India's competitors catching up as outsourcing hotspots

[OhioChick]

12/11/2008

One of India's key advantages as an offshore outsourcing location was its lower cost. But it may be losing this advantage to countries like Pakistan and Vietnam, which now offer staff at far lower costs than in India.

Vietnam, with a significant French-speaking population, is also at an advantage as French-speaking countries in Europe embrace offshore outsourcing, said Arup Roy, senior research analyst at Gartner, on Thursday.

India still has an edge over these locations if clients consider the maturity of the staff in the area of outsourcing, and their ability to hire more staff in India, Roy said.

Gartner released Thursday its listing of the top 30 countries for offshore services in 2008.

A number of countries have positioned themselves as credible alternatives to Brazil, Russia, India and China, popularly referred to as the BRIC countries, Gartner said.

Mexico, Poland and Vietnam have continued to strengthen their position against leading alternatives, while others are making their debut in the top 30, according to Gartner. These countries will be seeking to take advantage of the opportunity created by the increased focus that many organizations now have on cost optimization, as a result of the current economic crisis, it added.

For the list, Gartner assessed the suitability of 72 countries as offshore locations based on 10 parameters such as cost structure, IT labor pool, government support, and intellectual property (IP) protection laws, Roy said.

More: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/121108-indias-competitors-catching-up-as.html

[La Lioness Priyanka]

1. race to the bottom. nt

[Vincardog]

2. race to the bottom. nt