Outsourcing : Outsourcing Pakistan & Pakistan Outsourcing Review

Laptops And Flat Panels Now Vulnerable to Van Eck Methods

2007-04-21T02:48:00.001-07:00

"Using radio to eavesdrop on CRTs has been around since the 80s, but Cambridge University researchers have now shown that laptops and flat-panel displays are vulnerable too. Using basic radio equipment and an FPGA board totaling less than $2,000 it was possible for researchers to read text from a laptop three offices away. 'Kuhn also mentioned that one laptop was vulnerable because it had metal hinges that carried the signal of the display cable. I asked if you could alter a device to make it easier to spy on. "There are a lot of innocuous modifications you can make to maximize the chance of getting a good signal," he told me. For example, adding small pieces of wire or cable to a display could make a big difference.'"

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H-1Bs behind women's decline in IT

2007-02-08T06:17:00.000-08:00

That's the case being made by a group that advocates on behalf of U.S. software programmers and opposes H-1B visas. The Programmers Guild plans to release a report this week that re-examines data from a workforce diversity study published last week by the Information Technology Association of America industry group. Among the guild's arguments: the use of H-1B visas contributes to low shares of information technology jobs held by women and some racial minorities.

"Often employers force their U.S. workers to train their H-1B replacements, under threat of termination for cause and loss of benefits--driving women and underrepresented minorities out of the profession," the report states.

A number of reports, including the recent ITAA study, have documented a decline in women's share of tech jobs. The ITAA found that the percentage of women in the IT workforce dropped from 41 percent in 1996 to 32.4 percent in 2004. That report also discovered that employers hired men at a higher rate than women between 2003 and 2004. The number of unemployed skilled male IT workers dropped 34.4 percent from 189,000 to 124,000, while the number of unemployed skilled female IT workers dropped only 5.2 percent, from 97,000 to 92,000.

According to the ITAA, the declining representation of women is due largely to the fact that one out of every three women in the IT workforce falls into administrative job categories that have experienced significant overall declines in recent years.

The Programmers Guild, though, said a factor in the underrepresentation of women in the IT workforce is that a disproportionate number of H-1B workers are male. The guild cited federal data from 2002, showing that women made up 24 percent of temporary workers and trainees admitted to the country.

H-1Bs, which allow skilled workers to be employed in the United States for up to six years, account for one kind of temporary worker visa. Other such visas are for agricultural workers and nurses.

John Miano, founder of the Programmers Guild professional group, has estimated that more than 180,000 new H-1B workers in the computer field came to the United States between 2001 and 2003, while computer-related jobs in the nation increased by just 27,380.

Bob Cohen, senior vice president at the ITAA, dismissed the guild claim that the influx of predominantly male H-1B workers could explain the drop in women's percentage of the IT workforce. The "assertion is simply that: an assertion," Cohen said in an e-mail. "...the percentage of women in (nonadministrative) IT categories between 1996 and 2004 is roughly the same. We do not think the H-1B program impacts these figures."

H-1B visas have long been a point of debate in the tech industry. Thirty-nine percent of H-1B visa petitions approved in 2003 were for workers in computer-related occupations, with nearly 37 percent of all approvals that year for workers born in India. The program's annual cap of 65,000 visas was expanded last year, with 20,000 additional permits reserved for foreigners with advanced degrees from a U.S. institution.

Industry leaders have defended the visas as a means to fill shortages and give U.S. companies access to international talent as they compete globally. Visa backers, which include the ITAA, also say they serve as a brake on offshoring.

Critics have said the H-1B program undermines U.S. wages, is ripe for abuse and fuels the shift of skilled work overseas.

The guild suggested that the ITAA's own report indicates the visas are undermining America's tech leadership.

"(A)necdotally, the (U.S.) IT industry is experiencing a 'brain drain' among certain foreign-born IT workers who have been working in the U.S. IT work force for years and are now returning to their native countries like India, Pakistan and China to lead major technology companies," the ITAA's report said.

"The ITAA report bolsters the guild's concern that the H-1B visa program is being used by our economic adversaries as a means of gaining tech skills in the U.S. and then returning to their home countries like India and China to lead major technology companies," the guild said.

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Online Tutoring: India vs Pakistan

2006-11-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

India is the land of outsourcing. Outsourcing success is changing the Indian economy and creating some decent number of jobs every year. On the other hand, Pakistan has just started its effort towards achieving ICT excellence. India and Pakistan may have bitter rivalry in many things (including politics and sports) but when it comes to ICT and outsourcing, India is way ahead. However, in the field of online tutoring, it seems that Pakistan stands in a good chance of outshining India.
Why Pak will have more online tutors than India- this report was not published in a Pakistani newspaper but I found it in the website of Times of India. The report stated:
“Pakistan is likely to do better than India in capturing the global Educational Services Outsourcing market, which is estimated to grow by 90 per cent in the US alone in next ten years.

"Though, India has been the winner in IT outsourcing, both countries are on equal footing in educational services outsourcing. In fact, Pakistan may have a slight edge in outsourcing to the US as the Urdu language phonetics more closely resemble the American accent," TutorsWithoutLimits (TWL) official Glynn Willet, said, on Friday.”

This is certainly good news for Pakistan. I think that ICT traders of Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka have something to learn from this example. It is reality that India has emerged as the outsourcing super power and it is difficult for any country to surpass India in it. However, other countries can surpass India if they target one particular specific field. Pakistan is doing it in online tutoring. I guess that Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka can focus on a particular field and outshine India.

What do you think?

