Outsourcing began with just labour intensive and low skill tasks being offshored, but has now shifted to more skilled work being sent abroad to countries like India. This is where the heart of the controversy lies. High skilled white collar workers are losing their jobs. The debate has been raging for quite some time now and has been magnified because of the upcoming US elections where it is a key electoral issue.
There are several articles that have recently quoted a few Indian American corporates who have had a problem with outsourcing. So anti outsourcing parties immediately assume that even people of Indian origin doubt the capability of professionals from the country of their origin. Dev Ittycheria, the chief executive at Bladelogic, a network management software company, felt that the cost benefit was not always worth the effort. Another Indian American at the same company, Vijay Manwani feels that there is a lot of hype around outsourcing and once that dies down all the jobs will come back to the US. Such comments have led to the assumption that Indians cannot be creative and innovative and can only handle more routine and specific tasks.
I completely disagree with this assumption. The success of an outsourcing venture relies on several factors. The capabilities of the vendor, their experience and expertise, the ability to grasp concepts easily, and other such vendor specific issues are of course important, but i believe a large part of the success of the relationship involves the company that is outsourcing. First of all, outsourcing is clearly not meant for everything or everyone...some tasks are best kept in house especially the ones that involve innovation or creation of something new not because Indians are incapable of thinking beyond the "given", but because invention is best carried out in house by the company. Geographical distance and difficulty in communicating exactly what one wants will hinder such work if outsourced since there are no clear rules when it comes to the creative process. There is a lot of discussion, brain storming, debate, experimenting, and risk taking involved and this un predictable process should always be undertaken inhouse. Offshore vendors can definitely carry out the work, but this process is something very personal to each company. Bassab Pradhan, the senior VP of worldwide sales for Infosys Technologies, believes that companies that want to outsource should clearly define their needs. This would involve thorough research into whether it is completely necessary to outsource a particular task. Cost effectiveness is no longer the most popular reason for outsourcing though many may believe it is the only reason. Cost effectiveness is important, but there is also great value addition in terms of quality and productivity. One just has to be sure of what one wants and not see outsourcing as a cure for all the problems in a company.
There are several articles that have recently quoted a few Indian American corporates who have had a problem with outsourcing. So anti outsourcing parties immediately assume that even people of Indian origin doubt the capability of professionals from the country of their origin. Dev Ittycheria, the chief executive at Bladelogic, a network management software company, felt that the cost benefit was not always worth the effort. Another Indian American at the same company, Vijay Manwani feels that there is a lot of hype around outsourcing and once that dies down all the jobs will come back to the US. Such comments have led to the assumption that Indians cannot be creative and innovative and can only handle more routine and specific tasks.
I completely disagree with this assumption. The success of an outsourcing venture relies on several factors. The capabilities of the vendor, their experience and expertise, the ability to grasp concepts easily, and other such vendor specific issues are of course important, but i believe a large part of the success of the relationship involves the company that is outsourcing. First of all, outsourcing is clearly not meant for everything or everyone...some tasks are best kept in house especially the ones that involve innovation or creation of something new not because Indians are incapable of thinking beyond the "given", but because invention is best carried out in house by the company. Geographical distance and difficulty in communicating exactly what one wants will hinder such work if outsourced since there are no clear rules when it comes to the creative process. There is a lot of discussion, brain storming, debate, experimenting, and risk taking involved and this un predictable process should always be undertaken inhouse. Offshore vendors can definitely carry out the work, but this process is something very personal to each company. Bassab Pradhan, the senior VP of worldwide sales for Infosys Technologies, believes that companies that want to outsource should clearly define their needs. This would involve thorough research into whether it is completely necessary to outsource a particular task. Cost effectiveness is no longer the most popular reason for outsourcing though many may believe it is the only reason. Cost effectiveness is important, but there is also great value addition in terms of quality and productivity. One just has to be sure of what one wants and not see outsourcing as a cure for all the problems in a company.
<< Home