Outsourcing Research

A lot research on outsourcing has been conducted in the past few years. The topic of outsourcing has been scrutinized from a variety of different point of view. Outsourcing research has been carried out for instance on the different types of outsourcing, on both the negative and positive effects of outsourcing, characteristics of different market areas, outsourcing projects and companies as well as on the geographical and economic implications. Yet more outsourcing research is continuously needed, as the outsourcing industry is rapidly growing and more and more companies are outsourcing. Reliable information is continuously needed on outsourcing and BPO markets, vendors and their capabilities, varying needs of different vertical segments, benchmarking of costs and capability of service providers, assessment and evaluation of different locations and much more. This is information that constantly changes as the outsourcing market grows.

Outsourcing research aims to satisfy some of the research and information needed by buyers, sellers, analysts, investors and all those interested in outsourcing. Research companies seek to provide in-depth analysis and reliable primary information on the outsourcing market. According to outsourcing research, companies are giving good reviews on offshore outsourcing, despite concerns about quality, cultural barriers and hidden expenses. Business process outsourcing is considered the fastest growing segment within IT services and that rapid growth in offshore outsourcing is occurring.

Outsourcing research shows that the largest percentage of jobs being outsourced is in Information Technology, by around 28%. The next largest field is human resources taking 15% of the outsourcing market, followed closely by sales and marketing outsourcing with 14% and financial services outsourcing at 11%. The remaining 32% is made up of other different processes such as administrative outsourcing. Most of the outsourcing is done by multinational companies and the most popular destinations are India, China and the Philippines. Of course these figures slightly differ depending on the study and the point of view, but this division gives an idea of the outsourcing market.

There are several important reasons for conducting outsourcing research. Firstly the best way to learn about a certain type business strategy or operation is to analyze the experiences of others. All companies do not have to learn things the hard way, instead they can analyze the actions of other and then make decisions concerning their own needs. Outsourcing as an operation has several risks that have to taken into consideration. This is also where outsourcing research steps in. Through acquiring and analyzing data collected by professionals, a company can decide whether the risks of outsourcing are worth taking for them. In addition, outsourcing research is often needed in order to find out that a company should be outsourcing. It is easy to maintain things as they have always been, but if the research and information is provided, decision-making becomes much easier. Thus Outsourcing research is required at every stage of the outsourcing venture.