A "reprint" of a short piece I recently did for the Outsourcing Institute that I thought readers of this blog might find useful. Don't forget to take advantage of OI's special offer—Project Emergency Access.

Congratulations! You have decided on near-shoring to Latin America, a low-risk, high reward destination for companies seeking talent of all kinds. The region is experiencing real growth in economic and social terms, and there are hundreds of thousands of well-trained, eager, culturally adept people to service your business needs. Before you make any commitments, here are five questions you should ask as you set your strategy:

Have I selected the best location for my specific needs?

Sure, everyone wants a low-cost, high-stability, high-performance solution. But the order of priorities will determine the best location for you: Is the lowest possible
cost the most important thing? Nicaragua, Ecuador, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru might be your best bet. Engineering talent at the top of your list? Focus on Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica. English skills? Mexico and Central America are good destinations, based on their large Diasporas and abundant English education. Do taxes keep you up at night? Chile's are both low and flat and Nicaragua offers you a 15-year tax holiday. Stability and Infrastructure are must haves? Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Costa Rica are good hosts. Proximity to consumer markets? Choose the places with large populations of would-be consumers: Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia.

Captive or Outsourced?

Ok, you should ask this question regardless of destination. But the math is a little different in Latin America. When I worked in the Indian outsourcing industry, conventional wisdom said captives of less than 250 "seats" were not worth pursuing. With Latin America, I have seen very attractive business cases starting at just 50 FTEs. On the other hand, becoming a business entity in many of the countries can be a slow and painful process, so if speed is paramount, you are better off seeking an established provider.

Do I have the right scope?

I once worked for a company that outsourced 50% of its English language call centers to Mexico. The same company kept its Spanish-language call centers in the US. The only reason the relationship was not leveraged to save millions of dollars on the Spanish voice services? Nobody ever asked. Once you make the decision, make sure you are getting the most from your investment

Have I discerned adequately between sales polish and delivery capability?

Frankly, many of the Latin American providers lack the maturity or resources to mount the expensive pursuits required to win deals from Global 2000 companies, which is why the majority of big brand names in Latin America tend to be captives. But look a little closer and you will find lots of highly skilled folks already doing the work. If you are truly interested in the near-shore advantages, you may have to withstand some botched sales presentations to get at the best talent.

Do I have the right advisor?

Few advisors have the depth of local experience required to truly serve large companies considering Latin America. Your advisor should have relationships with the government investment agencies, a network of well-vetted local attorneys, a thorough understanding of the talent market dynamics at your destination, and cultural adeptness on both sides of the border. They should understand how currency fluctuations would affect your operation. Obviously, they should speak Spanish and/or Portuguese fluently, and ideally they will have spent time living in Latin America, not just visiting.

The good news is Latin America is already a relatively low-risk proposition. The better news is that by answering the questions above, you will have reduced risk even more and set yourself up for success.

Question for everyone: What other region-specific questions should be asked?

Though many of us refer to Outsourcing in an Offshoring context, it does not only mean offshoring. For example, many companies outsource their IT operations to vendors based in the United States. Some of these vendors could provide their service from a different geographic location, while some are fully local.

It would not be a stretch to say that every company outsources some aspect of it's business. Classic examples of outsourcing in the small business world include, IT Operations, HR Operations, Payroll, House Keeping, Security etc.

Most outsourcing relationships are based on deliverables. These deliverables are clearly defined output that the company would expect from it's vendor. In the case of IT operations, it could include installation and support of desktops and laptops, network monitoring, Email hosting etc. In the case of HR Operations it could range anywhere from fully outsourced HR Operations, to smaller processes such as recruitment. In the case of manufacturing it could be anything from design to final product delivery or anything in between.

There are many outsourcing relationships that are not based on deliverables, but purely on resources. Companies contract with outsourcing vendors to procure resources. These relationships normally are short term, to help tide over a resource crunch or a volatile business market.

While most companies traditionally have outsourced such operations that are non-critical and those that direct their attention away from their core competencies, many companies nowadays have started outsourcing their core business processes.

At this point, it would be worth noting that many major corporations actually outsource their manufacturing. This includes electronics / computer manufacturers like Apple, Cisco, Dell etc. who utilize the services of Hi Tech Contract Manufactureres such as Flextronincs and Hon Hai. While they in turn utilize the services of fabs and test houses such as TSMC and Amkor. Who in turn utilize the services of IT managed service vendors to run their IT operations, who in turn utlize the services of Cisco and Dell. While each outsourcing relationship may seem relatively independent, when you try to draw out the scale of this industry, you quicly realize that all  these are inter-twined. Much like the  economies of the world, businesses nowadays rely heavily on such complex business relationships.

While most such outsourcing relationships are for tangible or well defined products or services, there are many industries where it becomes very difficult to quantify the deliverable. One such industry is the software industry. Software Outsourcing, which is my personal area of expertise, is not very different from the others. If anything, it tends to be a bit more complex in terms of being able to define the relationship and being able to monitor the Quality of Service.