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Pakistan not yet on the outsourcing map

2006-11-08T05:40:00.000-08:00

Originally appeared in DAWN, September 12, 2005
By Naween A. Mangi, Writer at DAWN Rafiq Dossani
Despite a late start, Pakistan's information technology entrepreneurs and the government are hoping to make it big in the global marketplace for outsourcing of IT-enabled services. How have other countries succeeded and where does Pakistan stand?Naween A. Mangi spoke from New York to Ron Hira, professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and Rafiq Dossani, senior research scholar at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University.Software exports, call centres and medical transcription firms have become all the rage over the last three years. Young entrepreneurs are returning after years spent working at major tech firms in the US to start up their own ventures and the government is forecasting that IT will be the next big thing in Pakistan's economy.So far, the numbers tell a less-than-compelling story. In 2004, although the software and IT enabled services business was worth $300 million, (including hardware the figure is $600 million), exports and outsourcing made up for just $33 million of that. By comparison, India logged $12.8 billion in software and services exports in 2004.Still, the Pakistan Software Export Board, a federal body set up to promote outsourcing, forecasts that the business will grow by at least 45 per cent annually for the next five years. A lot of that growth will come from call centres and business process outsourcing which last year made up one-fourth of total exports. In the next ten years, the PSEB aims to be at the top of the class of tier two global IT companies.But as experts and practitioners agree, Pakistan will need more than ambitious aims to meet that goal. Prof Ron Hira, whose new book Outsourcing America assesses the impact on the US job market, says the outsourcing industry is set for rapid growth in the next few years and if done right, developing countries like Pakistan could benefit from the boom.Hira is an expert who has testified before the US Congress on the implications of outsourcing. "Pakistan isn't on the map yet," he says. "India dominates what most people think about [when it comes to outsourcing]."Rafiq Dossani, an expert on outsourcing and a senior research scholar at Stanford University says there are several reasons for that. First, is the poor quality of infrastructure."When the Internet tanked recently, that created a really bad perception that the country has not thought through even the most rudimentary aspects," Dossani says. "Deregulation in this area is too limited." He says that while voice services have benefited from the deregulation, data services are still uncompetitive.He says there are too many stumbling blocks since bandwidth is more expensive than in other countries. "The costs are outrageous at four or five times what they should be," he says.Dossani identifies the thin segment of English speakers as a second hurdle in the way of a flourishing outsourcing industry in Pakistan. "Of the 30 per cent of the population that lives in urban Pakistan, one tenth speak English that's good enough to work at a call centre," he says. "And of those five million or so, only about one million are available to come into this field as the rest are working elsewhere."Then, he says poor marketing also holds the industry back. "You just don't see the trade body [in Pakistan] working like India's Nasscom to project a positive image," he says. "The Pakistani diaspora has done well and there is a great need to better use that network."He forecasts that the outsourcing business in Pakistan can be at least $1 billion in size but says this is only possible if alliances are formed with countries like India and China."The Philippines has done well by understanding that it cannot reach critical mass on its own and therefore forming alliances and pitching themselves as a second location to offset country risk," he says. Dossani also says Pakistan has the advantage of a highly skilled group of entrepreneurs which "is the reason why the tiny industry does exist."Hira adds that since Pakistan entered into the industry late, playing catch up is an inevitable need. However, the sector can take advantage of the circumstances in other countries. "India has done a lot of things right," he says. "They have been successful at not just attracting foreign investment but also building their own companies and leveraging the large Indian diaspora," Hira says."India is also so talked about that people are comfortable doing business there. But since wages are rising, Pakistan can use that as an entry point." He says that while countries like India have accumulated critical mass and scale, others are distinguishing themselves in different ways.Eastern European wages are slightly higher than Pakistan and companies in that region have specialized in near-shoring by targeting the European market. Russia, meantime, is aiming at the U.S. market in both services and manufacturing while the Philippines and Malaysia are targeting services."The question really is how you separate yourself from the pack," Hira says. "You can compete on price to a certain extent but you have to offer something more to distinguish yourself."He says U.S. companies are now moving from pilot stage outsourcing to full deployment which indicates both the success of the pilot projects and the rapid growth that is likely to come in the outsourcing market for the next few years. "There will continue to be a backlash from U.S. workers, but by and large there has not been any real policy movement to restrict outsourcing so there is still a large opportunity," he says.Hira admits that the extent to which a growing outsourcing industry ties into the broader economy in terms of job creation remains unclear but he says, other advantages emerge. "In India, for example, it remains unclear that they've been able to link the benefits [from outsourcing] back in, but the big benefit is that they have created world class management which can then move into other sectors."Therefore, Hira recommends that Pakistan take a long-term vision not for the next three or five years but for the next two decades. "Right now you can try to pick up the low hanging fruit and absorb the excess demand but don't just think about attracting the individual company to come [to Pakistan]," he says. "Think about how this will fit into the larger set of skills for your country so that you can differentiate yourself much later down the road."

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Pakistan up and coming on the Outsourcing horizon

2006-07-31T11:27:00.000-07:00

Pakistani Prime Minister has put out a call to Western companies to outsource jobs to Pakistan. He urged neighbors in the business forefront to transform it into a manufacturing good whose result, cheap goods would benefit a greater part of the community.

In a London interview with The Sunday Times’ John Waples, the Prime Minister was quoted by the leading British newspaper as such,

“Pakistan has a stable political environment, and is a better place for western companies to outsource than India or China”

The Sunday Times further quotes Aziz,

“Use Pakistan as a regional hub for manufacturing and then export, because the location is unique. The challenge now is one of implementation and making things work better. The Pakistan of today and tomorrow is not the Pakistan of yesterday”

Aziz goes on to say,

“When the world was taking off in the 1980s and 1990s, we were busy with internal politics. This did not provide the continuity that a developing country needs”

The report also shows the Pakistani government in its full scale attempts at persuading western businesses to invest in the country and maximize the land’s offering with its natural resources and cheap labor.

