One of the topics I have discussed as a consultant with a few organisations is the offshore outsourcing. Offshore outsourcing is a new trend that has been picking up steam recently due to the economical woes. Organisations consider offshore outsourcing usually for one or a combinations of two reasons:
Cost Reduction: Organisations can take advantage of the relatively cheap labour that can be accessed from other countries, in particular from developing countries.
Expertise: Certain technical skillset might not be available in the local market and can only be found offshore, skillset such as programming.
On the other hand, opponents argue, offshore outsroucing will result in lower quality of service, more complex management, time differences, Cultural differences, Security Concerns, language barriers and few other challanges.
In my opnion, outsroucing in general, and in particular offshore outsroucing should be a strategic business decision and not just a cheap labour option. A strategic business decision includes: Technology infrastructure planning, Impact assessment, Security assessment, Regulation Compliance along with the organization’s other requirements.
Offshore outsroucing is a big step with many implications and careful thought and planning is needed to avoid a future disaster.
Thanks for reading.
Nick