Five Outsourcing Trends to Watch in 2009

Reported from C-net:

Which way is the wind blowing in the outsourcing market? What’s looming on the horizon in the next five years?

Silicon.com has identified five areas to watch.

Consolidation
Competition for outsourcing contracts is more cutthroat than ever, with a huge expansion in the number of suppliers, so some significant consolidation is on the horizon.

Recent rumors of a merger between information technology heavyweights Infosys Technologies and Capgemini Group suggest that the stars are aligning for some significant marriages. Duncan Aitchison, managing director of business advisory company TPI, told Silicon.com that even if the rumored Infosys-Capgemini merger never materializes, it reflects current “market sentiment.” What’s more, other industry experts are predicting more merger-and-acquisition activity in this sector over the next year or two.

Globalization
There has long been talk of India losing its edge in the offshore-outsourcing market–including warnings of a shortage of skilled workers–but a bigger threat to India’s dominance could lie closer to home. According to a study by analyst IDC, cities in China will overtake their Indian counterparts as top destinations for offshore global delivery by 2011.

While it remains unlikely that China will outstrip India in the outsourcing business overall, the trend is for increasing globalization of the market as more regions seek to cash in on the offshoring boom.

Beyond the so-called BRIC bloc of countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China–or BRICM, if one includes Mexico), developing nations such as Egypt and Poland are emerging as sources of offshore labor. The trend is not only for a “greater pattern of diversity” in the outsourcing sector, said TPI’s Aitchison, but also for greater specialization as smaller players seek to distinguish themselves in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

Person-to-person offshoring
Offshoring is more commonly associated with large-scale business redeployments–the relocation of a back-office function, say, or a whole department. But research suggests that there’s growing momentum for redeployments of a much smaller scale. According to a report by research company Evaluserve, offshoring has reached small businesses and even homes–a trend it dubs “person-to-person,” or P2P, offshoring.

Examples of services outsourced in this way include online tutoring, Web and software development, and writing and translation services. Customers for these services can be small businesses or even individual consumers.

Evaluserve says revenue for this sector stood at more than $250 million between April 2006 and March 2007, and it predicts that the value of the P2P offshoring market will rise to more than $2 billion by 2015.

Green sourcing
Rising energy prices have put ecology issues firmly on CIOs’ radar. But could pressure to demonstrate green credentials influence businesses’ outsourcing decisions as well?

Silicon.com’s CIO Jury–a pool of chief information officers and other corporate IT professionals who are polled on various technology issues–recently revealed that environmental factors play a key role in the selection of technology suppliers and partners.

Virtual worlds
The rise of virtual worlds such as Second Life is making it easier for companies to justify hiring offshore workers for tasks that may include building virtual offices or even working as virtual-world “meeters and greeters.”

The market for outsourced virtual-world services is still very new, but businesses increasingly are taking an interest in the likes of Second Life, so momentum is likely to build.

Last month, news emerged of a partnership between a Chinese online-entertainment company and Entropia Universe, a virtual world with a science fiction theme, to create a virtual economy that could provide as many as 10,000 jobs.

Over the longer term, customer contact jobs, including those for help desk and call center services–could migrate into virtual worlds, where customers can be both informed and entertained.

Natasha Lomas of Silicon.com reported from London.

Outsourcing Fast Food Order Taking

From the AP.

A fast-food giant has been trying to determine whether its easier to place your drive-through order with someone around the world instead of around the corner.

Jack in the Box Inc. has been outsourcing order-taking for some Charlotte-area restaurants to a call center elsewhere, testing whether the idea could improve efficiency.

Company spokeswoman Kathleen Anthony told the Charlotte Observer that the technology is intended to improve speed, accuracy and service. The San Diego-based restaurant chain hopes the process will free up on-site employees to process orders, accept payment and address other needs.

“It is something we’re testing, not something we’re necessarily committed to at this point,” said Anthony, declining to discus the results of the Charlotte trial that began in the middle of last year.

Anthony told the Observer that the orders are routed to a Texas call center operated by Bronco Communications, and she said some orders may be routed outside of the country.

Restaurants including McDonald’s and Wendy’s franchisees have tried centralizing orders but neither has used the program nationally because they have found it difficult to prove it saves money, said Sherri Daye Scott, editor of QSR Magazine, dedicated to the quick-service restaurant industry.

Customers in Charlotte have noticed heavy accents among order-takers only to find different workers at the drive-through window.

“I had noticed it (several months ago), but I just thought the person taking the order was somewhere else in the store where we couldn’t see them,” said Elizabeth Banks, a Charlotte teacher and mother of three. “It never occurred to me they might be out of the country.”