2005 predictions for Pakistan are looking up, what with exports set to hit $14 billion and a GDP growth seen to climb from 6.7% to 7.5% - predicted by no less than President Pervez Musharraf himself. Last Wednesday saw him sharing the good news with the delegates present at the Expo 2005: some 700-strong foreign companies operating in Pakistan were reeling in double digit returns – some even making as much as 50%. He places the hourly labor rate side-by-side: an inviting $0.37 in Pakistan as compared to India’s $0.58 and China’s $0.67.

The newspaper goes on to share the 100% annual growth rate of foreign investments in Pakistan, with US and Britain leading the winning race. Even the Karachi stock exchange turned in an excellent performance in the boardroom for 2003 – with a further 50% increase for 2004.

The report simply gives an overview of the influx of foreign investments into Pakistan. Manchester-based Drillcorer has migrated its drills production unit to Pakistan and Honda is following suit with its two motorcycle factories. All these add up to the growth in Pakistan’s manufacturing sector, pegged at more than 15% a year.

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IT security rides offshore outsourcing wave

2006-07-31T11:25:00.000-07:00

U.S. companies that outsource their IT security functions dramatically contributed to the volume of business sent overseas this year, according to a new survey.

The survey, released Thursday by the Computer Security Institute and the FBI, revealed dramatic changes in 2006 in the volume of offshore IT security work. Of the U.S. companies that indicated they farm out their security functions, the amount of work sent overseas in some cases doubled year over year.

Companies with an average revenue of less than $10 million outsourced 8 percent of their security functions overseas this year, compared with 4 percent last year, according to respondents. Midsize companies of $100 million to $1 billion in revenue also nearly doubled the work they sent offshore, from 7 percent last year to 13 percent this year.

Large corporations with more than $1 billion saw the biggest increase in outsourcing, sending 15 percent of their security functions offshore, up from 9 percent last year, according to the survey.

Although the volume of security functions sent overseas jumped significantly, the number of U.S. companies that use outsourcing has remained fairly stable. This year, 39 percent of the companies surveyed indicated they farm out varying degrees of their security work, compared with 37 percent last year.

In a preview of the survey last month, Robert Richardson, editorial director at the CSI, also noted that there was a decline in financial losses due to cybercrime in 2006 and fewer security incidents than in previous years.

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Why Pakistan for Outsourcing

2006-06-27T02:33:00.000-07:00

Pakistan is fast becoming the destination of choice for a significant number of international IT/ITeS companies looking to relocate their operations offshore. The ready availability of skilled professionals, an appropriate IT infrastructure, and affordable rates for connectivity, result in considerable time and cost savings to entrepreneurs.

Large English Speaking Population:
Total Population of Pakistan is approximately 160 Million. There is no English language barrier, as the medium of instruction in educational institutions at all levels is English. There is a large population of English speaking Pakistanis who test their English language skills regularly in international exams such as TOEFL and IELTS and score well. The accent is generally better than India, Philippines, South Africa and Egypt.

Educated Labor Pool:
Pakistan is home to over 2 million computer-literate people. The domestic IT workforce is expected to double by the end of 2006, offering a significant human resource pool of technology-literate people. 39% of graduating IT students possesses three years of practical experience. This educated labor pool is fairly cost effective as compared to India, Philippines, South Africa and Egypt. Base monthly labor rates for contact center representatives in Pakistan are lower as compared to India, South Africa and the Philippines.

Infrastructure:
Pakistan has a well-developed power and telecommunications infrastructure that allows for high reliability and redundancy, particularly important in the contact center and back office business processing services sectors.

Hub for Top Educational Institutions:
There are multiple engineering, arts and sciences, medical, law, social sciences and management institutions in Pakistan. In one of the major cities i.e. Lahore we have host of internationally renowned institutions in diverse fields like FAST, Lahore University of Management and Sciences, National College of Arts, King Edward Medical College, University of Engineering and Technology and University of Punjab.

Location and Communications Infrastructure:
Strategically located in South East Asia, Pakistan serves as a bridge to the world between the Middle East and the Far East. With three major international airports and thirty-eight domestic airports, Pakistan is accessible via fifty international airlines. Pakistan's geographical location, a rapidly expanding transportation and communications infrastructure, and conducive business environment makes it an attractive destination for investors.

Destination of Choice:
The Government of Pakistan is committed to the growth of the IT industry. National IT policies and regulations, and a highly attractive incentives package, offer a coherent framework within which businesses can operate in Pakistan. These developments have led to the creation of an enabling business environment in the country, where new businesses can be established in less than a week:

Pakistan is home to over 2 million computer-literate people
The domestic IT workforce is expected to double by the end of 2006, offering a significant human resources pool of technology-literate people
39% of graduating IT students possess three years of practical experience
There is no language barrier, as the medium of instruction in educational institutes is English
Real estate, bandwidth and PCs are easily available and reasonably priced

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Pakistan better for outsourcing than India or China, says Aziz

2006-06-07T23:36:00.000-07:00

LONDON: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has urged Western companies to outsource jobs to Pakistan and use it as a manufacturing hub to make cheap goods.

