Poll of the Day: Offshoring

[adderslj]

Yesterday's poll was interesting. From 22 responses, 11 were worried about civil liberties and another 8 about excessive prudery. Only one person was happy to accept anti-visible g-string legislation.

Onwards!

Let's get a little more political, and look at India, which has just seen a change of government. Now, many British and US jobs have been outsourced to India. Are you happy about that?

[Poll #293419]

Comments

[fraserspeirs.livejournal.com]

I answered "a danger", not because I really subscribe to that point of view but I wanted to say something like "leads to a reduction in quality of service".

[predicate.livejournal.com]

Indeed.

I've been in the tech industry for a while now, and it's one of the ones that's been panicking about Indian outsourcing. I think it's a temporary problem, to be honest.

I've seen companies go under due to horrendous management, bad decisions, and chasing market segments that don't pay up. Indian outsourcing is easy to blame, and it may put the squeeze on companies in the short term, but I think the "huge cost savings" will ultimately level out. As more top notch Indian talent is recognized, pay has been rising. Factor in the overhead costs of integrating teams over a wie geographical and cultural gulf, and you've eaten through a lot of the raw dollar savings.

This isn't to say there aren't good Indian companies and programmers out there -- just that the 'looming threat of India' is a paper tiger. They're good, but bood talent still costs money. Eventually competition will also bring their wages up in line with areas in the US and UK that have a low cost of living.

-v

[melindadansky.livejournal.com]

Can't vote.

It is a good idea, except that we're outsourcing to companies that can't fill the needs we're outsourcing for. I'd be happy to talk on the phone with someone in India, but I'd expect that person to be able to converse in my native language and solve my problem. While there are some very good tech firms in India, there are also many who are hiring people with barely-passable English skills and no technical background.

I would also point out that several tech firms tried this 5 years ago, and it failed miserably. It's also important to note that the United States actually provides tax incentives to companies who send jobs overseas.

So, is it a good idea for companies to outsource? Yes. If they can get good quality for their money, and if the government in question makes sure that they are not punishing firms for hiring its own citizens.

[bluelang.livejournal.com]

I can't vote without comment. I *hate* that jobs are leaving America and Britain. I hate seeing people without work. But on the other hand, I am confident that things will stabilize in the long and perhaps even the short run and that for the long run things will work out for the best for the world.

[nortysarah.livejournal.com]

I was woken at 9 am this morning (saturday) by a nice lady who greeted me with 'good evening'... then tried to sell me cancer insurance. It just annoys me that although you can't really tell that they're in India most of the time, small stuff like someone asking where Birmingham is or how to spell it when you're buying a train ticket, REALLY annoys me!

[byzantine-ruins.livejournal.com]

I think it's an extremely serious problem. I am from somehwere where physical production / industry fled and left the area denuded of business operations. I think if you do not anticipate this to follow the same pattern, you're thoroughly mistaken. At the very least, you'll be involved in a rent-seeking competition with offshore workers. With 75+% of Indians living on $2 a day or less, you will sink a lot more than they rise to establish equivalency.