CSC settles Asian headquarters in Beijing
By Chen Yao (Business Weekly)
Updated: 2004-07-26 11:37

Computer Sciences Corp (CSC), a global computing service provider for the financial industry, announced last week the opening of its first China office.

Beijing CSA Computing Science Technology Co Ltd, wholly owned by CSC, will operate as the firm's Asian headquarters in providing system integration solutions for the region's leading financial firms.

The company also hopes to capture other top-tier Chinese clients, including telecommunications operators and government organizations.

"We've been in China for quite a while. Now, we are entering a fast expansion period in this country, which is emerging as one of the world's largest IT markets," said Tim Hilbert, CSC China's chairman.

He made the remarks last Tuesday during grand opening ceremonies, which are staged last Tuesday in Beijing's Zhongguancun area.

China's financial firms urgently need to upgrade their corporate systems, as their customer bases continue to balloon and their current systems are unable to efficiently handle customer services.

CSC's main clients in China include New China Life Insurance Co and Taikang Life Insurance Co, two of China's medium-sized joint-stock life insurance companies.

CSC's technology has helped Chinese insurers reduce the time required to enter insurance policy applications and to provide other functions -- including business process management and risk assessment, the company said.

"With experienced IT professionals and know-how in processing data for the financial industry, we will soon strengthen our foothold in China and quickly expand our business in the near future," said Hilbert.

CSC operates 17 outsourcing service centres in the world. Those facilities simultaneously manage more than US$7.5 billion in insurance premiums for about 150 insurance companies.

About 30 per cent of the world's 50 largest insurance companies and nearly 5,000 financial firms around the world use CSC's solutions, the company said.

CSC will redesign Chinese insurers' workflow processes and streamline their customer services to help management achieve easy control, the company said.

By eliminating processing steps, reducing handoffs and automating tasks, CSC's systems will help Chinese insurers decrease the cost of issuing life and annuity contracts while increasing productivity, the company said.

CSC has been exploring China's market since early 1990s, as its businesses in North America and other Asia-Pacific countries have been showing signs of slowing down.

CSC's commercial revenues for fiscal year 2004, in the United States, declined 4.7 per cent. In fiscal year 2003, the company's US commercial revenue dropped 10.2 per cent, indicates CSC's 2004 annual report.

The document was released earlier this month.

However, the company did not mention in its annual report its business strategies for China.

CSC believes it has tremendous opportunities to win government contracts, but acknowledges, because it is a foreign-funded firm, it will be an uphill climb.

"We have maintained a good relationship with the Chinese Government. We hope our Chinese subsidiary's ownership structure won't be a problem," said Hilbert.

CSC is also eyeing China's energy and transportation sectors, which have been growing rapidly in recent years.

CSC's strategic entry into China's market has been applauded by the company's long-standing overseas clients -- and by Beijing's municipal government.

The capital's government has been doing everything possible to turn its northwestern area into a "Silicon Valley."

"On its way to hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing will be running another competition -- to attract the world's top IT companies," Yu Jun, deputy chief of Beijing's Haidian District, said recently in a speech.

Establishment of CSC's subsidiary company in Beijing will improve the overall standards of IT solutions and will boost the city's employment rate over the long run, said Yu.

CSC employs nearly 90,000 people in 80 countries. The company employs about 300 people in China.

The Fortune 500 company reported US$14.8 billion in revenues -- from IT outsourcing, system integration and IT consulting services -- for the 12 months ended on April 2.

Financial services is CSC's largest commercial vertical market, and it represents more than 20 per cent of the company's revenues.

Over the past five years, CSC has invested more than US$2 billion in capabilities and assets to improve its ability to serve China's market, the company said.