Wednesday 4 February 2009

IT Outsourcing & Trends

I was very impressed with the way the Information System classes concluded at IE Business School for the first term (Nov '08 - Feb '09). Working as an IT/Telecom /Travel Services Consultant for the past five years, I had to constantly deal with the concept and the modelling of the offshore-onsite model, also known as Outsourcing/Offshoring. So before the economic downturn officially came into picture I was researching on the different trends in outsourcing, and how it is being perceived especially in the western and eastern europe, taking into account the different unions and regulations these countries have. Before I joined IE Business School, I had met with one of the Strategic Consultant from HEC Paris somewhere in 2007 and he sort of interviewed me on why people go for MBA and as well opened upto what he intended to do after the life as a consultant. He was seeking opinions on outsourcing some part of his business, and this is were I thought I was good at. Taking in numbers through my experience.

We all know, earlier it was the pre-historic man who took charge of the world by looking for food and shelter. Somewhere between 5,000 BC and the 18th Century (I would like to call it as the "Agricultural" period), it was the Kings, land owners, emperors seeking to conquer land and crops and build onto their assets. Between the 18th Century and the 20th century began the industrial period. Factories adn equipments came into picture. OIL, Steel, Finance were teh key jargons then. And then finally the technological age, skills, knowledge, talent, people and process. Software Entrepreneurs and Technologists were on a roll. (Lets learn and forget the .com bubble burst here :)) This is were Outsourcing, along with various other technology and concepts, kicked in.

So I thought, what can I offer him for his business. I started noting key requirements and started making some suggestions on the regions he can start picking up on. So the IT Outsourcing market increased 80% from USD $19 Billion in 1999 to more than USD $100 Billion in 2006 according to the sources from IDC http://cdn.idc.com/. The IT outsourcing market was lead by India with 45% of the outsourcing market share, 18% to Canada & Europe, 18% to China, 8% to Russia & E. Europe, 6% to South America, and 5% to Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines) (Say the sources of University of Michigan Business School)

More on the research in the next blog...

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