Mumbai, Aug 29: Mumbai-based software services company Orient Information Technologies is planning to acquire a Canadian BPO company Webhelp. Webhelp is funded by venture capitalists and the purchase is being done in a cash-and-stock deal worth around $6 million. Orient is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the board of directors met today to approve the acquisition. Orient Information Technology has been struggling against competition for some time now. The company started as sub-contractors for foreign IT companies supplying trained IT manpower to the companies.

The acquisition is designed to ramp up its presence in the BPO segment.
Webhelp provides sales and marketing support for customers such as Nordic track, AOL, Morris Murdock Travel, and Proform.
Some of the BPO services that the company provides are customer service, data entry and processing, technical support, claims processing, telephone sales order management, e-mail campaigns, warranty management, Web-based sales, new account activation, up-selling and cross-selling and loyalty programmes. Bureau Report