In a sign of interest in the staffing industry by large software and offshore outsourcing firms, Oracle Corp. and its partners, Provade Inc. and Infosys Technologies Ltd., recently announced a joint effort to target sales to staffing firms.

The companies are bringing together their software and services in a new effort aimed at increasing visibility and management of the labor supply chain for staffing firms, according to Andres Amaya, senior industry director of professional services at Oracle.

The joint effort includes Oracle software; Provade, which provides a vendor management system; and Bangalore-based Infosys, a provider of offshore outsourcing and consulting services.

Oracle and Provade have already been doing business with staffing firms. Infosys plans to enable staffing companies with more than $100 million in revenue to outsource their back office operations such as pay bill management.