Frequently Asked Questions on Offshore Outsourcing (Part 1)

Here are some answers to your questions about offshore outsourcing.

1. Why is work going offshore?
Work is migrating offshore because of the following reasons. New technologies (Internet, voice over IP, enterprise applications) make it easier to manage labor in the global economy. Also, competition and cost management push companies to go offshore when their competitors do so. Lastly, the global economic downturn makes companies focus on increased return on their IT investments.

2. Which industry is leading the offshoring wave?
Financials services firms — retail banking, investment banks, and insurance — are the leading offshore outsourcers. GE Capital, American Express and Citigroup are the leading companies involved in outsourcing. IT financial services jobs are increasingly being offshored as well.

Business process outsourcing involves low-level clerical jobs, call-center jobs, and back-office transactions processing. More complicated jobs such as analysis and financial modeling are selectively being offshored, but most high-level managerial jobs stay in the United States.

3. Where is the offshore work going?
The top five offshore outsourcing countries are India, the Philippines, Canada, Ireland, and Russia. Of these countries, Canada and Ireland have the highest average salaries, while the rest are lower-cost alternatives.

Offshore leaders also include China, Mexico and South Africa. The challengers are Brazil, the Caribbean region, Eastern Europe, Malaysia, Israel, Singapore, and Vietnam. Next in line to the challengers are Northern Ireland, Bangladesh, Ghana, Korea, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nepal, Senegal, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Thailand.

More FAQs in the days to come.


2 Comments

rssComments RSS   transmitTrackBack Identifier URI

How much money, labor, work, costs, benefits, and other did american express get by outsourcing thier call (IT) department “Captive Call Centers” to India?

Where can one get information reguarding this issue and information on why they chose this option of offshoring and the costs and benefits along with the decision?


Comment by d on February 2, 2005 3:38 pm


Hi, I’ve been living in Hyderabad, India for the last 8 months, and I have some programmer friends there. My friend is starting a business and I want to sub-contract to some of my friends but, we’re not sure about how to do that legally. I read through many articles on your site, but my questions are more logistical. Is there a right way to pay them (Western Union?)
Do, I have to do any paperwork from here (US), or in India? And, are the rules different in UK?
Anyway, any further resources you could give me would be appreciated.
Thanks!


Comment by John on October 31, 2006 8:56 pm


addLeave a comment