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.
