How will the global economic challenges affect outsourcing in 2010 and beyond?  During challenging economic times people tend to outsource more – or do they simply outsource differently? There is no doubt that companies are now under huge pressure to show evidence of cost reduction, but this also needs to be achieved through a sustainable model. These and many other issues will be discussed during The International Outsourcing Forum 2010 in London from 11 – 14 February 2010. more

“The Shifting Geography of Offshoring” is the title of this year’s Global Services Location Index ™ by AT Kearney. And the title is self-explanatory. AT Kearney concluded that there are some dramatic changes in the attractiveness of offshore outsourcing locations. Especially a lot of Central and Eastern European countries, among them Poland, dropped dramatically in the ranking. AT Kearney states that this is mainly due to the dramatic change in the conversion rates of the local currencies towards the US Dollar. Although I have always been a great fan of yearly reports, this year I have some doubts. Especially because the currency rates are shifting quickly and like AT Kearney states this is less of an issue for Euro countries. This makes the conclusions of the report less applicable to European countries, and even worse, the index might not be valid any longer due to serious economic changes. more

Today I received updated information about the Indian outsourcing market from two different sources within one hour. Too much of a coincidence. Due to the economic downturn companies in the US and the UK recently cut their IT budgets by up to 45%. Many projects have ben put on hold. Since most of the outsourcing projects in India come from the US and UK a lot of good IT people are available on the labour market today. Rates have dropped for the first time in years. more