While Outsourcing and Offshoring  have been interchangebly used by many, I hope these posts have helped clarify the exact nature of these business models. Please do feel free to comment on these with any questions you would like to have answered and even any comments you may have about these posts.

In my next post, I will talk about the benefits and downsides of Offshoring and Outsourcing, which one is better for you and why you should get into them early.

Save Over $60,000 In Business Expenses This Year And Every Year,

Just By Outsourcing.

That's right! You can save more by outsourcing. You can save over $60,000 in business expenses by outsourcing to this Virtual Assistant Service and Business Management Co~ Clerical Business Solutions. You can reduce your work hours, your workload and save money at the same time. Your 8-15 hour work day can be reduced to 4-5 hours a day just by outsourcing. That's a true benefit and stress reliever.

You don't pay employee expenses when you outsource.  You don't pay additional in-house business expenses when you outsource.  Outsourcing saves you money in the long run, just read the chart below.

When you compare the rate and expenses of hiring additional in-house employees, it can get very expensive. Well that's not the case when you outsource. Employee related expenses can get very costly and not to mention workers compensation insurance.

So try outsourcing to reduce your expenses and help lighten your load. Once you do, you'll be glad that you did.  Outsourcing can benefit you and your current staff.  Look below to see how you can save.

THE DIFFERENCE IS $60,160.00 IN LABOR COSTS

YOU SAVE OVER $60,000 IN LABOR COSTS

With a Virtual Assistant you only pay for time on task, not for long employee lunch breaks, extended employee socializing etc...  A Virtual Assistant get right to the task and doesn't stop until completion. Unlike most company employees who waste company time and money by surfing the internet and other things.

Basically to sum it up, you should just contract with this Virtual Assistant service because it's more cost-effective, a great business resource and a wise business move. Even if you only have 1 hour of work per week or per month, still outsource it.

Make Your Next Move Your Best Move And Outsource Today!!

Clerical Business Solutions

Business Management Co. & Virtual Assistant Service

Renee ~ info@clericalsolutionsinc.net

www.clericalsolutionsinc.net

The answer in mixed. Accenture reports its revenues under two heads: Consulting and Outsourcing. In 2007, Consulting accounted for 60% of its $19.7 billion revenue with outsourcing accounting for the remaining 40%. This consulting revenue is the clear differentiation between Accenture and the Indian vendors.

That said, it is the outsourcing part that drew Accenture to set up delivery centers in India. Hence, if you look at what Accenture does in India and what any other Indian vendor does, there is not much difference. It is a clear commodity play, with capacity leasing as the keystone!

Check out this excerpt from the Accenture 10-K filing for fiscal 2007:

Our headcount increased to approximately 170,000 as of August 31, 2007 from approximately 140,000 as of August 31, 2006. Annualized attrition for the three months and year ended August 31, 2007 was 18%, excluding involuntary terminations, consistent with the three months and year ended August 31, 2006. We continue to add substantial numbers of new employees and will continue to actively recruit new employees to balance our mix of skills and resources to meet current and projected future demands, replace departing employees and expand our global sourcing approach, which includes our Global Delivery Network and other capabilities around the world. We have adjusted compensation in fiscal 2007 in certain skill sets and geographies in order to attract and retain appropriate numbers of qualified employees and we may need to continue to adjust compensation in the future. As in previous fiscal years, we have adjusted and expect to continue to adjust pricing with the objective of recovering these increases. Our margins and ability to grow our business could be adversely affected if we do not continue to manage attrition, recover increases in compensation and effectively assimilate and utilize large numbers of new employees.

A clear commodity play if ever there was one!

Sure, Accenture has consulting revenue of $11.86 billion, but if you work for Accenture in India there is every likelihood you are a commodity in a good campus conforming to the Accenture Delivery Suite!

In effect, Accenture has chosen to neutralize the Indian vendors low-cost capacity-leasing advantage by adopting the same model itself in India and combining that with its strong consulting capabilities in the rest of the world. Excellent business strategy to keep the Indian vendors at bay; and it is indeed a testament to Accenure's execution ability that they have been able to combine two such vastly different cultures within the same organization successfully (this is what HP-EDS-MphasiS will struggle to do into the foreseeable future).

But, a commodity play all the same.

Note the complete absence of a product capability, as opposed to TCS (Bancs) and Infosys (Finacle)! [Products in the Midst of Commodities]

More Catagories

http://www.aarkstore.com/categories/index.asp

We are market research firm built on the premise that reading is valuable, capable of stirring emotions and firing the imagination. We sell a wide variety of Books/Market Research Reports and Online Products at competitive prices, and strive to provide excellent and innovative service to customers. Whether you’re looking for new product trends or competitive analysis of a new or existing market, Aarkstore.com has the best resource offerings and the expertise to make sure you get the right product every time.

