Mexico's Softtek on the Off-shoring Landscape

I agree Steve, in today’s interwoven, “flat world” (or is it “curved” again, I have lost track), the economics of the outsourcing option are not going away. Surely the mix of where work is performed may shift, but it’s not going away.

As a result, just as companies hedge their global financial risk, they will also hedge their global operations risk. We are seeing this acutely in Central and Eastern Europe where companies from around the world are actively launching outsourced projects in the region.

The downturn will cause companies to refocus internally, and they will also reevaluate their outsourcing partners on their ability to not only lower costs, but to hedge risks and solve real business challenges through solutions and process extensions. We like to think we are enabling the "extended enterprise."

This transition will be painful for many, though, as you note, new and stronger providers will emerge who take advantage of the opportunities better than the rest.

--Larry Scott, Ness Technologies

China is the one of the best destination for outsourcing. This sector is growing very fast in China. Softtek is doing good at China.
BPOVIA is a leading virtual assistant and knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) service provider in China. BPOVIA is the only virtual assistant company ever been nominated for the prestigious "Red Herring 100 Asia" Awards 2008.

As the CEO of The Symbio Group (www.symbio-group.com), one of the largest outsourcing companies in China, I get asked all the time to compare China with India. Often times, I’m being goaded into the discussion by my Indian counterparts.

Companies like Infosys and Wipro will need to diversify their portfolios away from pure body-shopping and process competencies to technology driven advantages if they want to maintain their business momentum. It will get harder for India to continue doing its current kind of outsourcing because its labor cost advantage is being eroded by global macro movements and increased competition.

That being said, there are hundreds if not thousands of outsourcing companies in China offering commoditized, low-end services, mostly in staff augmentation. Unless these companies take the high-road and move up the value chain, they will be relegated to the dust bin of history. I often tell my managers that our business is like being on a treadmill. If you stay at your current pace, you’re not going to get anywhere. If we want our company to emerge as a global player, especially during these tough economic times, the only way to make progress is to train ourselves harder, be disciplined and focused, and condition ourselves to run faster.