I have been struggling with this blog entry for the past week working against everything a blog is supposed to be. My struggle has been in keeping this short and sweet and not publishing an essay, or not going off on too much of a rant. We are a company that has operations around the globe. We have made strategic decisions to send some work to low cost countries such as India and China but have also decided to keep certain key functions here in the United States.
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Two weeks ago we lost a bid for a large project for a Fortune 100 manufacturer because we were not willing to send all of the work to India. Sure, we could have cut our costs, significantly as a matter of fact. But in doing so we would have gone against what we believe as a company, and honestly what I believe in personally. Those beliefs are as follows:

*      My belief as a business owner. Our mission as a company revolves around providing the best BPO services possible. Any outsourcing initiative is made up of different processes, some complex, and some relatively simple. India is a place for those simpler processes. Not because workers in India do not have the skills to deal with complex processes, but because when you analyze the quality or work over time; the total cost of doing business in India; and factors related to flexibility and convenience, India’s value has consistently shown itself in less-complex, but time consuming tasks.

Processes that require intense analysis, or extensive decision making are better off staying here in the U.S. Long-term quality remains much higher and the overall cost of doing business is far less expensive.

*      My belief as a United States citizen. Sending work outside of our country, no matter the savings, can be a very short-sighted business solution to a long-term economic problem. I like to think about the subject this way, what is the value of our country to the rest of the world? In other words, why do other countries need the United States?

I have customers sending everything from new product engineering to the writing of commercial aircraft maintenance documentation to India. I start to ask myself, where is the line? What cannot be outsourced to India? The more we send, and the more complex the tasks, to me personally, the more our value as a country decreases to our own economy and to the rest of the world.

*      Finally, my belief as a parent of three children. My friends and I joke about what to tell our kids to be when they grow up. Someone always answers sharply ‘whatever cannot be outsourced to India’. It seems like all that will be left are civil servant jobs and positions in healthcare that will be deemed unable to be outsourced. Look at our current economy and the fact that its demise was based on the short-term gains by shareholders and corporate executives with no regard for the long-term impact. We are taking the same approach to outsourcing. Creating jobs in India as fast as we can to eliminate jobs in the U.S.

What is wrong with this picture? Should I move my family to India or to China to ensure my children will have jobs when they become adults?

Ok so I ranted a bit. All I’m saying and all that I ask is when outsourcing to us or anyone else, consider all of the factors, the complexity of the work to be done, and how it will affect our country and our children’s future opportunities.