> Subject: India is outsourcing jobs !! > > the future of outsourcing is ''to take the work from any part of the > world and do it in any part of the world.'' > > Outsourcing Works So Well, India Is Sending Jobs Abroad > By ANAND GIRIDHARADAS > 25 September 2007 > The New York Times <javascript:void(0)> > MYSORE, India -- Thousands of Indians report to Infosys Technologies' > campus here to learn the finer points of programming. Lately, though, > packs of foreigners have been roaming the manicured lawns, too. > Many of them are recent American college graduates, and some have even > turned down job offers from coveted employers like Google. Instead, > they accepted a novel assignment from Infosys, the Indian technology > giant: fly here for six months of training, then return home to work > in the company's American back offices. > India is outsourcing outsourcing. > One of the constants of the global economy has been companies moving > their tasks -- and jobs -- to India. But rising wages and a stronger > currency here, demands for workers who speak languages other than > English, and competition from countries looking to emulate India's > success as a back office -- including China, Morocco and Mexico -- are > challenging that model. > Many executives here acknowledge that outsourcing, having rained most > heavily on India, will increasingly sprinkle tasks around the globe. > Or, as Ashok Vemuri, an Infosys senior vice president, put it, the > future of outsourcing is ''to take the work from any part of the world > and do it in any part of the world.'' > To fight on the shifting terrain, and to beat back emerging rivals, > Indian companies are hiring workers and opening offices in developing > countries themselves, before their clients do. > In May, Tata Consultancy Service, Infosys's Indian rival, announced a > new back office in Guadalajara, Mexico; Tata already has 5,000 workers > in Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. Cognizant Technology Solutions, with > most of its operations in India, has now opened back offices in > Phoenix and Shanghai. > Wipro, another Indian technology services company, has outsourcing > offices in Canada, China, Portugal, Romania and Saudi Arabia, among > other locations. > And last month, Wipro said it was opening a software development > center in Atlanta that would hire 500 programmers in three years. > In a poetic reflection of outsourcing's new face, Wipro's chairman, > Azim Premji, told Wall Street analysts this year that he was > considering hubs in Idaho and Virginia, in addition to Georgia, to > take advantage of American ''states which are less developed.'' > (India's per capita income is less than $1,000 a year.) > For its part, Infosys is building a whole archipelago of back offices > -- in Mexico, the Czech Republic, Thailand and China, as well as > low-cost regions of the United States. > The company seeks to become a global matchmaker for outsourcing: any > time a company wants work done somewhere else, even just down the > street, Infosys wants to get the call. > It is a peculiar ambition for a company that symbolizes the flow of > tasks from the West to India. > Most of Infosys's 75,000 employees are Indians, in India. They account > for most of the company's $3.1 billion in sales in the year that ended > March 31, from work for clients like Bank of America and Goldman > Sachs. > ''India continues to be the No. 1 location for outsourcing,'' S. > Gopalakrishnan, the company's chief executive, said in a telephone > interview. > And yet the company opened a Philippines office in August and, a month > earlier, bought back offices in Thailand and Poland from Royal Philips > Electronics, the Dutch company. In each outsourcing hub, local > employees work with little help from Indian managers. > Infosys says its outsourcing experience in India has taught it to > carve up a project, apportion each slice to suitable workers, > double-check quality and then export a final, reassembled product to > clients. The company argues it can clone its Indian back offices in > other nations and groom Chinese, Mexican or Czech employees to be more > productive than local outsourcing companies could make them. > ''We have pioneered this movement of work,'' Mr. Gopalakrishnan said. > ''These new countries don't have experience and maturity in doing > that, and that's what we're taking to these countries.'' > Some analysts compare the strategy to Japanese penetration of auto > manufacturing in the United States in the 1970s. Just as the Japanese > learned to make cars in America without Japanese workers, Indian > vendors are learning to outsource without Indians, said Dennis > McGuire, chairman of TPI, a Texas-based outsourcing consultancy. > Though work that bypasses India remains a small part of the Infosys > business, it is growing. The company can be highly secretive, but > executives agreed to describe some of the new projects on the > condition that clients not be identified. > In one project, an American bank wanted a computer system to handle a > loan program for Hispanic customers. The system had to work in > Spanish. It also had to take into account variables particular to > Hispanic clients: many, for instance, remit money to families abroad, > which can affect their bank balances. The bank thought a Mexican team > would have the right language skills and grasp of cultural nuances. > But instead of going to a Mexican vendor, or to an American vendor > with Mexican operations, the bank retained three dozen engineers at > Infosys, which had recently opened shop in Monterrey, Mexico. > Such is the new outsourcing: A company in the United States pays an > Indian vendor 7,000 miles away to supply it with Mexican engineers > working 150 miles south of the United States border. > In Europe, too, companies now hire Infosys to manage back offices in > their own backyards. When an American manufacturer, for instance, > needed a system to handle bills from multiple vendors supplying its > factories in different European countries, it turned to the Indian > company. The manufacturer's different locations scan the invoices and > send them to an office of Infosys, where each bill is passed to the > right language team. The teams verify the orders and send the payment > to the suppliers while logged in to the client's computer system. > More than a dozen languages are spoken at the Infosys office, which is > in Brno, Czech Republic. > The American program here in Mysore is meant to keep open that > pipeline of diversity. > Most trainees here have no software knowledge. By teaching novices, > Infosys saves money and hopes to attract workers who will turn down > better-known companies for the chance to learn a new skill. > ''It's the equivalent of a bachelor's in computer science in six > months,'' said Melissa Adams, a 22-year-old trainee. Ms. Adams > graduated last spring from the University of Washington with a > business degree, and rejected Google for Infosys. > And yet, even as outsourcing takes on new directions, old perceptions > linger. > For instance, when Jeff Rand, a 23-year-old American trainee, told his > grandmother he was moving to India to work as a software engineer for > six months, ''she said, 'Maybe I'll get to talk to you when I have a > problem with my credit card.' '' > Said Mr. Rand with a rueful chuckle, ''It took me about two or three > weeks to explain to my grandma that I was not going to be working in a > call center.'' =========================================
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