This page provides links to offshore outsourcing news articles published in April 2004. Please note that over time some links may become broken as the various web sites are updated. We endevour to keep the links up-to-date, but inevitably some broken links will occur.

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You can also read April's News Reviews and Press Releases.

News Archive

28 April 2004 The Benefits of Offshore Outsourcing

PC Magazine

...Given our global economy, the globalization of the IT industry is inevitable. Most big IT companies do much of their business overseas and naturally want to have some of their employees in those markets. Lower wages in some countries are also a huge incentive to move operations, especially since high-speed communication removes many of the barriers to dealing with U.S.-based colleagues and customers...

...All the emphasis on offshore jobs is obscuring an important trend: Information technology jobs are changing dramatically...

28 April 2004 IBM staff in offshore outsourcing protest

VNUNet

IBM employees have staged a rally at the computer giant's annual general meeting to protest against the offshore outsourcing of US-based jobs...

26 April 2004 IT on Auction Block

eWeek

...The BBC auctions off its IT unit. Plus, an analyst calls offshoring "an opportunity to do more, not less."...

...A stipulation [by the BBC] is that the winning bidder cannot move more than a small number of jobs offshore...

...TowerGroup said offshore outsourcing by financial services companies will rise by 34 percent annually, from $1.6 billion this year to $3.89 billion in 2008. So pervasive is the trend that the question is not whether you do it but how...

26 April 2004 India's not the only winner

The Hindu Business Line

...The latest study from Dr Klein sponsored by the Information Technology Association of America highlighted the economic rationale and benefits underlying offshoring of software services...

...there are three areas on which greater attention will have to be devoted going forward: security, data privacy and intellectual property...

...Any laxity on this account may cost the Indian software companies dearly in the long run. And the ripple effect of this will be on the entire Indian economy. The sooner the Indian second and third-rung IT companies wake up to this reality, the better it will be for the industry at large.

23 April 2004 Evolving Views On Outsourcing

Information Week

...have made outsourcing a central part of Rockwell FirstPoint's product-development and IT-development strategy, in which helping people like James through career transitions is just one part of the challenge...

...For business-technology leaders using offshore outsourcing and having to decide whether to increase its use, seeing where one company has gone and what it has been through might help...

22 April 2004 Canadian offshore IT outsourcing trend looming, PwC says

eChannel Line - Canada

A new whitepaper from PricewaterhouseCoopers states that while Canadian companies have lagged behind U.S. companies in offshore outsourcing of IT services, several factors are changing the landscape of the market and more Canadian companies will use offshore outsourcing in the future...

22 April 2004 Skirting Contact-Center Offshoring Pitfalls

Newsfactor

...Thirteen call center jobs. Fourteen million jobs across the nation. Those two figures are bookends in an increasingly heated debate over offshore outsourcing that is happening in a virtual data vacuum. To be sure, some studies have tried to peg numbers on the migration of jobs, but they're unreliable...

21 April 2004 Indian law may satisfy EU data protection concerns

Network World Fusion

...The National Association of Software and Service Companies in Delhi is confident that new measures will be passed as law in the coming session of India's parliament...

...Opponents of offshore outsourcing to India have often cited the absence of a data protection and privacy law in India as a strong reason for stopping the movement of call center and BPO work to the country...

21 April 2004 Lack of reliable data plagues offshore debate

The Mercury News

...In a packed room at the Capitol last month, lawmakers put the head of the food stamp program on the defensive. How many jobs had he shipped offshore? Just 13...

...With so much uncertainty about the magnitude of the issue, the debate over job migration often is being argued based on personal and professional biases, political ideology or gut feelings...

21 April 2004 The Outsourcing Bogeyman

Foreign Affairs

Synopsis: According to the election-year bluster of politicians and pundits, the outsourcing of American jobs to other countries has become a problem of epic proportion. Fortunately, this alarmism is misguided. Outsourcing actually brings far more benefits than costs, both now and in the long run. If its critics succeed in provoking a new wave of American protectionism, the consequences will be disastrous -- for the U.S. economy and for the American workers they claim to defend...

...They are right that offshore outsourcing deserves attention and that some measures to assist affected workers are called for. But if their exaggerated alarmism succeeds in provoking protectionist responses from lawmakers, it will do far more harm than good, to the U.S. economy and to American workers...

...What hard data exist suggest that gross job losses due to offshore outsourcing have been minimal when compared to the size of the entire U.S. economy...

20 April 2004 BBC seeks one good outsourcing firm for $3.6 billion deal

Network World Fusion

...The British Broadcasting Corp., Tuesday said it is offering up a 10-year, $3.6 billion contract to outsource its BBC Technology division...

...has narrowed the list of bidders from 18 to eight -- Accenture, Capita, CSC, EDS, HP, IBM, Logica and Siemens. The company intends to pare that list to three by the end of May and announce a winner by the end of the summer...