“Pakistan has a stable political environment, and is a better place for western companies to outsource than India or China,” the prime minister said in an interview with John Waples of The Sunday Times, a leading British newspaper,

“Use Pakistan as a regional hub for manufacturing and then export, because the location is unique. The challenge now is one of implementation and making things work better. The Pakistan of today and tomorrow is not the Pakistan of yesterday,” the paper quoted Aziz as saying.

“When the world was taking off in the 1980s and 1990s, we were busy with internal politics. This did not provide the continuity that a developing country needs,” he said.

The report said the Pakistani government is going all out to persuade western businesses to use the country’s cheap labour and land to make money.

This year Pakistan’s exports are set to hit $ 14 billion and President Pervez Musharraf is predicting that GDP growth will rise from 6.7% to 7.5%. Last Wednesday evening, he told delegates at the Expo 2005 that 700 foreign companies were operating in Pakistan, and they were all making double-digit returns - some were making 50%. He said the hourly labour rate is only $0.37 in Pakistan, lower than India ($0.58) and China ($0.67).

Foreign investment, led by the US and Britain, in Pakistan has been growing at 100 percent a year, the newspaper said. Pakistan has just issued its second international bond, this time raising $600m, an issue that was two times oversubscribed. The Karachi stock exchange was the best-performing exchange in 2003 and last year it rose a further 50%.

The report gives examples of foreign investment in Pakistan, such as a Manchester firm called Drillcorer that has just moved production of its drills to Pakistan. Honda is moving two motorcycle factories to Pakistan. For the past two years Pakistan’s manufacturing sector has being growing at more than 15% a year. app

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Pakistan not yet on the outsourcing map

2006-06-07T23:32:00.000-07:00

Originally appeared in DAWN, September 12, 2005
By Naween A. Mangi, Writer at DAWN
Rafiq Dossani, PhD

Despite a late start, Pakistan's information technology entrepreneurs and the government are hoping to make it big in the global marketplace for outsourcing of IT-enabled services. How have other countries succeeded and where does Pakistan stand?

Naween A. Mangi spoke from New York to Ron Hira, professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology, and Rafiq Dossani, senior research scholar at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University.

Software exports, call centres and medical transcription firms have become all the rage over the last three years. Young entrepreneurs are returning after years spent working at major tech firms in the US to start up their own ventures and the government is forecasting that IT will be the next big thing in Pakistan's economy.

So far, the numbers tell a less-than-compelling story. In 2004, although the software and IT enabled services business was worth $300 million, (including hardware the figure is $600 million), exports and outsourcing made up for just $33 million of that. By comparison, India logged $12.8 billion in software and services exports in 2004.

Still, the Pakistan Software Export Board, a federal body set up to promote outsourcing, forecasts that the business will grow by at least 45 per cent annually for the next five years. A lot of that growth will come from call centres and business process outsourcing which last year made up one-fourth of total exports. In the next ten years, the PSEB aims to be at the top of the class of tier two global IT companies.

But as experts and practitioners agree, Pakistan will need more than ambitious aims to meet that goal. Prof Ron Hira, whose new book Outsourcing America assesses the impact on the US job market, says the outsourcing industry is set for rapid growth in the next few years and if done right, developing countries like Pakistan could benefit from the boom.

Hira is an expert who has testified before the US Congress on the implications of outsourcing. "Pakistan isn't on the map yet," he says. "India dominates what most people think about [when it comes to outsourcing]."

Rafiq Dossani, an expert on outsourcing and a senior research scholar at Stanford University says there are several reasons for that. First, is the poor quality of infrastructure.

"When the Internet tanked recently, that created a really bad perception that the country has not thought through even the most rudimentary aspects," Dossani says. "Deregulation in this area is too limited." He says that while voice services have benefited from the deregulation, data services are still uncompetitive.

He says there are too many stumbling blocks since bandwidth is more expensive than in other countries. "The costs are outrageous at four or five times what they should be," he says.

Dossani identifies the thin segment of English speakers as a second hurdle in the way of a flourishing outsourcing industry in Pakistan. "Of the 30 per cent of the population that lives in urban Pakistan, one tenth speak English that's good enough to work at a call centre," he says. "And of those five million or so, only about one million are available to come into this field as the rest are working elsewhere."

Then, he says poor marketing also holds the industry back. "You just don't see the trade body [in Pakistan] working like India's Nasscom to project a positive image," he says. "The Pakistani diaspora has done well and there is a great need to better use that network."

He forecasts that the outsourcing business in Pakistan can be at least $1 billion in size but says this is only possible if alliances are formed with countries like India and China.

"The Philippines has done well by understanding that it cannot reach critical mass on its own and therefore forming alliances and pitching themselves as a second location to offset country risk," he says. Dossani also says Pakistan has the advantage of a highly skilled group of entrepreneurs which "is the reason why the tiny industry does exist."

Hira adds that since Pakistan entered into the industry late, playing catch up is an inevitable need. However, the sector can take advantage of the circumstances in other countries. "India has done a lot of things right," he says. "They have been successful at not just attracting foreign investment but also building their own companies and leveraging the large Indian diaspora," Hira says.

"India is also so talked about that people are comfortable doing business there. But since wages are rising, Pakistan can use that as an entry point." He says that while countries like India have accumulated critical mass and scale, others are distinguishing themselves in different ways.

Eastern European wages are slightly higher than Pakistan and companies in that region have specialized in near-shoring by targeting the European market. Russia, meantime, is aiming at the U.S. market in both services and manufacturing while the Philippines and Malaysia are targeting services.

"The question really is how you separate yourself from the pack," Hira says. "You can compete on price to a certain extent but you have to offer something more to distinguish yourself."

