Outsourced IT

The slight decrease in the IT dynamics at the beginning of 2000s being over, the new drivers has fueled further development of the IT branch throughout 2006 – 2007.

One of the tendencies of the global impact has to deal with growing business value of the Internet as well as associated boom in e-commerce. The IT-rich enterprises have won substantial market advantage over the competitors that have not placed IT as the key element of their business strategy. According to Gartner, the investments in the new information technologies would double within 2006 – 2010 period.

The burning IT issues of the two previous years have included digital convergence, mobility and Service-oriented architecture. Other point of focal interest turns out to be the alignment of IT and business processes within the enterprise in general and in sourcing models in particular.

The analysts from Experton Group have come up with the statement that in the next few years outsourcing “would be the driving force behind IT market dynamics”. Despite the global slow down in outsourcing dynamics – for the most part in America, the number and quality of outsourcing contracts concluded in Europe has risen during the first quarter of 2007 (Morrison & Foerster’s Global Sourcing Group). The year 2007, alike the previous one, has demonstrated the increase in the IT staff, despite the forecasts for decrease due to the outsourcing of IT activities. Hence, it proves out that outsourcing strengthens the market position of outsourcing buyers, expanding their technological scope and consequently creates new workplaces.

During the past few years we have seen the shift occurring in decisive factors for outsourcing: in addition to traditional reduction of development costs, outsourcing buyers become more and more interested in access to the pool of talents (due to the internal shortages of highly-qualified IT graduates) and industry-specific know-how. Another visible trend of 2007 is multisourcing, accompanied by growing process-orientation. The time of “mega-deals” is left behind, while overwhelming reduction of the contract’s scope becoming a nowadays reality. “Gartner’s Key Predictions for 2007″ include the forecast that through 2009, market share for the top 10 IT outsourcers will decline to 40.0 percent (from 43.5 percent now), equalling a revenue shift of $5.4 billion. The above mentioned trend consequently leads to the growing number of SMEs on the IT arena and therefore the increase of the impact on the outsourcing landscape.

Precise attention should also be devoted to the Top Trends 2007, outlined by CIO Insight: particularly, Management section of the forecast features predictions that outsourcing will change IT management and that offshoring will shift from India. Concerning the later tendency, notwithstanding pure neashoring, it is worth to note that Indian outsourcing providers are increasingly seeking possibilities for mergers with Eastern European software developers. Inevitably, outsourcing “moves closer to home”, with Indian and Chinese outsourcing proposals becoming less appealing to European vendors.

Over the years, data privacy as well as data security has become fundamental prerequisites for successful outsourcing cooperation. Therefore, intellectual property issues together with effective practices on risk mitigation will stay top of the agenda for the years to come. Also, outsourcing service providers are expected to be capable of driving innovation and delivering industry specific know how. Another trend of interest, highlighted by Morrison & Foerster’s Global Sourcing Group, introduces transformational application outsourcing, which foresees restructuring of the code in a more modern architecture, therefore making it deployable in SOA.

To sum up with, the coming years will see tighter alignment between outsourcing providers and software development vendors, resulting in more effective business cooperation models. Also, increasing competition will fuel more innovative approach to outsourcing, with process orientation becoming the core of it.

It seems at the moment that there’s hardly time to draw breath: the events of the last year have been so vast in impact and so profound in consequence that the repercussions continue to roll over shared services and outsourcing, and the global economy as a whole, with seismic force. Nevertheless, it’s traditional at this time of year to take stock of the previous twelve months – and so here at SSON we’ve enlisted the help of some key players from right across the space to assess the events and trends which characterized 2008.

(For a glimpse of what’s coming up next year for shared services and outsourcing, check out our “ Predictions for 2009 ” feature…)

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Helen Neale
Senior HRO Analyst and HRO Research Manager, NelsonHall

Many HR professionals will look back on 2008 as a year of significant change for HR organizations on a global basis. Companies, particularly within the financial services and construction industries, are still experiencing very difficult times, and will unquestionably do so for a prolonged period. HR organizations have been challenged to deliver significant change programs while simultaneously trying to manage the day-to-day complexities of running the HR function. As redundancies increase, and the morale and stability of the workforce’s own financial situations take a significant nose dive, HR challenges are in constant flux.

