Recession time - select outsourcing destination carefully October 8th, 2008
by VPM Peter

So you sitting watching the world falling apart with the headlines like this everywhere. I bet if you are using outsourcing or intend to do so the question pops up in your head: which destination is stable and will not get hurt by the crisis or blown away by the next financial storm.

Here is the comment on risks (no risks actually) if you choose Belarus. Much of our force is located there so we have have our homework on this one done. Belarus is not affected by the world crisis b/c it doesn’t actually have mature stock market and not much of a foreign investment in the country. The loan system including subprime is not popular much also - so we won’t have any foreclosures happening destabilizing the financial system. The local currency is fixed towards the dollar and stays on the same level for about 4 years now (with slight rise of ruble against dollar recently). At the same time the was a gradual inflation happening which resulted in lesser purchasing power of the dollar. Worth case scenario for crisis is that devaluation of the belarussian ruble will occur which will be a hit for the country but not the outsourcing industry. In fact it will win in this case (consider employees being able to purchase more for the same salary). Which makes the choice of Belarus as your offshore outsourcing destination right and bold!

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Recession - impact on outsourcing October 8th, 2008
by VPM Peter

In those hard time for virtually any industry the interesting question for outsourcing professionals or companies using outsourcing is the following: Will the offshore outsourcing industry grow or decline? Is this the end of offshore outsourcing golden times or the beginning of the new wave?

From our prospective it’s both. Here is why: about 20-40% of the revenue of traditional outsourcing houses goes from financial institutions. With the collapse companies have been forced to enter into different vertical markets. Typically that would be a good measure to compensate the losses. But the current problem is that everyone is in the same boat - industries, markets, countries. For example travel verticals seeing the rise in cancellation of reservations and tickets, automotive sells dramatically less cars then usual, the list goes on. At the same time in the reality of the crisis companies facing difficulties try to search for the way to stay competitive and make the ends meet. And outsourcing is a cost effective solution which was invented long time ago. It’s a matter of applying it now effectively. During the last two weeks our marketing department sees the increased number of leads coming in. Fact! It’s interesting times because it’s mix of positive and negative happenings for offshore outsourcing companies and the managers need to be creative to make sure that the business drives true value to the customer they need to work on differentiation factors. Price is important too this time! I’m sure that the ineffective players will sink and leave and those with the strategy will become more powerful then ever. They are helping companies to stay competitive in those difficult times anyway.

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