With the world's information technology outsourcing market topping $27 billion, the practice of exporting work to companies based in other countries appears to be here to stay.
But the highly vaunted benefits of global outsourcing -- lower labor costs and higher revenue -- are proving to be somewhat elusive. The main culprit: Unexpected transaction costs that are being driven by communications difficulties, project delays and compromised development quality.
It might seem self-serving for the owner of a locally based IT consulting company to criticize global outsourcing, but experience is proving that our elders (once again) were right when they counseled: "If something seems too good to be true, it probably is."