20 April 2004 'Doubts About Indian BPOs'

The Financial Express

...The recent acquisition of Daksh by IBM raises serious questions about the viability of Indian-owned business process outsourcing (BPO) providers, according to analyst firm Gartner. Daksh is one of the best-managed Indian BPO service providers and its acquisition will reinforce the view that managing such rapid growth is proving to be a big challenge for many 'local' Indian entreprenuers...

19 April 2004 In a Global Economy, Lifelong Learning Is Crucial to U.S. Economic Growth

Computer World

...The globalization of the workforce is a natural force, like a tornado. We don't try to stop tornados. Instead, we research and develop ways to limit the damage they cause...

...We should take the same approach with offshore outsourcing. Instead of trying to halt the expansion of the global economy, we must direct our efforts toward preparing the workforce to compete in it...

19 April 2004 Outsourcing called crucial for many emerging firms

Chicago Tribune - Subscription Required (Free)

...Fieldglass Inc., wouldn't be employing 66 people in the U.S., most in Chicago, if not for the company's decision to outsource overseas...

...While politicians may bemoan offshore outsourcing as a missed opportunity for domestic tech workers, venture capitalists often take a different view.

They see its potential in stimulating new businesses, which in the long run will help companies add jobs domestically...

18 April 2004 Few data on jobs moved overseas

Contra Costa Times

...The actual number of jobs lost to outsourcing and its impact are a lot less clear than the politicians and media jumping on the issue acknowledge...

For a sense of the confusion over the outsourcing numbers, consider a set of oft-cited estimates from John McCarthy, a researcher at Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass… His number -- 3.3 million jobs representing $136 billion in wages… McCarthy now says his numbers were hyped and that it "makes me a little mad." He says the projected loss of jobs and income will occur over a number of years, mostly later in the decade. To date, he says, the actual number of white-collar jobs that have moved offshore is less than 300,000. That equals only about 0.2 percent of the total job market in any given year...

16 April 2004 Web site tries to track U.S. jobs moving offshore

Pioneer Press

...The numbers on the CWA and Washtech's new Web site are based on news reports from around the world, which took five people five months to compile. The creators acknowledge the approach is hardly scientific. They characterize the tracker as an imprecise first step to monitoring the offshoring issue...

15 April 2004 Report: Offshore outsourcing helps U.S. job market

SearchCIO

...The team concluded that global sourcing increases the net pay of U.S. workers by helping to keep inflation and interest rates low and productivity high...

...Despite the ITAA/Global Insight report, many people still feel that the practice of shipping any jobs overseas is bad for U.S. workers, many of whom have found themselves jobless because of the trend...

15 April 2004 75,000 IT jobs feared gone

The Gazette

...The consulting firm says 75,000 jobs could migrate out of the country by 2010 if action isn't taken to stem the flow...

...But other commentators say predictions of large-scale job losses are alarmist and that Canada has experienced a net gain from foreign companies creating jobs here...

...the trend spreads beyond information-technology jobs such as software development, Ticoll said. In a pilot project, for example, Reuters News Wires recently hired six reporters in India to write newspaper articles about U.S. companies...

14 April 2004 Messy process of capitalism

Computerworld Malaysia

...I don't have the answers, but one thing is clear: The trend of offshore outsourcing is growing, and there's no telling where it will lead next. The effect we've seen on IT jobs such as programming and technical support could soon affect service areas such as radiology, tax preparation, architecture and other professions where work can be done via computer rather than "hands-on". As long as someone else will do a job at a fraction of the cost, the work will flow to the least-cost provider.

14 April 2004 Editor's Page -- Putting Offshore Outsourcing In Perspective

Industry Week

...in the context of the current concern about low-cost, off-shore competition, it's hard not to conclude that offshoring is like any of the management trends that have come before it. It is neither the evil plan hatched by "Benedict Arnold CEOs" to disenfranchise the U.S. manufacturing worker, nor is it the cost-cutting panacea that many adherents might believe it is. It's an effective strategy in many situations; it's not so good in others...

12 April 2004 New Study Adds Fuel to Debate on Impact of Outsourcing

The Miami Herald

...For decades, workers have complained as manufacturing jobs moved overseas. What is new is that many jobs now leaving the United States are in high-skill technology and financial-services fields...

..But there is sharp disagreement on the long-term impact of globalization. A newly released American Electronics Association study of global outsourcing concludes that the trend isn't as harmful as some suggest...

12 April 2004 Jobloss reports exaggerated: US trade body

rediff.com

The American Electronics Association, US' largest trade association in the technology sector, has said that the number of people being hurt by offshore outsourcing is 'exaggerated.'...

...The AEA report outlines the fact that offshoring is a global trend and not the main reason for job losses...

..."Tata Consultancy Services, one of the India's four largest software exporters, has begun to offshore its staff. By 2005, TCS plans to have 3000 software engineers in China...

