I completed my Global Entry application earlier this week (www.globalentry.gov). They appeal to international travelers by promising the ability "to get on their way quickly and easily by using automated kiosks." The idea of an expedited process is very appealing. I've found that it's very hard for those customs officials to believe that you've been in a country or set of countries for 5 days and you didn't buy anything. Obviously they don't know the life of an analyst. I barely had time to eat and sleep; when would I have gone shopping?!? I get tired of having to explain that to these guys.

So one of the questions you are asked to complete to apply for this new program is a list of countries you've visited in the past five years. When I looked through my passport, I was pretty impressed with the list that materialized. I realized that I've recently been to the key areas of the world that are now the topic of many inquiries and discussions that I'm having with Forrester clients. By far, I've spent more time in India than anywhere else. But in recent years I've spent time in China, Southeast Asia (Philippines, Malaysia), Eastern Europe (Belarus, Czech Republic, and Ukraine), Mexico, and South America (Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay). I've recognized significant changes in each of these countries. There has been a noticeable maturity and improvement in country infrastructure, government support, IT software association influence and growth, and vendor effectiveness and expertise. Each of these regions and specific countries has also witnessed the arrival of the MNC (Accenture, CSC, CapGemini, Deloitte, HP, and IBM) and Tier 1 Indian (Cognizant, HCL, Infosys, TCS, and Wipro) players. The presence of these vendors has shaped and accelerated the growth and maturity of the BPO and IT outsourcing markets around the world. It should also be mentioned that the growth and maturity of the domestic vendors has been significant and noteworthy in many cases. This has been accomplished through organic growth, acquisitions, venture capital infusions, government support, and management changes.

I'm writing a series of reports on the alternative offshore location movement – an overview, market case studies, and eventually a country-based wave. I've interviewed dozens of companies and vendors to better uncover what is driving this movement, but I want to hear more. 

I want to know:

  • Is your company thinking about moving some offshore outsourcing work to countries other than India?
  • Are you considering an India + 1 strategy, and if so why?
  • Is geopolitical risk mitigation still a concern for your company?
  • What other reasons are driving your decision to have multiple offshore outsourcing locations?
  • What are the factors influencing your choice of specific alternative offshore locations?

For those who have already adopted and executed a multiple geography offshore outsourcing approach:

  • What have been your experiences in managing multiple geographies?
  • Did you expand into other countries with your existing vendors that have operations in different geographies?
  • Did you establish new relationships with vendors that are native in the new geographies?
  • What advantages have you realized in this new global delivery model, and which vendor(s) do it best?
  • What are your plans for offshore outsourcing in the next 3-5 years?

INQUIRING MINDS WANT TO KNOW !!