The term “outsourcing” has been heavily used over the past few years, but oftentimes the meaning of this process wrongfully understood. If we were to give it a dictionary definition, outsourcing would be the process of an organization or individual transferring the ownership of a business process to a supplier (which in turn can be an organization or individual). Some would argue that this is a simple business relationship, but with outsourcing there’s a catch. The difference between a simple business relationship and outsourcing is the way the control over the business process is handled and transferred. In the first case, the buyer retains full control over the entire process and simply tells the supplier what to do, with details nailed down to the point. With outsourcing however, the buyer rarely instructs the supplier on HOW to do the work. Basically, the buyer will simply tell the supplier WHAT he needs and give him a set of general guidelines, but it’s left to the supplier’s creativity to get the job done. Of course, outsourcing is a double-edged sword for both buyers and suppliers. From the buyer’s perspective, the benefits of outsourcing are the reduced involvement in the project, which allows for more spare time focused in a different direction. You don’t have to keep a constant eye on the supplier’s work, simply because you’re more interested in the final outcome than on how they handle things. On the other hand, the end result might not be satisfactory, which creates a sort of deadlock situation. On one hand, the supplier might argue that that’s what you asked for and that you did not provide them with conclusive information. From the supplier’s point of view, outsourcing can be both a pain and a boon. On the bright side, you have almost full control over the project and you can choose your own ways to get it done. However, you risk not hitting the points that the buyer aims for, especially if his communication skills are not very high. Outsourcing is a bigger business branch, containing several smaller ones such as offshore outsourcing, crowdsourcing and freelancing. Offshore outsourcing is mainly a term used by US-based businesses, describing the outsourcing of projects in Europe or Asia. The projects are sent over to outsourcing companies in countries that are less developed, offering a cheaper work force at equal quality. The IT market for example is constantly being offshore outsourced in India, Romania or Ukraine as well as several other countries. Crowdsourcing is a clever business technique that relies on enthusiasts to do the job done. For example, electronic freelancers, photo enthusiasts, amateur writers are all examples of crowdsourcing. Their work is bought of very cheap and oftentimes free and then used in a business. Crowdsourcing is considered slightly unethical by some, since the buyer will profit from someone’s work without having to pay for it, however in most cases, the suppliers will be glad to see their work being used, their photos being published and their articles appearing on websites or in magazines. Besides these methods, there are several other ones related to outsourcing, including homecoming, open trust outsourcing, supply chain outsourcing, vertical integration and so forth.

Outsourcing is an age old practice and the advent of business process outsourcing is clearly an example of paradigm shift. It is the way in which business operates, or can be operated. The advent of current BPO revolution has been driven by the availability of cost effective technology such as Internet broadband services, inexpensive data storage, continued business process specialization and online analytical processing tool. The paradigm shift is that, the technology has enabled global exchange of BPO services. Today, BPO industry had matured to the extent that the costs are normalizing and becoming attractive. Over the last three decades Business Process Outsourcing has been catering to number of services like retail, insurance, mortgage, banking, finance, health care, telecommunications, travel, technology, hospitality and many more. Today, many offshore firms are consolidating and standardizing their operations by outsourcing their business process to third parties. There are many BPO service providers in India that offer cost effective and focused management expertise. In the present scenario many UK and US based firms are looking at countries like India, Philippines, China and other South Asian territories to outsource their services. According to a research conducted NelsonHall- a BPO analyst firm

80% of the firm claimed that, outsourcing has increased their competitiveness.

87% of the companies said that, outsourcing had improved their internal processes.

While 77% of the companies said that, they could see a significant drop in their operational cost through outsourcing.

The offshore BPO services are expected to grow at a significant rate per year within the Asia-Pacific market. The growth rate will be about $14 billion by the year 2010. The BPO business in India will be booming despite the current economic recession. The economy will stabilize and there five fold growth of the BPO industry within the next five years. According to a research, ‘Road map 2012 – capitalizing on the expanding BPO landscape’, conducted by Nasscom and Everest Group, the revenue of the Indian BPO industry will touch $50 billion and will add about 2.5% of the gross domestic product by the year 2012. Presently BPO sector employs about 8 lakh people and the annual revenue is about $11 billion. Over the next 5 years the BPO industry will employ nearly 2 million people. Once again, one reason why BPO has grown over the 10 years is the availability of high end technology and infrastructure. Without the availability of Internet and broadband, this could not have been possible. The development in technology has broken down the barriers of global communication. Considering the progress made in the outsourcing industry over the last ten years is standardizing and automation of business processes, the next five years promise similar advances. Typically, the multinational companies define market trends and the acceptance of new product and services. Keeping all these in mind, the BPO industry could take a new shape over the next five years.

