Projected cost savings are almost always the key draw when companies consider sending some of their IT and business operations offshore.But performance gains can be a benefit of sending work overseas as well -- as long as they are planned for from the start and built into contracts.
That was the conclusion drawn by A.T. Kearney Inc. following a survey of executives and IT leaders at 42 Fortune 200 companies with offshoring experience. In a 19-page report released last week, the Chicago-based management consulting firm said the companies that showed the most improvement in both operational performance and cost savings focused on performance issues early in the offshoring process.
"The people who really concentrated on performance saved more money than companies that offshored and didn't stress and analyze performance," said Adam Dixon, a Kearney consultant and co-author of the study.
