Outsourcing Has Benefits
Without outsourcing some American companies would likely be put out of business by foreign companies that could do what they do better and faster.
Oct 05, 2006
I don't buy into the scaremonger's theory that all IT professionals and engineers will be out of work because of offshore outsourcing. Have they actually looked at the numbers? The percentage of jobs going overseas is minuscule. A survey done September 19th, 2006 by the Society for Information Management stated that "3.3% of corporate budgets were allocated to the funding of offshore outsourcing programs" and 33% of their budgets were allocated for in-house staff.
But if that doesn't help the future for IT professionals look any less dismal, consider that the same report also stated that, "nearly 2/3 of the respondents will maintain or increase their levels of IT staffing in 2007." Outsourcing is inevitable. We work on laptops that have parts that were made in 4 different countries and assembled in the US, we drive cars that had parts made all around the world — yet say Ford or Mercury on them. It's a global world now and outsourcing makes sense socially, financially and economically.
Americans are now competing worldwide. We're not just up against the best and brightest in the US, we're up against the best and brightest in the world. That's enough to make anyone nervous. People criticize outsourcing because they fear for their jobs, but outsourcing is not the only reason or even the primary reason for the loss of jobs. IT workers must constantly update their skills as technology is always changing; there are always new graduates with the latest skills requiring less pay to do the same job.
Outsourcing results in American research and development labs all around the world, developing the cutting edge technology the company needs to stay on top. Without outsourcing some American companies would likely be put out of business by foreign companies that could do what they do better and faster. When American companies stay on top of the market because of the products and prices that result from outsourcing it creates more jobs in America. Not to mention exposing these countries to new technology and products creates a new market for the product, and more demand for the product means more jobs will be created in the company here in the US.
American companies feel the heat too, not just people that fear their jobs will be outsourced. There are companies out there making the same quality or higher quality products and getting them to the market faster and at a lower cost. Look at the recent rumors of a merger between Ford and Toyota; it's stiff competition. How can we blame Ford for outsourcing so that their prices remain competitive with the foreign market?
In this global world smart companies are making smart moves. They are searching for the latest and greatest technologies all over the world. Instead of developing their next product line using only research and development teams in the US they have global offices and teams. This allows them to work with the newest technologies wherever in the world they are, and to get their products developed and to the market quicker and cheaper than before.
America has reached its full potential; don't we have an obligation to help developing countries reach their full potential? Lets look at what offshore outsourcing is doing for the countries that jobs are being outsourced to; why isn't anyone concerned about these huge corporations taking advantage of the people that they employ overseas? Shouldn't they be obligated to pay their employees a livable wage and be prohibited from employing children?
The reality is that right now the world is global and will be even more so in the future. Data communication advances in the last 40 years has made it possible for people to do business in different countries just as efficiently as if they were in different cities. Nationalism is truly a thing of the past; the boundaries drawn on the ground by each country were blurred with the advent of the World Wide Web.
Steve Fullmer, in his book "Why to Support Global Outsourcing", said it best: "What we should have learned most from 9/11 is that we a
But if that doesn't help the future for IT professionals look any less dismal, consider that the same report also stated that, "nearly 2/3 of the respondents will maintain or increase their levels of IT staffing in 2007." Outsourcing is inevitable. We work on laptops that have parts that were made in 4 different countries and assembled in the US, we drive cars that had parts made all around the world — yet say Ford or Mercury on them. It's a global world now and outsourcing makes sense socially, financially and economically.
Americans are now competing worldwide. We're not just up against the best and brightest in the US, we're up against the best and brightest in the world. That's enough to make anyone nervous. People criticize outsourcing because they fear for their jobs, but outsourcing is not the only reason or even the primary reason for the loss of jobs. IT workers must constantly update their skills as technology is always changing; there are always new graduates with the latest skills requiring less pay to do the same job.
Outsourcing results in American research and development labs all around the world, developing the cutting edge technology the company needs to stay on top. Without outsourcing some American companies would likely be put out of business by foreign companies that could do what they do better and faster. When American companies stay on top of the market because of the products and prices that result from outsourcing it creates more jobs in America. Not to mention exposing these countries to new technology and products creates a new market for the product, and more demand for the product means more jobs will be created in the company here in the US.
American companies feel the heat too, not just people that fear their jobs will be outsourced. There are companies out there making the same quality or higher quality products and getting them to the market faster and at a lower cost. Look at the recent rumors of a merger between Ford and Toyota; it's stiff competition. How can we blame Ford for outsourcing so that their prices remain competitive with the foreign market?
In this global world smart companies are making smart moves. They are searching for the latest and greatest technologies all over the world. Instead of developing their next product line using only research and development teams in the US they have global offices and teams. This allows them to work with the newest technologies wherever in the world they are, and to get their products developed and to the market quicker and cheaper than before.
America has reached its full potential; don't we have an obligation to help developing countries reach their full potential? Lets look at what offshore outsourcing is doing for the countries that jobs are being outsourced to; why isn't anyone concerned about these huge corporations taking advantage of the people that they employ overseas? Shouldn't they be obligated to pay their employees a livable wage and be prohibited from employing children?
The reality is that right now the world is global and will be even more so in the future. Data communication advances in the last 40 years has made it possible for people to do business in different countries just as efficiently as if they were in different cities. Nationalism is truly a thing of the past; the boundaries drawn on the ground by each country were blurred with the advent of the World Wide Web.
Steve Fullmer, in his book "Why to Support Global Outsourcing", said it best: "What we should have learned most from 9/11 is that we a