The foundation of successful outsourcing relationship is
laid when an organization communicates to the potential suppliers about its
intention to outsource business functions. Outsourcing is not just a
contract signed between two parties but is largely emerging as a
relationship managed from day one of the contract. Successful outsourcing
relationship requires a lot of professionalism and good management. Managing
outsourcing relationships requires constant attention and an expectation of
continuous improvement and proactive approach towards achieving it. A
companies' success in managing their outsourcing relationship will determine
its business success. Some of the factors that make India, the ideal choice
for outsourcing are:
1. Resource Pool
Being a talent rich country, India offers the fastest growing pool of
expertise that is computer literate. The rich resource of educated customer
care professionals are proficient in the English language.
2. Time Zone
India is located at a 12 hour time difference with North America that
facilitates the American organizations to achieve a 24*7 business operations
and customer service. This exclusive advantage may also benefit
organizations located in the Western Europe and Asia Pacific.
3. Low Cost
Per employee cost in USA is approximately $40,000 while in India it is only
$5,000. The relatively low cost of manpower makes India, a highly sought
after destination for sourcing cross-border IT-enabled services. India
provides maximum number of software engineers to silicon valley, West Europe
and the Asian Pacific IT industry. Indian companies can provide call center
services to clients based in the U.S. or the U.K. at less than half of what
it costs in U.S., U.K. or Australia. The country is moving towards next
generation telecommunication technologies.
4. Core Competency
Of the 23 software companies in the world that have achieved the
prestigious SEI-CMM Level 5, 15 of them are Indian. India will soon have the
highest number of ISO-9000 software companies in the world, according to
Nasscom. Indians are increasingly adapting to international quality
standards.
5. Government Policies
- • Having recognized the potential of IT-enabled services, the
Government of India has taken positive steps by providing numerous
incentives. It has established a task force for developing a world class
knowledge based outsourcing industry allowing duty free imports of
capital goods and providing tax exemption on export of IT enabled
services.
- • India boasts of excellent investment potential and was ranked third
in Asia, just after Japan and China, in terms of investment potential
for the next 10-year period in a study by the Export-Import bank of
Japan.
- • Software Technology Parks (STPs) with state-of-the-art IT
infrastructure and telecom facilities providing a "single window
clearance" for all regulatory compliances have helped India emerge
as a prominent outsourcing hub.
- • India enjoys an infrastructural advantage owing to the convergent
network being created by the intertwining of the ISP, Telecom, VSAT,
Cellular and networking sectors. India's large business houses and
Public Sector Units ( PSU's) are working towards creating greater
bandwidth availability.
- • A separate Ministry of Information Technology was set up to expedite
swift approval and implementation of IT projects and to streamline the
regulatory process.
- • The Information Technology Bill that was passed in the Indian
Parliament in May 2000, has now been notified as the IT Act 2000. The IT
Bill brings E-commerce within the purview of law and accords stringent
punishments to "cyber criminals". With this, India joins a
select band of 12 nations that have cyber laws.
- • A powerful supply of high-programming talent, favorable government
and tax incentives, and the ability to complement U.S. time zones with a
virtual around-the-clock approach are just some of the many benefits
that India offers. Hence, outsource to India for technological agility,
quality, flexibility, cost control, time-to-market and competitive
advantage.
Benefits of Outsourcing
- • Increased sales and profits
- • Reduced costs per sale
- • Maximum phone productivity
- • Increased number of appointments
- • Increased customer base
- • Increased lead generation
- • Higher number of qualified leads
- • Higher number of closed sales
- • Better customer retention
- • More immediate feedback
- • Better results through test marketing
- • Increased local, regional, or national market share
Outsourcing or delegating to an outside vendor is thus, a practical
solution. It is likely to be the most efficient - especially since success
depends so much on the wisdom of accumulated knowledge and experience.
