By Patrick Haller

When making sourcing decisions, a lot of attention is paid to the pricing structure and qualifications of service providers, while their actual location is sometimes a secondary  consideration. However, when assessing a destination, it’s important to realize that what might be favorable today can morph into a nightmare scenario tomorrow. Don’t be caught unaware and unprepared for the ever-changing dynamics of  the Nearshore.

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By Patrick Haller

With 2012 in full-swing, a critical look at what lies ahead for Nearshoring  is in order. With a shaky global economy, and some forecasts calling for a sluggish year in IT and BPO sourcing, this is no time to be complacent.  Whether it’s building solid skill sets, creating sufficient scale, matching client’s expectations, managing expansion, or doing business amidst social change and myopic political theater, providers have a lot to confront. We tapped some of the leading experts in the Nearshoring space for their answer to the burning question: What is the single biggest challenge you think the Nearshore outsourcing industry faces in 2012?

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By Tony Mataya

Of all the business processes to source, those in finance and accounting often raise the highest level of concern within organizations. Some firms refuse to consider F&A outsourcing (FAO) based on fears and doubts, and an overall risk-averse approach to outsourcing.

But how is the market for FAO doing? In a 2011 survey of buyers of outsourcing services by HfS Research and the London School of Economics, demand for outsourcing core general and administrative services is reaching unprecedented levels.

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Mexico recently rose five spots to become the sixth-ranked country worldwide in A.T. Kearney’s 2011 Global Services Location Index, boosted by depreciation in its currency and “increased nearshoring sentiment in the United States.” Now the highest-ranked Latin American country in the index, wages in Mexico fell 18 percent in dollar terms last year “as it was buffeted by economic headwinds from the United States,” according to A.T. Kearney’s summary of the index.

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Stability – ironically – becomes the central attraction around the Latin America outsourcing proposition

By Patrick Haller

During 2011 the world has seen significant changes in social, political and economic dynamics. The Arab Spring, violence in Mexico, a deepening financial crisis and the Occupy movement all have risen to influence business conditions and investment flows.  As the year nears its close, we checked in with advisory firm ThinkSolutions to understand how the tumultuous events of 2011 will influence what happens in the Nearshoring sector in 2012.

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By Patrick Haller

When a country such as Chile is known worldwide for traditional products such as copper, fish, wine and fruit, introducing a new industry can be challenging. Established in 2009, Chile IT grew from a public policy to move away from natural resources, and develop knowledge-based industries. Branding strategies are integral to marketing success, and without this key element companies hardly find success, especially in the international market.

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In the first part of this post, I discussed the benefits of combining Agile methodologies and Lean principles in Nearshore application development. The second half will take this idea a step further, examining additional ways that this combination of Agile and Lean in Nearshore can deliver business value.

Any successful Lean application development project aims to avoid waste. Many offshore engagements generate waste in the form of extensive documentation, while time difference can also be a significant hurdle to the efficient completion of projects. The lack of overlap in working hours creates significant lag in the ability of the provider to interact with the client, thereby hampering the goal of using Agile development to deliver better software at a faster pace.

Because of the overlap in working hours between the client and the provider, Nearshore reduces waiting time for answers to questions or access to deliverables to the bare minimum, …

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Companies in today’s economy need to ensure that investments in Nearshore development projects result in high returns. As such, companies have often looked to providers to deliver applications at the lowest possible cost, and the quality and speed at which they’re delivered is a secondary concern.

With the economic situation as it is, it’s hard to fault them for this. Many Nearshore application development providers consistently trumpet their ability to deliver custom applications at a significant cost-savings to the client. But the reality is that any savings that may be gained in these engagements ultimately are achieved at the expense of productivity and delivery of true value to the business.

In development projects, agility and business contribution are critical. This is why I have long been a proponent of Nearshoring application development using a combination of Agile methodologies and Lean principles. In many ways, Nearshoring has proven to be a crucial enabler …

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By Dennis Barker and Patrick Haller

Do golden slumbers fill your eyes when a discussion of outsourcing benefits starts with cost savings? It’s not that cost savings aren’t hugely important to many clients — as a reader commented on this site recently, “cost will always be a decision criteria.” It’s just that you’ve heard about the cost benefit before. Deciding to engage in offshore outsourcing can be complex – there are pros and cons that have to be tackled – starting with who to partner with.

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Source: Business Standard

WNS, the third-largest business process outsourcing (BPO) company in India, is planning to set up delivery centre in the US following high unemployment rate and demands from clients to have onshore presence.

The company will set up a delivery centre with 200 employees in the US by the end of this financial year, said Keshav Murugesh, group chief executive officer. It is currently evaluating whether to set up a centre through carve-out (taking over a clients centre and employees) or go from the scratch.

“Some of our clients want the work to be delivered near them. They have realise they need to be more sympathetic to their current employees. We, on the other hand, have the ability to take over these sites or work and reduce cost. This is not by showing people the door but by using programmes such as Six Sigma and others,” he said.

Rising …

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