Blogs: They are personal, updated frequently, more value given by search engine. Unless the blog is highly ranked article gets more value and publicity as there are more chance that your article are seen by more people.

Articles: Articles are informative, comprehensive and has the power to attract readers. As I already written that there are more chance that articles attract more eyes then Blogs.

But from newness standpoint, blog has clearly an edge over articles. From business viewpoint submitting articles are worthy then creating a blog and it can enhance your annual sales. There is a perception among internet user that blog contains personal thought on to it where an author has some personal interest in promoting the company or product. From my own experience I believe if you have a product or service which you want to promote use an article or if you want better search results create a blog. Although both have importance, you must use them according to your ultimate goal.

Try it! Write a new story of success at the time of online internet era.

But the Australian dollar has been sliding over the past few weeks and I've decided to lower my US$ and Euro web copywriting rates for overseas clients.

This means for everyone in North and South America, Europe and Asia, my web copywriting services have suddenly become about 25% cheaper! I've lowered my US dollar web content writing rate from US$50 to US$40 and my Euro web copywriting rate from 40 to 30 Euro per hour.

So if you're thinking of hiring a professional SEO web copywriter to write, rewrite or edit your website, hiring this Web Content Writer in Australia is very cost-efficient for your business right now.

You can get cheaper SEO content in India, of course, but that's an entirely different category. I write unique and very professional website content with your business goals and your target audience in mind.

See my new, low web copywriting rates for international clients, learn more about my various web copywriting services and contact me if you want to discuss or request a quote for your project.

Se ha comprobado que en lugares donde hay gran profusión de profesionales, como son diseñadores y el mercado no los acepta, estos al final, se convierten en artesanos de sus propios diseños, producir desde el principio hasta el final, no es una apuesta desmesurada si se cuenta con el desarrollo de las tecnologías de comunicación.

Edificio Ole, Cantera 400-104

Secc. Terrazas de Mendoza, Playas de Tijuana

Tijuana BC

Tel. 664 290.33.86

info@integrat.medsafemexico.com

www.integrat.medsafemexico.com

  Extrait des questions DP - réunion ordinaire de 8 (reportée au 15) octobre 2008 : Etablissement DEVOTEAM Solutions-92 

Question DP CGT - D001:  CRA

La direction reproche régulièrement à des consultants de mal remplir les CRA. Or, il arrive souvent que le problème ne vienne pas du salarié :

•  Rendez-vous inaccessible (cas fin août)

• Code projet ou "code task" mal renseigné dans l'ERP ou non communiqué au
  consultant

•  Navigateur du consultant aux possibilités limitées

• Pas d'accès à l'internet chez le client + le consultant n'a pas un abonnement
  internet chez lui

• Et certainement d'autres causes..

Cela retarde le processus de facturation et cela détériore l'image de Devoteam auprès
du salarié (reproche injustifié qui lui sont adressés, et image de Devoteam lié
à un SI déficient).

La revue « management » de septembre dernier évoquait le succès d'une entreprise
américaine qui après consultation de ses employés avait modifié certains de ces
processus pour minimiser les « agacements » du personnel.

Les salariés demandent à la direction de :

-  Améliorer l'organisation et la fiabilité du CRA (les DP rappellent que l'ERP est
déjà mis en place sans la consultation des représentants du personnel et
précisément le CHSCT), faire un retour sur un plan d'action mis en place
éventuellement.

- Veiller à ce que des reproches précipités et injustifiés ne soient plus fait aux
salariés.

Question DP CGT - D002:  ARAMIS

Un salarié représentant du personnel en intermission travaille dans la journée en tant que
DP, CHSCT, DS, CE ou DSC pour nos salariés:

Comment il doit déclarer sa journée sur le CRA: IRP ou intermission ?

Question DP CGT - D003:  IRP

Les représentants du personnel sont amenés parfois (injoignable en clientèle pendant
les heures de travail 9h-18h00, appelle d'un salarié qui travail en mode 3x8 ou
7/7j 24/24h, préparation et organisation de l'arbre de noël le samedi, etc..) à
utiliser leurs crédits d'heures le week-end ou le soir, ses heures de
délégations sont-elles payés et comment ?

Question DP CGT - D004:  Performance de l'entreprise

Les salariés demandent à la direction via les DP d'ouvrir des négociations sur
l'augmentation de l'assiette de l'intéressement.

Question DP CGT - D005:  Fidélisation des salariés pour réduire le turn-over

Les salariés demande à la direction via les DP la liste des mesures mises en place
pour fidéliser les salariés et réclament un retour sur le plan d'action demandé
par les DP en 2007.

Question DP CGT
- D006:  Information au CE

La direction a elle fournit aux élu CE les tableaux d'entrée sortie des salariés ?