08 April 2004 How to Safeguard Your Data in a Dangerous World

CIO Asia

...as the cost pressures to exploit offshore outsourcing mount, CIOs now face a complicated conundrum: how to protect their sensitive information while enabling the global collaboration necessary to compete in today's business environment...

..."It's a huge concern not just for government contractors but for any CIO who's dealing with material that's regulated, whether it's defence or financial services or pharmaceutical companies,"...

05 April 2004 Forget India, look to Eastern Europe

Network World Fusion

Arkadiy Dobkin says it's a good idea for companies that are looking at outsourcing to have a little variety. Dobkin is CEO of EPAM Systems, which has been providing offshore software engineering and development expertise for about 10 years. The company has more than 600 staff in the United States, Russia and Belarus.

05 April 2004 More IT Jobs to Go Offshore, Controversial ITAA Report Says

ComputerWorld

... More IT jobs will be created offshore than onshore over the next five years, but the overall U.S. economy will get a boost from the cost savings that offshore outsourcing yields...

...the report assumes that the savings from offshore outsourcing will be used to create new jobs in the U.S. And it's "not absolutely clear that will happen," ...

...When overseas manufacturing led to the loss of textile jobs, there was a shift in the U.S. to more productive, higher-paying jobs, according to Lee Price, research director at the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute. But "the opposite is happening [with] computer software offshoring," he said...

05 April 2004 IT Backlash Could Backfire On US

The Financial express

...“No sector is more threatened or more in jeopardy from retaliation than high-tech should the US pass protectionist laws,” the report points out. Some 60 per cent of the revenues of American IT companies come from outside the US...

...According to the latest information from the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nass-com), there are around 60 bills in various phases of introduction in the US. Though perturbed, Nasscom still maintains that the damage will be under control for the Indian software industry…

02 April 2004 Australia: Offshore outsourcing in the headlines

Union Network

...There are 70,000 people employed in IT and telecommunications in Australia. Over 350,000 work in call centres. The Australian Computer Society (ACS) suggests that around 7,000 ICT jobs have so far been moved offshore with this to grow to around 11,000 in the next five years. According to the ACS, ICT unemployment stands at 10.6%, nearly double the average unemployment rate for the country. The ACS observe that the people whose jobs are most likely to go offshore are men in their forties or strong work experience in a specific niche area...

01 April 2004 Diversification is key to outsourcing strategies

Search CIO

...The offshore outsourcing train has left the station, and U.S. businesses had better get on board or risk losing competitive advantage. In fact, visionary companies are developing global outsourcing strategies that parcel offshore work to suppliers on multiple continents, achieving cost advantages while minimizing the risk of localized disruptions...

..."Over the next several years, business process outsourcing will be the fastest-growing segment of the IT industry," Fleisher said. "The advantages are so overwhelming that [short-term political] barriers will be overcome."...

...the most desirable offshore partners should offer a combination of global delivery, relationship management and industry or process expertise. Most of the top firms provide pretty good global delivery but are weak in one of the other two categories...

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Offshore Outsourcing Press Releases

29 April 2004 The Real Cost of Outsourcing: The Good and Bad of Outsourcing IT

Yahoo Finance

..."While there are very real benefits to be gained from [offshore] outsourcing, there are many hidden costs that can easily reduce or even negate many of these expected benefits,"...

..."To be effective, offshore outsourcing should be very selectively focused on the specific activities and types of work that can be done more efficiently offshore; otherwise you're just playing a game of labor rate arbitrage and our experience indicates that, in the long run, this can backfire on you."...

21 April 2004 @stake Roundtable Series: Securing Your Offshore Outsourcing Initiatives

Businesswire

This 90-minute program offers practical advice on the critical security issues facing companies involved with offshore outsourcing

20 April 2004 Offshore Outsourcing and Security among Themes at Forrester's GigaWorld IT Forum

LinuxElectrons

Two years ago, Forrester predicted that 3.3 million services jobs would go offshore by 2015. Today the offshore issue is center stage in the ongoing national dialogue around job growth. At GigaWorld, Forrester analysts will move the discussion forward [at this event]...

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News Reviews

Offshore Outsourcing News Review - April 2004

Two key reports have been stirring the media this month, and details of both are available online:

• "Offshore Outsourcing in an Increasingly Competitive and Rapidly Changing World," published by the American Electronics Association (AeA). The full document in PDF format is available for download
• "The Comprehensive Impact of Offshore IT Software and Services Outsourcing on the U.S. Economy and the IT Industry" published by the Information Technology Association of America. A 10 page executive summary in PDF format is also available for download

In another twist in the offshore outsourcing debate in the US, the source of one of the most regularly quoted figures concerning the uptake of offshore outsourcing, Forrester Research researcher John McCarthy claims his figures have been hyped.

With the number of items in the offshore outsourcing news digest increasing each month, we've started giving the articles in the list a star rating. The aim is to help you read the most relevant without having to wade through excessive background material. The ratings are very subjective, but I hope they help you to pick out the gems.

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