Many books and newspapers have spoken about “India V/S China” but what about India+China = ChIndia.Imagine the superpower

There is a good article in Times Of India(26th April 2007) ,which focuses on a JV between India and China(ie what if they work collaboratively).IMHO,the best part of this article is:

I guess whatever I am writing is not new since, we have read this stuff in newspapers , magazines etc etc We have heard a lot of outsourcing,cost cutting and lot of work being transferred to Asian countries(like India,China etc).Some people have labeled it as a measure to cut costs and some think that India is becoming an IT superpower.Different people,different perception

Few days back, I had come with this post which has Thomas Friedman doing research for his bestseller “The World is Flat“.Somehow I felt that India is becoming an attractive place to sink some of the global talent but one incident with an unknown foreigner(cannot say her foreigner since,I felt she was very much impressed with India) proved it all.Keep on reading to know more about the story.

I was walking with my friend on 80 feet road in Indiranagar,Bangalore when a young lady named Lisa(who works in a Non IT firm in Bangalore….yup Non-IT ) comes and asks us(me and my friend) for a cricket playground.Well,I had no idea about the ground and so I decided to kickstart a small conversation.The conversation revolved around her experiences in India.

Lisa told that she is from Germany and than she started telling about Bangalore(and how she landed up here).I could a big glimpse in her eyes when she started telling about it ).One thing I was impressed with is that she knew the names of many roads in Bangalore(and I wasn’t aware about half of them )From the way she spoke,I could make out that she really liked working in Bangalore and I asked her the reason.Her reply was a surprise to me.She told that she wanted to mention India in her resume as that would add lot of value to her resume.

Her talk pretty much amazed me .She also mentioned that some of her friends are planning to shift here and if she feels more comfortable here,she would settle in Bangalore itself.

This is just a small example of India shining and I think more news(like this one) would put India in a different zone

Few days back,I had a small article on outsourcing and when we talk about outsourcing,the first thing which comes to mind is “Cost cutting”.But is outsourcing only about cost cutting and what precautions should be taken when work is outsourced? Gartner had a good analysis about this whole outsourcing scenario.Keep on reading…

Five reasons why Outsourcing does not work:

a. Unrealized cost savings:
Most businesses push work overseas in the hope of cutting labor costs. An application maintenance worker in India, for example, earns about $25 per hour, compared to $87 per hour in the U.S, according to Gartner. But businesses make a mistake by looking at salaries alone.Though there is a lot of saving here,the hidden cost includes in infrastructure,communication,travel,training etc.

b. Loss of productivity:
During the initial phase of outsourcing,staff at an offshore service center probably won’t be as productive as internal staff back at home.Gartner has the follwing reasons for the loss of productivity:Staff turnover can be high in competitive offshoring markets such as Bangalore, India, which also means programmers there may be new and inexperienced. And service centers overseas struggle with ambiguities in the work they are assigned and shifting directives. Sending jobs overseas can also lower morale at home, creating a drag on output.

c. Poor commitment and communications:
Good communication is very important for the success of any project.Projects,goals and expectations should be clearly defined.Also,at the home side,the managers should explain its employees why the work is getting outsourced and what would be its benefit.

d. Cultural differences:
Culture differs from one region to another.As per Gartner,”In some cultures, questioning authority is considered disrespectful, so a team may push ahead with a given plan even if they see a better approach. Offshorers should get expert advice about a local culture, provide cultural training and even arrange exchanges among staff on both sides“

e. Lack of offshore expertise and readiness:
Organizations should first see whether they are ready to take up the outsourced work,do they have the right set of people , have the right team composition,have the right competency etc.If they do not have the right competency,plan should be made to build the competency among the existing set of people in the organizaion so that taking the outsourced work would be simpler.

You can read the complete article here

In the recent past,more and more multinationals have been scaling their operations in India and more(and more) work getting outsourced to fast developing nations like India and China.Everyday in magazines,newspapers and various other places,we have news about “more and more jobs being cut in US(or some other developed country) and getting outsourced to India”.But,on the brighter side “Outsourcing has impacted the economy of India in a very positive way” and Outsourcing has become a buzz word

Well, this reminds me what Jack Welch mentioned about Outsourcing in his book “Winning-The answers” that “US should take outsourcing positively and utilize this wonderful opportunity to the maximum“.

Just happened to see a video on YouTube,which has Thomas Friedman-Author of “The World is Flat” interviewing Indians to know their response on this whole Outsourcing buzz.The duration of the video is around 44 minutes but it focuses on some of the untouched things like “How the Indian middle class thinking is changing and how outsourcing has affected their life etc”…Sit back and enjoy the learnings from this excellent video