Question DP CGT
- D007:  Cooptation

Suite à une proposition de cooptation, pourquoi la direction ne communique elle pas
systématiquement à un candidat que sa candidature n'est pas retenue (lorsqu'elle
n'est pas retenue), et pourquoi les salariés effectuant des propositions de
cooptation ne reçoivent ils pas non plus les informations sur le rejet d'une
candidature ?

Question DP CGT
- D008:  Cigarette

Pourquoi la direction fait elle de la publicité pour un fabriquant de cigarette dans le Hall
du 73 ?

Question DP CGT
- D009:  Etudes

Dans quelle grille de salaire se situe un salarié qui a à la fois un diplôme de second et troisième
cycle Universitaire, et un doctorat d'une grande école d'ingénieur ?

Est-il reconnu comme un diplômé de Grande Ecole ?

Comment est comptée l'expérience professionnelle en thèse ?

Question DP CGT - D010:

Les IRP pourraient ils avoir le volume de leurs boites au lettres électronique augmentés, 256 MO n'est
pas suffisant pour traiter leurs nombreux mails.

Extrait:

-------- Message original --------

Date : Fri, 3 Oct 2008 22:00:15 +0000 (GMT)

De : Cx

Répondre à : Cx

Pour : Gxx, dp

Copie à : dpsolutions92, DG JLL, DRH CCH, drh.relations.sociales

Bonjour,

ci-joint, des questions proposées
par les salarié(e)s.

Cordialement.

Cx

Délégué du Personnel

Réunion des
Délégués du Personnel Devoteam : octobre 2008

Questions transmises par des
salariés(e) de l'établissement DEVOTEAM SOLUTIONS HAUTS-DE-SEINE

QUESTION (agressivité
verbale)

Monsieur le Secrétaire Général de
DEVOTEAM (alias R. de L. de M.) a proféré, entre autres, les déclarations
stupéfiantes suivantes au cours de la réunion du CHSCT du 30 septembre 2008:

1) « Le consultant qui s'est
suicidé à Toulouse était homosexuel ! Il avait des problèmes avec son compagnon,
voila pourquoi il s'est suicidé ; cela n'a aucun rapport avec DEVOTEAM. »

Il reprocha ensuite aux membres du
CHSCT, dont il est nonobstant le président, de ne pas s'être déplacé à Toulouse
[sur les lieux du suicide ; NDLR] ;

Le représentant de la CGT au CHSCT
rappela au Secrétaire de DEVOTEAM que le CHSCT n'était pas parvenu à obtenir, de
la direction, les informations utiles à un tel déplacement ;

Monsieur le Secrétaire de DEVOTEAM
répondit, sans vergogne, que le salarié suicidé lui aurait interdit de fournir
son nom et ses coordonnées.

2) A propos du suicide, rappelé par
l'un des membres du CHSCT, d'un consultant en 2002, pendant sa mission chez
Bouygues Télécom à Balard, alors que sa commerciale le « pressurisait »,
la bulle Internet ayant éclaté, Monsieur le Secrétaire de DEVOTEAM s'est
courageusement tu !

La direction peut-elle informer les
DP sur cette affaire dissimulée à ce jour ?

3) A propos de Cxx, salariée qui
s'était évanouis, entrainant l'intervention des pompiers, suite aux
« pressurisations » que lui appliquait l'ex manager du secteur Finance Pxx
(aujourd'hui hors de DEVOTEAM), Monsieur le Secrétaire de DEVOTEAM déclara :

« Cxx a touché 100 000 euros et
s'est barrée; Elle avait des problèmes avec son mari qui l'a battu ; DEVOTEAM
n'y est pour rien. »

Ces propos choquèrent les membres
présents, dont le Médecin du Travail.

Monsieur le Secrétaire de DEVOTEAM
n'a pas précisé si, selon lui, le mari de Cxx est venu la battre chez DEVOTEAM,
ce qui aurait causé l'évanouissement d'icelle.

4) A propos des heures sup
gracieusement effectué par l'un des salariés des « Affaires générales » :

« Jxx fait des heures sup parce
qu'il aime ça ; Il ne veut pas rentrer chez lui après sa journée ; Il a
tellement souffert chez ses autres employeurs avant de venir chez DEVOTEAM où il
a la paix ;

D'ailleurs Jx est mieux payé que
vous ; Il est mieux payé que toi Cx » ; d'où une réponse simple de Cx :

« C'est facile d'être mieux payé
que moi chez DEVOTEAM. »

(PS : Cx est le Délégué
du Personnel, président de la commission économique du CCE, qui informa les
salariés le 26 mars 2008, à la soirée plumes-paillettes du Bois de Boulogne, du
rapport du CCE qui révéla l'étendu des dégâts socio-économiques engendrés par la
gestion actuelle de DEVOTEAM ;