The term “outsourcing” has been heavily used over the past few years, but oftentimes the meaning of this process wrongfully understood. If we were to give it a dictionary definition, outsourcing would be the process of an organization or individual transferring the ownership of a business process to a supplier (which in turn can be an organization or individual). Some would argue that this is a simple business relationship, but with outsourcing there’s a catch. The difference between a simple business relationship and outsourcing is the way the control over the business process is handled and transferred. In the first case, the buyer retains full control over the entire process and simply tells the supplier what to do, with details nailed down to the point. With outsourcing however, the buyer rarely instructs the supplier on HOW to do the work. Basically, the buyer will simply tell the supplier WHAT he needs and give him a set of general guidelines, but it’s left to the supplier’s creativity to get the job done. Of course, outsourcing is a double-edged sword for both buyers and suppliers. From the buyer’s perspective, the benefits of outsourcing are the reduced involvement in the project, which allows for more spare time focused in a different direction. You don’t have to keep a constant eye on the supplier’s work, simply because you’re more interested in the final outcome than on how they handle things. On the other hand, the end result might not be satisfactory, which creates a sort of deadlock situation. On one hand, the supplier might argue that that’s what you asked for and that you did not provide them with conclusive information. From the supplier’s point of view, outsourcing can be both a pain and a boon. On the bright side, you have almost full control over the project and you can choose your own ways to get it done. However, you risk not hitting the points that the buyer aims for, especially if his communication skills are not very high. Outsourcing is a bigger business branch, containing several smaller ones such as offshore outsourcing, crowdsourcing and freelancing. Offshore outsourcing is mainly a term used by US-based businesses, describing the outsourcing of projects in Europe or Asia. The projects are sent over to outsourcing companies in countries that are less developed, offering a cheaper work force at equal quality. The IT market for example is constantly being offshore outsourced in India, Romania or Ukraine as well as several other countries. Crowdsourcing is a clever business technique that relies on enthusiasts to do the job done. For example, electronic freelancers, photo enthusiasts, amateur writers are all examples of crowdsourcing. Their work is bought of very cheap and oftentimes free and then used in a business. Crowdsourcing is considered slightly unethical by some, since the buyer will profit from someone’s work without having to pay for it, however in most cases, the suppliers will be glad to see their work being used, their photos being published and their articles appearing on websites or in magazines. Besides these methods, there are several other ones related to outsourcing, including homecoming, open trust outsourcing, supply chain outsourcing, vertical integration and so forth.

Let’s face it: it’s getting difficult nowadays to control the IT expenditures even by cutting down other costs. New IT products appear every day and it’s always tempting to give it a try. But really, can you? The actual crisis is not helping worldwide businesses to manage their budget and it is not going to get better in the near future. But there is a very simple answer to most problems related to this issue. Why not outsourcing your projects to an emerging Asian country? India? Already done. Maybe China? That sounds good if you speak Chinese. Nepal? Hum… tell me more. Well, Nepal have developed over the year a strong community of skilled designers and developers but, because of lack of communication, this has never been advertised anywhere. There are lots of web agencies located in Nepal and their services range from simple web-design to complete web applications and products. Nepal is slowly trying to get back on its feet after a decade-long conflict which brought an end to the Nepalese monarchy. Nevertheless, the IT sector is expanding at a very fast rate and the population of Nepal is eager to expand their presence on the world stage. Nowadays, the youths of Nepal are daily using web-services such as facebook, twitter, flickr and blogs and this trend is growing continuously. This shows the will of the population to catch up with their neighbors and to enter into our new era of communication. Despite being the poorest country in Asia, the education system has succeeded in creating talented and skilled IT professionals. Designers are familiar with the latest technologies and are providing quick-solutions for a cost which is the lowest in Asia. Besides providing excellent services, Nepalese speak English which make it easier when deciding to outsource your projects in this small Himalayan country. Nepal has never been considered as an outsourcing destination but this will change in the near future as the country has everything to become one. Nepalese people are known worldwide for being the strongest to climb mountains. Hopefully, they will be also known as great designers and developers over the next couple of years.