Nowadays when we speak of outsourcing and offshoring we generally think of services being sent from the US or Europe to lower cost locations like China, the Phillippines, and India. However, no one ever thinks of it the other way around...why? Well this is the argument I've been trying to make for a long time...outsourcing defintely involves the cost factor but it also about getting access to some of the best talent and expertise. Sharing of knowledge is what it should be all about. So in what seems to be a role reversal, both India and China have decided to offshore the back office operations of two banks to Hewlett Packard.

The Bank of India has signed a 10 year, $150 million outsourcing deal to implement and manage the bank's core banking solution across 750 major branches in India. China's state-owned China Development Bank (CDB) has given HP about US$10 million to manage its hotline, IT equipment outsourcing, customer technical training and systems management. The BOI deal also includes HP implementing and managing a data warehousing and document imaging solution and help the bank integrate its tele-banking, Internet-banking and ATM systems. Read more about this...

And in a further twist...if you can't beat the trend go with it. Several Britishers are coming to work in India in call centers. They get paid really well, the perks are fantastic, and they seem to like the good lifestyle!

Outsourcing is not a singular concept where there is a set pattern ...it is constantly taking on new dimensions, evolving to incorporate new trends and ideas, as the above examples illustrate.