Cf. l'article de presse “
Devoteam: le low-cost social fait
merveille » in  http://cgcdevoteam.blogspot.com/
ou

http://cgtdevoteam.free.fr/
)

Après le départ de Cx, Monsieur le
Secrétaire de DEVOTEAM déclara, dans son dos, notez bien :

« Cx gagne 4500 euros nets par
mois et il trouve le moyen de nous faire ch… »

Fort à propos, deux membres du CHSCT,
dont le représentant de la CGT, arrêtèrent son délire et lui rappelèrent que,
net, comme il le sait, Cx est payé, à tout prendre, bon mois mauvais mois, en
toute saison sauf punition, une fois déduits  tickets resto, prime vacances et
transport, moins de la moitié de la dite somme colossale.

Nous en resterons là pour la citation
des propos de Monsieur le Secrétaire de DEVOTEAM.

NB : Avant d'envisager des
suites nécessaires à donner à de telles affirmations, Monsieur le Secrétaire est
invité à fournir ses observations concernant cette relation de ses propos.

Que pense la direction de tels
propos ?

Les DP rappellent que les noms des
salarié(e)s ne doivent pas être ainsi cités.

QUESTION

Plusieurs salarié(e)s se plaignent,
au siège, de la faible valeur des tickets restaurant qui ne leur permet pas de
déjeuner à Levallois-Perret sans compléments de leurs poches.

La direction peut-elle remédier à
cette déficience, auprès de tous les salarié(e)s ?

QUESTION

Y-a-t-il des « golden parachute » de
prévu dans les contrats des « managers » actuels de DEVOTEAM ?

Si oui, quels sont leurs montants ?

QUESTION

Nous demandons à la direction de bien
vouloir changer, par sécurité, les codes d'entrée dans les bâtiments.

Est-ce possible ? Quand ?

QUESTION

Le CHSCT, a voté, en sa réunion
plénière du 30 septembre 2008, une résolution pour qu'une expertise sur les
conditions de travail, l'hygiène et la sécurité des salarié(e)s, soit menée dans
l'établissement DEVOTEAM Solutions 92 afin de comprendre les dégâts propagés par
la gestion actuelle de DEVOTEAM dans l'établissement.

C'est une première, nous nous en
félicitons et nous engageons à rendre compte en toute transparence aux salarié(e)s.

Nous de mandons dores et déjà aux
salarié(e)s de permettre, en ce qui les concerne, à cette expertise, réellement
indépendante, de se tenir pleinement ; En l'occurrence, des enquêtes seront
menées sur les lieux de travail chez les clients.

Le cabinet désigné est Alpha Conseil
du groupe Alpha ;
c'est, heureusement ce groupe qui a effectué l'expertise du CCE, via sa filiale
Secafi Alpha et qui a pondu l'excellent rapport du CCE dont vous trouverez un
résumé magistral dans le web en cherchant « Devoteam:
le low-cost social fait merveille »
et aux adresses suivantes :

Cf. l'article de
presse “
Devoteam: le low-cost social fait merveille » in
 http://cgcdevoteam.blogspot.com/
ou


http://cgtdevoteam.free.fr/

QUESTION

Quelle solution la direction a-t-elle
trouvé contre les jets de mégots dans les caniveaux devant le 73 rue Anatole
France rapportés par Madame la Secrétaire du directoire ?

QUESTION

Comment les suppléants des instances
de représentation du Personnel peuvent ils suppléer les travaux des titulaires
si la direction ne leur permet pas d'assister aux réunions internes ?

QUESTION 8

Un consultant, auquel la direction a
imposé des congés payés, a reçu les sollicitations suivantes pendant ces congés
imposés:

• If your risk tolerance is low and/or your organization is new to outsourcing go to India, you can not get fired for hiring IBM.

• Go to India if you have to choose on a spot, or have little knowledge of outsourcing, or have to deal with large scope ERP implementation, or … as a matter of fact if you have to ask this question chances are you should consider India as your top destination.

• If you are not an outsourcing neophyte and ready to invest time in research and vendor selection a whole new world opens up to you, with some decision shortcuts:

• • If you are looking for partner that operates as extension of your team on an agile project consider near shore, e.g. Latin America

• • If you are looking to outsource large volume of manual regression testing consider China or Philippines.

• • If you have IP intensive engagement consider Israel

• • Are you looking for resources for mobile development? - Consider Eastern Europe.

• • Are you very cost sensitive and ready to deal with immature vendors, consider nascent territories: the countries such as Pakistan, Vietnam, Macedonia, etc.

