Is the outsourcing boom over?

[Barry Campbell]

On 7/12/06, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr at genek.com> wrote:
> ...There is nothing in the article to suggest that any of
> the cancelled outsourced/offshored work is coming home
> to domestic in-house hires.
>
> Also, keep in mind that "on-shore outsourcing" probably
> includes people who are working as 1099 independent
> contractors.

To add to Gene's excellent points, and to further muddy the waters, in
many cases companies fire one outsourcing provider prematurely, only
to immediately replace them with *another* outsourcing provider.

At my former employer, a major multinational consulting firm with a
large outsourcing arm and significant onshore *and* offshore
outsourcing presences, we both gained and lost business this way
fairly routinely.

My experience is that it is *very* much the exception, rather than the
rule, when a long term (five to seven year) outsourcing agreement goes
to completion without being significantly revised and renegotiated or
terminated outright.

In the outsourcing industry, we even spoke of the "three-year itch,"
as that seemed to be about when customers started getting restless
with their providers.

- bc

-- 
Barry Campbell <barry at campbell-online.com>
http://campbell-online.com