Outsourcing during Recession: Looking at the Filled-Half of the glass

The current economic recession is many times more epidemic than the ones seen in the past – thanks to the widespread brouhaha created by 21st century fourth estate which takes no time to overplay whatever comes its way. In this dim and clamor it is but easy to miss the opportunities that the predicament has brought along. Paradoxical it may sound, but outsourcing IT jobs makes more sense during recession than it does during normal economic state. In case you choose to disagree, consider the following:

• Better bargain: Outsourcing can be effectively used by onshore IT companies as strategic measure to contain the cost of IT services due to the fact that offshore facility and development cost can be heavily negotiated to strike better bargains.
• Better competitive advantage: Offshore companies compete fiercely against each other to bag outsourced projects offering great cost benefits to the onshore IT companies. Moreover, project execution and delivery schedules can be easily negotiated in the clients' favor.
• Reverse migration of skilled workers: Recession has compelled many onshore IT companies to lay off many of their skilled workers most of whom have opted to turn back to their respective countries of origin. Native offshore companies have greatly benefited from this attrition by absorbing the skilled workforce into their folds augmenting their business capacity.

Several onshore IT and ITeS companies have shown the courage and vision to look at the positive side of the economic turndown in formulating strategies favoring increased outsourcing to select destinations, as has been indicated in a recent Forrester Research survey according to which barely 21% of global enterprises have cut down their IT outsourcing budget whereas more than double (46%) have reduced their overall IT budgets.