Of course those tips are just ideas, the country selection needs to be taken exceptionally serious as it is one of the most decisions you make in the vendor selection process. While selecting the country I recommend using weighed selection criteria approach:

1. Identify your selection criteria; keep in mind that the criteria should be country specific rather than company specific.
2. Give each of the criteria weight – the rating of its relative importance for your organization.
3. Define an initial list of countries you are willing to consider. Keep it relatively short to limit the rating efforts.
4. Rate each of the countries using latest information you can find. Industry analysts’ reports would be the most helpful, consider Internet research and outsourcing associations, as well as the common sense.
5. The rating for the country is derived as a sum of ratings for each criterion times the weight of the criterion.

Below is an example of such analysis performed for a mid-sized software development company in Washington, DC area. The company was looking for a partner to perform substantial on-going customizations of their SaS product. Scope of each customization project would keep a small team of Java developers and QA engineers busy for ~3 months.

After the list of the countries has been agreed upon we started with a very rough analysis and then detailed ranking for a shorter list.

Initial List

Refined detailed rating

Based on this analysis we narrowed our search to 3 countries (Brazil, India, China), which in my view was still excessively broad and could result in a very expensive vendor selection process.  By the way the winner of the engagement was a vendor from Brazil, and it remains to be seen how well the project works out.

"Dear Sir or Madam,

I am a software developer, located in China. I can develop Web site or
other software's both English Version and Chinese Version for you, if
your company business want attract lots of Chinese clients. And also i
can do Chinese English each other translation work for your business.

I can use many languages and tools to develop software, including:
PHP, CSS, osCommerce, C#.Net, VB.Net, JavaScript, MySQL, MS SQL
Server, Delphi, Paradox, Access, FrontPage, Dreamweaver, Fireworks,
Flash MX,Photoshop and others.

I can develop your software in China, and then publish site to your
web hosting via the internet. It's a very easy way to partner with you
and your company. And we can use IM software keep in touch in real
time.

I graduated from Shandong Light Industry College in China, where I was
a Computer Major, and have been engineering software since 1996.

I honestly hope we can establish long-term cooperation relationship,
and I like USA very much.

Best Regards,

Liu

Shandong Province. China."

Props for effort my good friend Liu, props.

After you must choose something which you are quite informed approximately at least slightly. You will wound really your chances of success if you jump in a concession about which you do not know anything. Take your list of interests thus and mark outside those on the subject of which you put 't know enough. For example I am interested by the animals but I put 't know asse' about them to begin businesses about them.Then you must find the concessions which are available that adjustment in what you are interested inside and what you know. There are many sites on line which show many concessions and a little about them. Once you find that some concessions that you think can work for you, you move at the next stage.

You must entirely seek and enqurir yourselves much about each one individually. Each concession is different and will present for different one - and - swindles. You will have to evaluate each one and see how they adapt for you. What you want is not what others want. Take care you to find a concession which offers a large package for you. A good concession has already large operating system in place. Also you will spend your money to invest in that you ensure that you choose a concession which will guide you by the process. It is a primary reason for which the concessions if are successful. They have already a system which function and they train you how to be succeeded as they are.However, if you seek more challenge and to be part of the beginning of a great concession you can want to find a new concession. There are many companies which just enter the aspect of concession which you could become part of and really employ your knowledge to be not only made a success of yourself but go well to a chief for future distributors.

There a lot of people that have still not connected the dots in the consequences of globalization. In this age of technology we are better able to track down the causes of illnesses and dangerous trends. We have had lots of outbreaks of problems caused by bad foods and the FDA and other organizations are eventually able to track them down. Then they are able to build regulations to prevent the problems from happening again.

However, we look at the current dairy crisis in Asia, the lead paint in toys last year, the dog food issues in the year prior. These problem came out of China and we have no ability to regulate it. That is a cost. The argument for products purchased from China is the lower price. However, there is a cost to that loss of control. As a whole, we see Walmart taking advantage of people looking solely for these lower prices by offering lower quality. They have the largest percentage of their products deriving from China.

I am not against the trend of globalization. What people need to understand is that when we try to save money by "outsourcing" we incur an alternate cost. Yes, you might pay a slight premium for products made organically or closer to home, but look what you are getting...for quality, control and safety. All I ask is that people be more aware of what you are buying and take personal responsibility. It is as simple as that!

China

The event was first class, and a great opportunity to catch up with old friends. Even though the panel was 3 to 1 very pro-China as an outsourcing location, I did not hear anything new to me or that would change my previously expressed contrarian position. And before I get too much hate mail, let me just summarize: China is a huge opportunity that should not be missed, but Enterprise is treating it like it's the only opportunity, and that feels kind of like investing all your money, say, in securitized mortgages…

The key conclusion I came to based on the panel's inputs: China will be a formidable competitor for business services of many types in about 10 years. The government's pragmatism and effectiveness in getting huge groups of people extremely well prepared will pay off by then. Until then, its an interesting and potentially lucrative services market, but nobody I know of, including the execs on the panel, has more than 400 people working in China, and privately they all seemed to agree about having demand far exceeding the supply of qualified resources.

