Right now, the internet is filled with the buzz of consultants comparing different countries, testing their suitability for offshore outsourcing. The magazine BusinessWeek has been focusing on the upstarts – those nations out to take business from India, arguably wearing the offshoring crown at present.
I know that I have recently been writing about the potential for Africa in the offshore outsourcing market, but I wouldn’t want to stoke the fire of a country vs country battle, where Uganda claims to be ‘better’ than India or Vietnam claims to be ‘better’ than Singapore. The debate is too difficult to generalise. Certain types of business process may work better in certain locations, but there are so many variables that involve the labour supply, legislation, foreign direct investment and taxation policy, quality of supplier, infrastructure and so on. It’s really a political minefield to draw up direct country comparisons and fruitless to try to pronounce that contact centres work better in – say – South Africa than India.
