Back-Office Business Overseas - Knowledge@Wharton
Learn about the pros and cons of business process outsourcing.

Building a Case for BPO - For Buyer's Eyes Only - Outsourcing Centre
Know everything you wanted to know but didn't know who to ask about procuring BPO in the brave new world of enterprise outsourcing.

Buyers Guide to Offshore Outsourcing - CIO
Wondering where to send your call centres, application development and QA testing? Check the map for a worldwide comparison of prices, risks and other critical considerations.

Outsourcing Metrics Reports
Learn all about how to measure the outsourcing processes.

COPC
COPC is a leading authority on customer contact centre operations. The COPC-2000® Standard now has three versions:
– Vendor Management Organization (VMOs)
– Customer Service Provider (CSP) Base Standard
– Customer Service Provider (CSP) Gold Standard

For more information click here.

The ISO 17799
ISO 17799 is "a comprehensive set of controls comprising best practices in information security". It is essentially an internationally recognized generic information security standard.

Its predecessor, BS7799-1, has existed in various forms for a number of years, although the standard only really gained widespread recognition following publication by the International Standards Organization (ISO) in December 2000. Formal certification and accreditation were also introduced around the same time.

Learn more about the ISO-17799 directory, Compliance tools, Auditors, Risk Analysis, and downloads by clicking here.

Financial Privacy: The Gramm-Leach Bliley Act
The Financial Modernization Act of 1999, also known as the “Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act” or GLB Act, includes provisions to protect consumers’ personal financial information held by financial institutions. There are three principal parts to the privacy requirements: the Financial Privacy Rule, Safeguards Rule and pretexting provisions. For more information click here.

Principles of Data Protection - The rules
Anyone processing personal data must comply with the eight enforceable principles of good practice. They say that data must be:

– fairly and lawfully processed;
– processed for limited purposes;
– adequate, relevant and not excessive;
– accurate;
– not kept longer than necessary;
– processed in accordance with the data subject's rights;
– secure;
– not transferred to countries without adequate protection.
– Personal data covers both facts and opinions about the individual. It also includes information regarding the intentions of the data controller towards the individual, although in some limited circumstances exemptions will apply. With processing, the definition is far wider than before. For example, it incorporates the concepts of 'obtaining', holding' and 'disclosing'.

The Full explanation of the principles can be found here

Safe Harbor
The European Commission’s Directive on Data Protection went into effect in October,1998, and would prohibit the transfer of personal data to non-European Union nations that do not meet the European “adequacy” standard for privacy protection. While the United States and the European Union share the goal of enhancing privacy protection for their citizens, the United States takes a different approach to privacy from that taken by the European Union.

In order to bridge these different privacy approaches and provide a streamlined means for U.S. organizations to comply with the Directive, the U.S. Department of Commerce in consultation with the European Commission developed a "safe harbor" framework. For more information click here

Business Diagnostics and Useful links for individuals
SME Digital provides online business diagnostics. Other useful links on the site for Private medical insurance, Travel Insurance, Airport parking.