The Crisis

Frank Casale convened a panel of experts in short notice to do some interesting crystal ball gazing. All of the industry forums have been ablaze with thousands of forms of the same question: Is the meltdown a good thing or a bad thing for outsourcers? Here are some of the points I heard made (and my take in parentheses))

• Though this was a relatively optimistic panel, they all agreed that one can expect a short-term net loss of jobs in the outsourcing business as financial services, and many others industries, contract
• A good point was made about the captive fire sale going on: It is difficult culturally and legally in India to do large layoffs—another reason the former FSI giants must unload their captive operations.
• Phil Fersht—analyst and blogger—shared some early results from his poll: 60% of buyer Executives responding say they expect outsourcing activity to increase. (My take: while this is good news, I doubt it's any different than before the crisis so I would not attribute industry growth to the financial mess)
• Expect increased regulation, especially in financial services (My take: obviously, this is an opportunity for outsourcers—remember SOX?)
• The US is getting more attractive as a service provision destination (My take: this one has been coming for a while—see my posts here, here, and here)
• Kneejerk reactions in either direction are stupid moves (Amen! Cancelling a project that made sense two weeks ago is not a smooth move, but re-evaluating your entire sourcing portfolio in light of the crisis is a good idea)
• An Obama administration seems more likely than a McCain administration to create incentives to bring jobs back to the US—at least per the candidates statements, though neither camp has documented how it could be done
• It's a good time to double-check all your business cases—things that made sense yesterday might not today and vice versa

My overall opinion is that this crisis will be neutral to the outsourcing industry. Deals that go away because of the crisis will be replaced by deals born of the crisis.

So with a bit of luck, once shares have fallen a bit further, people with money will snap up bargains, the tide will turn and gradually confidence will return and everything will be back to "normal". 

But I fear the problem is much deeper than that. 

For a long time we've been shutting down factories and moving the jobs to developing nations where human rights are not respected and where people are desperate enough to work for criminally low wages.  In recent times we've been doing the same with office based jobs such as IT and call centres. 

To plug the employment gap, people have been given cheap and easy credit to go out and buy stuff they can't afford and don't need, to secure jobs in retail, warehousing, logistics and so on.  So far, no mass unemployment.   

But of course all these jobs do is move money around the country, it doesn't bring any in to pay for all the stuff we have to import.  Hence our massive trade deficit. 

But now that easy credit is coming to an end, and people have to try and live within their means again, the whole system could start to unravel. 

And the problem is that the people who work so cheaply in the developing world can't afford to buy the goods they produce, and the huge populations mean that there is never going to be a shortage of labour in order to push wages up, so if the west can't buy from the developing nations, and the developing nations can't afford to buy the stuff they produce, then we have a meltdown situation. 

Of course the environmental impact of everyone in the world being able to consume as much as we do in the west would be enormous. 

Instead of patching up a failed economic system, I think we should get back to basics and get back to principals of fariness, e.g. a fair days work for a fair days pay, and not have large parts of the world enslaved working hours that we would not work in the west, for a tiny amount of money.  And we all need to look at our lifestyles and start making real changes, not just token changes like reusing carrier bags. 

Will I be looking back on this post in 12-18 months time and realise I was just being alarmist?  I hope so...

            General content can be magically transformed into an excellent marketing tool for a business. Many businesses do not want to use SEO in their articles, while others are simply looking for an updated version of their website text or brochure. Most times, general content writing costs significantly less than other types of copywriting. Because a copywriter has the ability to focus purely on the text in a general content project, his or her focus stays purely on the task at hand. The writer does not have to be concerned about including keywords at a specific word density or worry about providing precise technical data; he or she can craft the words into the perfect copy for a client.

            Freelance writing companies like Creative Assistance typically charge a flat rate per word in a general content article or project. Most times, when a large number of articles are required to be written, the freelance company or writer will provide a reduced price. This allows clients to order a greater number to meets their needs while cutting costs. Because general content writing usually leaves much of the ideas up to the writer, the writer will usually complete a project faster. Without having to highlight keywords or include HTML formatting, a writer has the ability to finish these types of articles much more quickly than when completing web content or technical writing.

            The phrase "general content" refers to any type of writing that is does not include additional services. For example, a company that would like their employee handbook to be revamped would have a general content project. However, a client that is looking for new text on their website will usually be put into the category of web content, which is typically listed at a higher price per word. General content articles can be an excellent way for businesses to get their name out in the area, whether it is for mass mailing or a brochure.

After struggling to bootstrap an India capacity for many year, EDS acquired the Indian vendor MphasiS, whose strength in business process outsourcing is formidable [EDS – India To Merge Into MphasiS]

Earlier this year, EDS was acquired by HP, creating a behemoth that could rival IBM [With EDS, HP Buys Its Way Into Outsourcing Big League].