He says U.S. companies are now moving from pilot stage outsourcing to full deployment which indicates both the success of the pilot projects and the rapid growth that is likely to come in the outsourcing market for the next few years. "There will continue to be a backlash from U.S. workers, but by and large there has not been any real policy movement to restrict outsourcing so there is still a large opportunity," he says.

Hira admits that the extent to which a growing outsourcing industry ties into the broader economy in terms of job creation remains unclear but he says, other advantages emerge. "In India, for example, it remains unclear that they've been able to link the benefits [from outsourcing] back in, but the big benefit is that they have created world class management which can then move into other sectors."

Therefore, Hira recommends that Pakistan take a long-term vision not for the next three or five years but for the next two decades. "Right now you can try to pick up the low hanging fruit and absorb the excess demand but don't just think about attracting the individual company to come [to Pakistan]," he says. "Think about how this will fit into the larger set of skills for your country so that you can differentiate yourself much later down the road."

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Pakistan Now a Hot Spot for IT Outsourcing !

2006-04-27T05:09:00.000-07:00

The biggest boost to Pakistan's efforts to break into the global IT marketplace came on September 28, when India's finance ministry announced an income tax of more than 36 percent on foreign firms with software, R&D and customer service operations in India. This tax proposal had been in the works since the beginning of the year and is expected to prompt U.S. firms to follow GE's lead in selling off assets in India.

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Why is Pakistan the hot new offshore information technology (IT) destination? This is because of a combination of favorable economic circumstances. Just when many Western managers are finally becoming comfortable with the idea of working closely with Indian offshore outsourcing firm, along comes Pakistan outsourcing services- The most favorable place for offshore IT outsourcing.

Until recently, the majority of UK and USA companies outsourcing their customer contact services tended to look to outsourcing companies in India, since operational costs are lower than in the US, UK and the rest of Europe. However, continually interrupted power supply issues, accent issues and a lower productivity rate, are encouraging organizations to consider Pakistan as the offshore outsourcing service provider.

Companies who have done outsourcing to India have found that many sales have been lost and customers dissatisfied, since they are unable to understand the Indian operators English.

Pakistan is shaking off decades of "also ran" status. Funds invested into building educational institutions in Pakistan (when there were not enough jobs to absorb all the graduates from those institutions) are paying off as Pakistan begins to field a modern, highly productive labor force that is the envy of more prosperous but less tech savvy nations elsewhere in the region.

Why IT Outsourcing experts should Care?
Why should the average Western IT professional, businessperson or IT consumer care? Because we are all going to be buying and using more IT outputs from Pakistan. To be a smarter buyer and user of IT products calls for a familiarity with Pakistan, even for those who do not initially intend to do business with Pakistani firms. We are all part of a global economy and IT industry of Pakistan is an increasingly important part of that global economy.

The issues that Pakistan IT outsourcing faces as it gears up for the global high-tech marketplace are many of the same issues that both advanced and developing economies face elsewhere in the world, as both service providers and service consumers. Pakistan IT industry is making no effort to gloss over its challenges, which makes those challenges easier to address.

With a population of 160 million and a land area almost twice the size of California, Pakistan is a smaller and more unified country than most of its neighbors, which increases that nation's chances of solving its own problems and avoiding the mistakes that have plagued neighboring economies.

Any Western business manager who initiated or approved the establishment of an IT production or R&D subsidiary in India in 2004 could find that decision to be a career-ending move unless they have built in financial reserves to accommodate both the tax scheme of September 28 and upcoming taxes still on the drawing board.

A proposal is under consideration in New Delhi to tax activities conducted over international private leased connections (IPLCs) that carry most of India's voice and data traffic to and from the outside world. There is also a proposal to replace state-to-state customs duties (octroi) with a national value added tax. Both those tax proposals could be combined into a single scheme.

U.S. IT brokerage firms, their U.S. clients and domestic Indian IT companies will be largely untouched by the September 28 tax scheme. But the traditional offshore migration path of outsourcing Latest News about Outsourcing to an offshore location first -- before setting up captive operations there -- has been disrupted in India until economic reforms reduce the role of the Indian government in the economy and consequently reduce that nation's revenue requirements.

For Westerners with long-standing personal ties to Indian offshore outsourcing India, that country's September 28 tax scheme could have both personal and financial consequences. For new Indian workers who hoped for a position with a Western firm based in India, that country's revenue policy will alter careers, lifestyles and futures. Westerners can pack up and look for other another country to set up operations. However, what country?
Pakistan's Advantages

IT solutions in Pakistan is the primary beneficiary of India's decision to tax foreign firms with captive IT solutions in India. No other economy can match Pakistan's labor pool of educated English-speaking workers. No other economy can match Pakistan's salability Relevant Products/Services from Inter Land Business Hosting Services, reliability and low-cost environment.

5 Advantages of IT outsourcing to Pakistan, over outsourcing to India:

1. Western experience: Executives at IT firms in Pakistan often have worked and gone to school in the U.S., which is Pakistan's largest export market. Indian IT firms whose managers have worked in the West are generally more expensive than similarly positioned Indian IT firms, without always providing noticeable differences in program implementation capabilities. The willingness of Pakistanis to return home from the West stands in marked contrast to most Indians who arrive for school or work in the West and never look back.

2. Professionalism and integrity: The personal integrity of Pakistani IT professionals and managers is easy to identify and appreciate, especially by Westerners with business experience elsewhere in the region. However, the relatively open and trusting nature of Pakistani professionals working in IT firms, has made them easy prey for Indian IT business brokers who have managed to cheat several Pakistani IT firms by offering to provide them with outsourcing contracts in exchange for up-front fees. The Pakistanis assumed that these Indian IT professionals and business owners were open minded and charitable for coming to help less experienced IT companies in Pakistan gain access to international contracts, until the Indians took their money and disappeared.

