Mar

20

An online article from Britain takes a crack at off-shore outsourcing, stating that many of the advantages of off-shore outsourcing fail at the face of the global recession.

 

 

 

The article’s objections against off-shoring are:

  1. In 2008, India’s economy rate of  inflation rose to 11% , a new 13-year high.
  2. Off-shore outsourcing requires local liaison to front-end the agreement which furtehr adds to cost.
  3. In the last two years, undersea network cables have been damaged at least twice in shipping or geological incidents resulting in significant degradation to communications and the time-critical transfer of important information.
  4. Different standards of regulation and trustworthiness outside of Britain, for example the crimes of Bernard Madoff in the US, and most recent the USD 1billion Satyam fraud in India.
  5. A successful outsourcing arrangement requires an understanding of culture, local language and business practices
  6. British jobs for British workers and British Graduates for British Employment pays British Taxes.

Some of these objections are valid to a certain degree but I could not help but beg to differ, point for point:

1. True, India’s prices are going up. Which country’s is not these days? The attraction of India being a cheap source of labor and innovation is no longer justifiable.

However, India is not the only cheap and competent outsourcing destination in the world. Many others, such as the Philippines being one of the most prominent, are emerging with the solid infrastructure and competent professionals to meet the demands of business globally.

2. This is not often the case. Most often, a firm does business directly with the off-shore service provider, this is the foundation for trust and transparency. Besides outsourcers are affected by the global recession too and are pushing to promote themselves as more cost-effective, more competent than others. Thus, rates could be competitively cheaper.

3. This is almost saying that once a year, these submarine communication cables need to be repaired or modified. For me, these are quite reasonable odds.

These submarine cable systems are vital, the nervous system of a world in the Information age. Business, communications, governments, a lot are riding on keep these networks to remain operational, repairs have to be done in the most immediate time frame possible. True there are some slowdowns in data transfers, but for a period once every year? I for one think that that’s something one should just deal with and keep moving forward.

4. True, regulations are different in every region but business ethics are similar throughout the world. One just has to pay due diligence in screening their outsourcing options carefully, and police the business activities. This is sound practice, whether it is business that is domestic or off-shore.

Crime, such as fraud, occurs everywhere, Britain itself is not excluded. Credit fraud are being done to British parents by their own children to the tune of 191 million pounds a year.

5. A business arrangement or relationship, a partnership, is a professional two-way process.

Give and take, you have to accommodate to the culture, local language and business practices to the country you’re outsourcing to, but your outsourcing service provider will also be accommodating your business the same professional courtesy– proficiently comprehending your business culture, practices, communication of needs and goals in order to achieve success.

6. I find this a hard point to argue with. All I can say is the British labor have to do what they’re legendary for: keeping a stiff upper lip and stepping up to the challenge. British business do pay takes but they need profits to make that happen. With competent labor available at cost-effective rates from other regions in the world, the British labor should compete to conquer.

They should not be backing down since off-shore outsourcing is not going to let up.

Outsourcing Solutions, Inc. – your outsourcing partner!

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