resource center
  See your link here
|
Computerworld -
I'm prepared for the backlash from daring to run a special report on offshore outsourcing. The O-word always triggers a stream of e-mail invective from displaced IT workers. Of course, I'm sympathetic to the plight of IT workers in the U.S. who get laid off, or worse, have to train their foreign replacements and then get laid off. (And, no, I wouldn't like to be replaced by an editor in India who might work at half the cost.) I'm also aware of the security risks of having mission-critical code written by people whose loyalties are unknown.
But the cold, often cruel fact is that offshore outsourcing is an "irreversible megatrend," as a Gartner analyst put it.
CEOs and chief financial officers are demanding it. CIOs are even demanding that their U.S.-based service providers get at least some of the work done offshore to save money.
It's much like the loss of U.S. textile jobs to overseas manufacturers. For years, our shirts, TVs and PCs have been manufactured elsewhere. Now globalization has come to the corporate IT department, too, whether we like it or not.
Welcome to the world of offshore software manufacturing. India is the clear leader by a large margin, but other countries are nipping at its heels, promising lower costs or special advantages. So we've produced a guide to the strengths, weaknesses and risks in 11 countries on the CIO's horizon. Better to know what you're getting into, n'est-ce pas?
One trend to watch is "daisy-chaining," in which U.S. vendors farm out work to a firm in India, which then subcontracts parts of the job to even cheaper locations. (Headline of the future: "India's Programmers Protest Outsourcing.")
Eventually, it seems, CIOs will just negotiate a good contract with an outsourcing vendor and let them worry about where the work gets done.
View the special report.
Mitch Betts (mitch_betts@computerworld.com) is Features editor at Computerworld.
Forrester Consulting - Optimizing Users and Applications in a Mobile World
Learn how to successfully deploy a WAN optimization solution that is specifically tuned for a mobile environment!
Faster, Cheaper and Easier to Maintain
Can you afford not to upgrade your servers to today's advanced, energy-efficient technologies?
Effectively Implementing Datacenter Automation
Effectively select and deploy the best datacenter automation solution today!
The State of PCI DSS Compliance at Organizations Today
Download this resource today!
Aligning IT to Business: The Rising Importance of Application Delivery Networks
Application Delivery Networking (ADN) will play a vital role in helping enterprises incorporate strategic technologies to achieve business initiatives.
IDC Research Report: The Business Value of Consolidating on Energy-Efficient Servers
Download this Resource Now!
HP Technology Guide for Scalable Business Solutions
Download This Resource Now!
Mitigate Risk, Lower Costs and Improve Network Efficiency
Create a stable IP network that not only meets today's challenges, but is flexible enough to also meet future demands.
Sign up to receive updates on the latest Careers resources
CIO
Computerworld
CSO
DEMO
GamePro
Games.net
IDC
IDG
IDG Connect
IDG Knowledge Hub
IDG TechNetwork
IDG Ventures
IDG.net
InfoWorld
ITwhitepapers
ITworld
JavaWorld
LinuxWorld
Macworld
Network World
PC World
The Industry Standard
Copyright © 1994 - 2009 Computerworld Inc. All
rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium
without express written permission ofComputerworld Inc. is prohibited. Computerworld and Computerworld.com and the respective logos are trademarks of International Data Group Inc. |