3. Higher labor availability: Fewer holidays in Pakistan means less slippage in staff availability compared to Indian companies. Compared to Pakistani IT companies, IT firms in India are advised to hire a diverse workforce so that members of one community can enjoy important festivals while members of other communities cover the phones and keep production going.

4. Good accents: Pakistan's official language is English. Only Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and the Punjabi areas of India can come close to competing with accents in Pakistan, where many families speak English at home and where accent neutralization for non-native speakers of English is substantially easier than in India. Language skills and accents provide Pakistan with a major advantage over all other Asian outsourcing destinations.

5. Low cost talent pool: India's top-tier labor force for IT work has been stretched thin in many areas, especially Bangalore, where escalating wage rates, turnover and higher outsourcing prices are reaching critical mass at the same time that the urban infrastructure Relevant Products/Services from Sybase ASE Linux Express Edition – FREE has exceeded its carrying capacity. Annual turnover rates reported to InternationalStaff.net for most merchant call center Latest News about call center facilities in India at the beginning of November are approaching 100 percent. High turnover rates are causing a shift to second tier Indian cities and to Kolkata. Escalating turnover rates are one of the Indian outsourcing industry's dirty secrets. In comparison, outsourcing services of Pakistan's top-tier talent pool is largely untapped and turnover rates are less than 20 percent.

More reasons to outsource IT services in Pakistan:

Safety and Security:
IT solutions of Pakistan is not without challenges, some of which are real (improving the telecommunications infrastructure) and some are exaggerated, especially in terms of the security Relevant Products/Services from AT&T Network Security Solutions situation. Once you have lived through a few riots in India, once you have taught yourself how to quickly turn the lights out and lay down on the floor because you are afraid of what might come through the window, then Pakistan doesn't seem so scary anymore.

The biggest danger that Westerners face in South Asia is from automobile accidents, particularly at night. India has over 8 times the number of highway fatalities per passenger mile than the U.S.

Shared Roles in IT outsourcing to Pakistan:
Pakistan and the U.S. have similar roles when it comes to human rights. Both countries are a beacon of safety and a haven for refugees. The government of Pakistan has not been advertising this fact. The people who have fled to Pakistan from surrounding countries in the region have, on a one-to-one personal basis. They are Pakistan's best ambassadors.

Before making up your mind about IT outsourcing to Pakistan, talk to people who have left there or have passed through there. Their origins might be different but their stories are often tragically similar. Too often, it seems as if they are all reading from the same script: family members (or themselves) in neighboring countries who have been victimized, jailed, possibly tortured, relatives killed, and all survivors traumatized and dispossessed. Pakistan IT companies welcomes them and serves as a place of safety and security.

From Iran, Afghanistan, India and elsewhere they come, seeking the same things that immigrants to the U.S. have always sought: opportunity, liberty, freedom of religion and respect for personal beliefs.

Americans naturally identify with the underdogs, the runners up, the people who are trying harder than anyone else to succeed. This is why many Americans find it easy to identify with Pakistanis.

Increased trade and joint projects between It solutions of Pakistan and outsourcing companies in India will pull those two countries together and create incentives for peace. American firms doing business in one or both countries can contribute to peace through responsible business practices and the moderating effects that employment and prosperity provide. This can and should be accomplished when American firms are allowed to operate on an equal footing with local firms, which for now only appears possible in Pakistan IT industry.

By Anthony Mitchell
E-Commerce Times
Customized Web Development
Outsourcing

Offshore Outsourcing

2006-04-12T22:57:00.000-07:00

Offshore Outsourcing development work offers significant savings, but companies need reliable offshore partners to realize those savings. Offshore outsourcing services companies of pakistan has built a reputation for doing solid, disciplined work that is delivered on time, and on cost. The offshore outsourcing companies help firms capture the full cost savings promised by offshore outsourcing, and delivers enterprise-class results. Offshore Outsourcing is a business activity through which business firms attempt to reduce or eliminate its non-core areas of functioning. In simple words, offshore outsourcing is based on the principal that no organization can perform all of its activities optimally and with same efficiency as others. Every business firm irrespective of its size has to undertake various business activities or processes in order to achieve its targeted objectives. Each business activity consumes certain resources of business. A business process that consumes more resources will reduce the overall profitability. A firm will detect such high consumption activities by comparing their output with its resources consumed. In order to reduce the resource consumption, business organization stops performing the activity that does not produce satisfactory output when compared to its resource consumption. The organization instead contracts with another entity that is better at performing that particular activity and would carry forward the same on behalf of the business organization
This arrangement would lead to lesser resource consumption and increase the competitiveness of the business organization. This arrangement is nothing but ‘Offshore Outsourcing'.
Offshore outsourcing literally means outsourcing your activity to one who is not on your shore or who is beyond your shore. Offshore outsourcing is a concept in which the buyer of the service is located in some other country then the provider of the service.
Organizations are tempted to invest in offshore outsourcing resources because when compared to their own countries, certain nations have vast & easily accessible resources that can be exploited to gain competitive advantage.
Many developing countries are attracting business organization from developed countries because developing countries are providing quality services at economically cheap price in comparison to developed countries. Various issues affect the decision of a client regarding offshore outsourcing. Factors like manpower cost, manpower quality, and infrastructure facilities in a nation decide the attractiveness of that country as a offshore outsourcing resource location. Legal and business environment in the service provider's country plays a major role in the development of offshore outsourcing.
Offshore outsourcing has revolutionized industry segments. Information technology being in the lead, offshore outsourcing is also helping many industries in manufacturing segments to gain competitiveness. Outsourcing offshore development.
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http://www,outsourcingi.com

North America and Europe will be the stage for Outsourcing Forum

2006-04-07T03:53:00.000-07:00

Alsbridge will initiate the Outsourcing Leadership Forum on April 19,2006 in Texas. The forum will focus on BPO trends for 2006 and more specifically on Finance and Accounting best practices. The Forums will provide a sound platform for knowledge sharing and at the same time develop a network of recognised experts in the field to interact and know key players in the industry.

