Handling IP Protection With Chinese Outsourcing Vendors

The world's top 10 offshore providers in IT, business process outsourcing (BPO), and product engineering are increasingly going to China, behind India and the Philippines, for offshoring tasks. However, the issue of intellectual property (IP) protection remains a significant hurdle for many organizations considering the country. While the large IT services firms have made major investments in their IP protection processes and governance, customers still need to take their own precautions in parallel. If you outsource or are thinking about sending work offshore to China, you need to work with your vendor to attain an acceptable level of control. This includes auditing your vendor's security controls, negotiating a service-level agreement (SLA) with IP protection terms, arming yourself with appropriate legal protection, and using additional technical measures whenever necessary.