Kate Mosteller, marketing director of Andover, Mass.-based Exit 41, which focuses on off-site order taking, said the technology can help eliminate barriers between customers and employees who speak different languages. But it can also be difficult to match order-takers with customers who may have different dialects or expectations.

“You want someone who’s friendly and articulate and who can understand … different nuances,” Mosteller told the Observer. “(Otherwise) you’re going to know you’re (being routed) somewhere else, and that’s exactly what you don’t want to do.”

Guru.com’s new quality Rank highlights Freelancers by the traits that are essential to you and your business

To ensure that you connect with the best Freelancers for your business needs, Guru.com now ranks Freelancers using a quality score system that is unique to service websites. This new system provides you with a true and clear valuation of the quality of Freelancer services.

Freelancers are now ranked by the same three components that traditional offline businesses use to gauge success:

• The acquisition of new customers,
• Earnings from each customer, and
• The ability to keep customers over a long period of time.

The design of the new Rank calculation encourages and rewards Freelancers for submitting targeted proposals, providing first-rate comprehensive services, and retaining customers.

The previous ranking system positioned Freelancers based on subjective feedback and the amount of money earned over a 12-month period. The new Rank better highlights quality Freelancers by eliminating subjective feedback from the calculation and focusing on objective business success factors.

You will still be able to review the feedback others have left for a Freelancer and leave feedback on Freelancers you have worked with, but it is no longer a component of how they are ranked.

Outsourcing and Leverage Workshop comes to Bloomington, MN

Jeff Mills has announced he is doing his 4th Outsourcing and Leveraging workshop on February 6-8, 2009 in Bloomington MN.

As of this announcement, there are 9 discounted seats available.

“Nothing like getting up and close with mentors and students to shake their hand, or give an encouraging hug!” says Mills.

“YOU CAN DO THIS” but you will need help when it comes to breaking the bonds of SOLOPRENEURSHIP, and going to an OUTSOURCINGSHIP.

Moving from doing it all, to doing it some to doing it barely at all, is a dream that can become a reality and Jeff Mills will show it to you and prove it to you at his 2 day live workshop coming to the Twin Cities, in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota February 6-8, 2009.

To discover what this conference looks like and what we will do for two days, with our mentors, please visit the outsourcing workshop and seminar website.

Then, be one of the last 9 to get a seat before we close down the doors and you will have to wait until May or August of 2009.

http://www.outsourceworkshop.com

Coming in May, we’ll have our 5th Workshop, and unfortunately, the price will not be for $197, it will be for $1997.

Don’t pass this up, or you’ll simply pay more for the next one. But right now, there are 9 discounted seats available, where one can save $1800 off the admission of our event.

Vancouver, BC Canada to host first ever Canada Marketing Summit

For Immediate Release:

Canada Marketing Summit Press Release [Adobe .pdf]

Vancouver, BC, Canada — (January 17, 2009) — On March 26-29, 2009, hundreds of people, including Top Marketing Gurus, Million Dollar Money Earners and Coaches, Marketing Companies and Expo Vendors will come together for the ultimate 4 day marketing mastermind session in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The event will feature 16 premier speakers in joining Jeff Mills, personal business coach and internet marketing trainer, and Rob Toth, internet marketing strategist, the hosts of the Canada Marketing Summit – in reaching out and sharing their top marketing secrets.

Toth, from Vancouver, BC, said, “Nothing of this magnitude has ever happened in one location in the entire country of Canada in the marketing circles before. For some reason, educators keep ignoring the good people in Canada and skip the country altogether and never travel here to share the best secrets of the millionaire money makers and marketers – until now.”

In addition to marketing savvy speakers, Mills adds, “We are inviting value-added exhibitors of like-minded promotional marketing and internet marketing services and products of select companies – to enhance the experience further for our attendees throughout the amazing marketing summit.” Each day will consist of 4 speakers per day with 2 speakers every morning and 2 speakers every afternoon.

Mills and Toth anticipate sponsors and exhibitors to sign on quickly for the Canada Marketing Summit – since this is the first time in Canada where small business owners and entrepreneurs from all over North America will have the opportunity to invest 4 days studying ways to super-charge their businesses with advanced marketing tools.

Advanced tickets may be purchased at www.canadamarketingsummit.com.

Additional information about sponsorship opportunities and/or exhibiting, please contact Mark Hassing, CMS Sponsorship & Vendor Manager by email to mark@canadamarketingsummit.com or call 763.515.2963.

Media contacts of radio, television, magazine and newspaper – requesting interviews, please call 651.769.2189 and speak with host, Jeff Mills.

Learn more about the summit and hosts, Jeff Mills and Rob Toth, at www.canadamarketingsummit.com