The forums will take the outsourcing industry a notch higher as the platform will give rise to new ideas and practices for implementation to derive greater successes. Alsbridge, the outsourcing consulting firm will present real world case studies to drive home the benefits of outsourcing and make industry players more knowledgeable in their implementation of outsourcing strategies. PRWeb reports:

The April 19th event will provide attendees with comprehensive information on outsourcing from three different perspectives: outsourcing consultancy, global law firm, and BPO analyst group. Upcoming Outsourcing Leadership Forums will be held on May 19 in Dallas with Oracle, and May 23 in New York City with international law firm, Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw LLP.

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http://outsourcingi.com

Pakistan up and coming on the Outsourcing horizon

2006-04-07T03:39:00.000-07:00

In a London interview with The Sunday Times’ John Waples, the Prime Minister was quoted by the leading British newspaper as such,

“Pakistan has a stable political environment, and is a better place for western companies to outsource than India or China”

The Sunday Times further quotes Aziz,

“Use Pakistan as a regional hub for manufacturing and then export, because the location is unique. The challenge now is one of implementation and making things work better. The Pakistan of today and tomorrow is not the Pakistan of yesterday”

Aziz goes on to say,

“When the world was taking off in the 1980s and 1990s, we were busy with internal politics. This did not provide the continuity that a developing country needs”

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http://www.outsourcingi.com

Pakistan outsourcing textile production to Bangladesh

2006-03-13T21:50:00.000-08:00

Pakistan is losing textile production to lower-cost Bangladesh, the Daily Times of Pakistan said Monday.

Makers of bed linens, readymade garments and knitwear have begun shifting operations to areas around Dhaka, in part because of lower labor costs and in part because of government tax incentives, officials said.

Textile companies are also responding to European anti-dumping duties on Pakistani products. Those duties do not apply to Bangladesh, which retains strong cultural and religious bonds with Pakistan.

IT News Articles

How To Outsource?

2006-02-28T23:16:00.000-08:00

How To Outsource

Outsourcing is the delegation of tasks or jobs from internal production to an external entity (such as a subcontractor). Most recently, it has come to mean the elimination of native staff to staff overseas, where salaries are markedly lower. This is despite the fact that the majority of outsourcing that occurs today still occurs within country boundaries, especially in North America . It became a popular buzzword in business and management in the 1990s.

In long-term relationships, the key component for success of the relationship is best laid during negotiations, which lead up to the signing of the Service Level Agreement. Some of the common practices employed for a successful management of outsourcing relationship have been listed below.

1. Relationship between key management personnel:

If there is a good understanding and strong working relationship between the key management personnel of both teams, then such relationships often tends to last long. Research on outsourcing success has indicated that peer friendships and working chemistry with one's counterpart in the other company has been an important factor in long term relationships.

2. Measurable Objectives:

The objectives to be achieved by outsourcing must quantifiable and must be established as criteria right at the start of the contract. If the customer can compare the performance with the pre-established objective, then the benefits of outsourcing would be clear. The vendor would know where they stand in meeting customer expectations.

Well-defined performance criteria have quantifiable objectives, service quantities, quality, customer satisfaction and are measurable against other providers.

3. Forming special committees:

Successful outsourcing relationships involve setting up of special executive committees or boards that draw out the best strategies for smooth & effective handling of outsourcing relationship. Identification, resolution and rapid escalation of issues are a key responsibility of this team.

4. Incentives and Penalties:

The provider is encouraged to meet or exceed customer expectations by establishing performance based pricing. When performance exceeds the criteria, the incentives apply and when they fall short, the penalties are imposed.

5. Periodical review meetings:

For a successful software outsourcing relationship, it is better to have frequent formal review meetings. These meetings can discuss what both teams are working towards and a high level view of the future goals and objectives. Product reviews and deliverables can be discussed at such meetings.

6. Training vendor personnel:

The vendor personnel need to have ongoing training so that they align their business goals to the business objectives of the customer. The issues driving the clients needs have to be understood and the vendors' service has to relate to them.

7. Bridging cultural differences:

Both parties to the outsourcing relationship will have their own culture. These differences have to be recognized and bridged. Organizing social events, education on company background, participation in others' quality programs, etc are some of the ways to bridge this gap.

Types of Outsourcing

2006-02-28T23:14:00.000-08:00

Types of Outsourcing

Outsourcing is the delegation of tasks or jobs from internal production to an external entity (such as a subcontractor). In long-term relationships, the key component for success of the relationship is best laid during negotiations, which lead up to the signing of the Service Level Agreement. Some of the common practices employed for a successful management of outsourcing relationship have been listed below.

