IT outsourcing in Mexico and other countries has started to trend to application maintenance. Corporate applications always need adjusting, as bugs are found or design flaws are uncovered. These adjustments are small but have a huge impact on the workload of software companies, such as Unisys.

"Companies are facing the prospect of backlogged upgrades which need to be completed, as the market demands faster response time in this area." says Luis Aburto of Scio Consulting, a provider of software development services based in Morelia, Mexico. "Coordination is easy, issues get resolved in minutes, and overall satisfaction is very high. We are now expanding to open an office in Silicon Valley to serve better our growing customer base."

Many IT companies are looking to Mexico rather than other countries for Outsourcing this maintenance changes because of the closer alignment with U.S. intellectual property laws, and greater cultural compatibility.

The Mexican government is also actively promoting the growth of the country's IT industry, particularly IT exports. Programs such as Mexico-IT (www.mexico-it.com), ProSoft (www.software.net.mx/en) and TechBA (www.techba.com) provide U.S. companies a way to identify and evaluate Mexican IT outsourcers.

"The nearshore model has produced great results for our clients," says Luis Aburto.

About the author: Glenn Hefley is a freelance writer, and Google Answers Researcher
www.glennhefley.com