The HP hardware lineage, combined with the EDS services lineage, combined with MphasiS's India lineage brings this company neck-to-neck with IBM (though it still lacks the software products story of IBM).

Therein lies the problem. This is really three companies masquerading as one!

Combining these three lineages is not going to be easy and any success, at best, is bound to be patchy.

"I’ve had the good fortune to work with HP and to interact with HP people. They are unfailingly collaborative. Even when introducing themselves in class, if there is more than one of them they will unfailingly acknowledge the other, and verbally give respect to one another's point of view. EDS, different story. Equally great people, equally strong performers, but boy oh boy is that a control culture. At classic HP, people sort of work together to figure things out. At classic EDS, you look in the book. If the answer isn’t in the book, you ask your supervisor. If your supervisor doesn’t know, there’s some process to sort things out. So I think we can anticipate some pretty hilarious (at best) and potentially distressing (at worst) moments when parties from the two cultures, each operating with their own view of the way the world works, try to come together."

- Will HP and EDS Clash Over Culture?, Rita McGrath, Columbia Business School

Moreover, EDS has a history of at least one failed merger behind it, when it acquired A.T. Kearney in 1995 and eventually divested it in 2005:

EDS recently confirmed rumors about selling management consultancy A.T. Kearney back to Kearney leadership. The only surprise is that EDS didn't sell sooner. Since EDS purchased A.T. Kearney in 1995, results have been disappointing. A.T. Kearney contributed less than 5% of EDS' total revenues last year, while posting a $10 million loss. When he took the helm of EDS two years ago, CEO Michael Jordan indicated, that his primary goal was to bring the company back to basics. Because the two companies haven't resolved their cultural differences, selling Kearney is the smart thing to do — for both firms.

- EDS And A.T. Kearney: Parting Ways?, Forrester Research, Mar 2005

I had a ring-side view of this culture clash during my association with eBreviate, an A. T. Kearney subsidiary, at the time of this messy acquisition [Shakeup Unearths Discord at EDS Auction Unit]

It is unlikely EDS-HP will ever pose a real threat to IBM.

That is not to say that EDS poses no threat to the Indian vendors.

EDS has deep service relationships with its existing customer, having taken significant ownership for the data center operations of these customers. If EDS can make its acquisition of MphasiS's India capacity work effectively, it is positioned to offer significant cost savings to these customers.

Is EDS doing a better job with MphasiS than it did with A.T.Kearney? The jury is still out. Given its struggles with bootstrapping it's own India operation, my take is No. While EDS has the potential to challenge the commodity play of the Indian vendors, it is unlikely to actually succeed in doing so.

Short answer is, No. Given their history of strong consulting legacy and widespread experience in global outsourcing, these MNCs are approaching India in a significantly different fashion.

Let us start by looking at IBM.

There are multiple dimensions to the way IBM has approached India. The one single dimension that sets IBM apart from the Indian vendors is the fact that they have approached India as a market for their services and not just as a cheap location for commodity sourcing!

Consider the following headlines that involve IBM:

• IBM Provides Technology Backbone for Max Vijay, a New Business Initiative by Max New York Life for the Untapped Indian Population [Press Release]
• DLF Selects IBM to Transform Its IT Infrastructure [Press Release]
• Bharti Airtel and IBM Strengthen Their Strategic Relationship Signing an Additional US$150 Million Agreement [Press Release]
• Vodafone Essar Outsources to IBM [Read Article]
• IBM Wins $800m Deal From Idea Cellular [Read Article]
• IBM Extends Leadership in India Domestic IT Services Market [Press Release]

In all these deals, the buyers were just not looking to lease capacity. They needed a technology company that could advise them, guide them, and support them every step of the way on their technology journey. IBM could do this. The Indian vendors could not. All that the Indian vendors had to offer what capacity - "Take my capacity and do what you want with it" - and that was not enough.

By treating India as an IT market and not just as a commodity supply base, IBM is beating the Indian vendors in their won backyard! And here is what Ravi Nadjou, VP, Forrester Research has to say about the potential of India as an IT market [The Next Big Market for India's Tech Vendors? India].

IBM is now leveraging it's India experience to bag deals elsewhere in the world! [IBM India to play key role in MTN deal]. And here is what BusinessWeek has to say on these moves by IBM [IBM's Big Deal in India].

It is clear that IBM is highly differentiated from the Indian vendors due to its unique combination of hardware, software products and software services. IBM is not playing the capacity leasing game but is instead taking ownership for results.

Having said that, I need to agree that comparing an Infosys or TCS to IBM is like comparing a grape to a jack-fruit! A more appropriate comparison would be with IBM Global Services (the software services arm of IBM). Then again, such a comparison is not very fruitful, since IBM Global Services is not the one working the deals listed above; the whole might of the combined hardware - software products - software services organization is what makes the difference.

What about EDS-HP, Accenture and CapGemini who have all established a strong India presence? More on that in my next post.