In-House Building (No outsourcing)
Many organizations have their own Information Technology departments catering to their needs of software. These organizations develop the required software and information systems within their own capacity and limits.
Product Component outsourcing
In Product Component outsourcing, the developer is contracted to develop a part of an overall system. In case of large and complex systems where the organization does not have the capacity or required skill to develop a particular thing is outsourced.
Process Component outsourcing
In Process Component outsourcing the customer organization simply contracts for an external group to perform all or part of the functions of one or more of their process steps or components.
Software Acquisition (Total outsourcing)
In this type, the organization outsource each and every activity associated with the software which includes design, development, programming, testing and maintenance .The main reason for such type of outsourcing is to focus on the organizations core values.

Offshore Outsourcing

2006-02-28T23:11:00.000-08:00

Offshore Outsourcing development work offers significant savings, but companies need reliable offshore partners to realize those savings. Our offshore outsourcing services company has built a reputation for doing solid, disciplined work that is delivered on time, and on cost. Our offshore outsourcing company help firms capture the full cost savings promised by offshore outsourcing, and delivers enterprise-class results.

Offshore Outsourcing is a business activity through which business firms attempt to reduce or eliminate its non-core areas of functioning. In simple words, offshore outsourcing is based on the principal that no organization can perform all of its activities optimally and with same efficiency as others. Every business firm irrespective of its size has to undertake various business activities or processes in order to achieve its targeted objectives. Each business activity consumes certain resources of business. A business process that consumes more resources will reduce the overall profitability. A firm will detect such high consumption activities by comparing their output with its resources consumed. In order to reduce the resource consumption, business organization stops performing the activity that does not produce satisfactory output when compared to its resource consumption. The organization instead contracts with another entity that is better at performing that particular activity and would carry forward the same on behalf of the business organization

This arrangement would lead to lesser resource consumption and increase the competitiveness of the business organization. This arrangement is nothing but ‘Offshore Outsourcing'.

Offshore outsourcing literally means outsourcing your activity to one who is not on your shore or who is beyond your shore. Offshore outsourcing is a concept in which the buyer of the service is located in some other country then the provider of the service.

Organizations are tempted to invest in offshore outsourcing resources because when compared to their own countries, certain nations have vast & easily accessible resources that can be exploited to gain competitive advantage.

Many developing countries are attracting business organization from developed countries because developing countries are providing quality services at economically cheap price in comparison to developed countries. Various issues affect the decision of a client regarding offshore outsourcing. Factors like manpower cost, manpower quality, and infrastructure facilities in a nation decide the attractiveness of that country as a offshore outsourcing resource location. Legal and business environment in the service provider's country plays a major role in the development of offshore outsourcing.

Offshore outsourcing has revolutionized industry segments. Information technology being in the lead, offshore outsourcing is also helping many industries in manufacturing segments to gain competitiveness. Outsourcing offshore development.

2006-02-28T23:07:00.000-08:00

The word Outsourcing itself has a whole series of definitions:

"acquiring a product or service rather than producing it yours"

"the contracting out of a company's non core, nonrevenue-producing activities to specialists"

"transfer or delegation to an external service provider the operation and day-to-day management of a business process".

OUTSOURCING DEFINED

Outsourcing is the delegation of tasks or jobs from internal production to an external entity (such as a subcontractor). Most recently, it has come to mean the elimination of native staff to staff overseas, where salaries are markedly lower. This is despite the fact that the majority of outsourcing that occurs today still occurs within country boundaries, especially in North America . It became a popular buzzword in business and management in the 1990s.
Where functions previously performed by an organization are supplied under contract from a third party.
Buying goods or services instead of producing or providing them in-house.
The concept of taking internal company functions and paying an outside firm to handle them. Outsourcing is done to save money, improve quality, or free company resources for other activities. Outsourcing was first done in the data-processing industry and has spread to areas, including telemessaging and call centers. Outsourcing is the wave of the future.
A long-term, results-oriented relationship with an external service provider for activities traditionally performed within the company. Outsourcing usually applies to a complete business process. It implies a degree of managerial control and risk on the part of the provider.
The transfer of components or large segments of an organization's internal IT infrastructure, staff, processes or applications to an external resource such as an Application Service Provider.

Outsourcing development work to pakistan offers significant savings, but companies need reliable offshore partners to realize those savings. Our Outsourcing services company has built a reputation for doing solid, disciplined work that is delivered on time, and on cost.

As part of the outsourcing, many companies are debating when to outsource their management support tools as well. This is a complex question that must consider the competitive advantage which a tool may provide. The company must also account for how ready the market is to support such a tool in an outsourcing model. The final direction should not solely be question of cost savings, but must consider the benefits and the strategic position of the company in the marketplace.

Outsourcing Benifits

Outsourcing development work offers significant savings, but companies need reliable offshore partners to realize those savings. When you consider the advantages of outsourcing, you'll realize there's a lot to gain by using it as an intrinsic part of your business strategy.

The benefits of outsourcing to Pakistan of course are variable, dependent upon the nature and situation of the organization. However, the following is a list of common reasons why outsourcing is undertaken:

Lower costs due to economies of scale
Ability to concentrate on core functions
Greater flexility and ability to define the requisite service more readily
Specific supplier benefits. For example, better security, continuity, etc.
Higher quality service due to focus of the supplier
Improved internal management disciplines resulting from the exercise itself
Less dependency upon internal resources
Control of budget
Faster setup of the function or service
Lower ongoing investment required in internal infrastructure
Greater ability to control delivery dates (eg: via penalty clauses)
Lack of internal expertise
Increase flexibility to meet changing business conditions
Purchase of industry best practise
Improve risk management
Acquire innovative ideas
Increase commitment and energy in non core areas
Improve credibility and image by associating with superior providers
Generate cash by transferring assets to the provider
Gain market access and business opportunities through the supplier's network
Turn fixed costs into variable costs