Key 2008 challenges I have identified include:

• Managing extensive exit programs while trying to keep organizations’ morale high: HR organizations have had to recognize and guard against the toll high levels of redundancy take on those remaining in the company. For example, it is critical to continuously and openly communicate with key employees during times of high redundancies to ensure that key people do not “jump ship” as the morale of those remaining is affected. Therefore, HR departments have been tasked with “keeping their heads while all about them are losing theirs”. In other words, making sure remaining employees are happy and therefore productive, so it’s as close to business as usual as possible.
• Support for organizations within emerging economies: despite the difficult times in 2008, some businesses are looking to expand into countries where there are significant growth opportunities including Russia, China and Korea. Alongside the difficulties within Western economies, growth in China, for example, is still critical to the strategies of many larger organizations. In particular, companies are looking to take advantage of the incredible market for consumer products within such emerging economies. HR service delivery has, therefore, had to balance the requirements for change programs centered on employee reductions in the US and Western Europe with the need to increase HR delivery in these emerging countries. Questions these companies need to address include: do we need to engage with a preferred recruitment provider in Asia Pacific to manage employee hires in the region? Do we need to expand the HR delivery footprint to include more localized presence in some of these countries as our company footprint expands?
• Keeping costs and investment in HR low while still delivering effective service: HR can be one of the first functions to take the hit when times are tough. CFOs often look at their HR departments for operational cost savings. Therefore, HR has been under pressure to effectively deliver services with reduced resources and investment. While HR functions have seen significant redundancy levels in 2008, they are required to maintain the high levels of employee satisfaction HR directors demand. This is a major challenge to one and all, especially given low investments in HR.

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Fran Morton
HR Transformation and Learning Outsourcing Consultant

Despite the gloom and doom of the second half of 2008, we saw a couple of big ideas gaining traction:

• Transformation is what’s needed to get HR to the next generation. With transformation as the engine, HRIS and outsourcing take their proper places as approaches and tools to achieve the ultimate goal.
• Full HRO (done in one huge mega-bite) isn’t necessarily the best answer. The rise in single or few-process outsourcing demonstrates clients “get it” that everything at once is not the only way.

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Phil Searle
Founder and Managing Director, Chazey Partners

What a year! 2008 started with the global economy steadily growing and concerns with inflationary pressures, followed by fast rising oil and commodity prices, but with no hint of what was to follow. Then came the dramatic collapse in the financial sector, continuing falls in house prices, the recent sharp decline in the price of oil and now talks of deflation and even a possible return to the Great Depression. Wow! So how has all this affected shared services and BPO? What major challenges have shared services and BPO practitioners faced in 2008 and what will 2009 look like? Here are my views.

Globalization: globalization has manifested itself in many ways, including significant advancements in communications and technology, the rapid growth of new markets such as China and India, and the movement of workload, people, data and currency across the globe. Offshoring of work to other countries (either internally through captives or externally through BPO providers) has allowed companies to tap a much lower labor cost pool. Indeed, earlier in the year, the question was whether some of the new lower cost locations were overheating, which saw an expansion into even newer locations such as Vietnam and parts of Africa.

BPO continued to expand rapidly in 2008, although mainly through the signing of more selective outsourcing contracts (e.g., within specific functions such as finance and HR and then for specific activities within those functions), and less in multi-tower cross functional outsourcing deals.

Talent Management: there were concerns in 2008 over the cost, availability and quality of resources (especially people) available to shared services and outsourcers. While this is still the case in terms of quality, the recession has definitely lessened the cost and availability concerns. Nevertheless, effective talent management is critical to successful shared services and outsourcing, and more organizations have grown to recognize this in 2008.

Shared Services Value Proposition: while many in shared services understand completely the value of implementing and operating effective shared services operations, many outside of the shared services community don’t fully “get” shared services or its value proposition. I quote here from my recent interview with Michael Cox, Chief Economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas:

“Shared services is not well understood at all. The aims and methods that shared services use to deliver effective and efficient support services to businesses may be well understood but the term “shared services” is not. Say ‘shared services’ and my mind conjures up no instantly clear image of anything.”

The Global Economy: this is, of course, the big one from 2008. The dramatic change in the economic environment has impacted everyone. Recession is with us in the West, and growth forecasts for the booming economies of China and India have been recently cut by the IMF into much lower single digits. Just in the last few weeks we have seen significant layoffs across all industries, including in shared services and outsourcing operations. Another impact of the down economy is that the previously booming expat employment experienced in developing countries has been curtailed. Furthermore, budgets have been cut or suddenly frozen, causing at least a short-term shelving of many “investment” projects which might involve some optimization around technology, shared services or business transformation.

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Emer O’Kelly
Director, Triagen Ltd (formerly European Finance Director, Avid Technology Europe Ltd)

[Companies were] mainly REACTIVE to the dramatic economic downturn. They concentrated on very short-term issues and on somehow getting through 2008, and did not commit cash to projects even if they made good medium- or long-term sense.

A number of weaker companies have already failed, and they appear to be getting little sympathy from either the banks or, for that matter, other players like audit firms. Many fear there will be a second wave of failures (or near-failures) of better businesses, which cannot be allowed to go under without a fight. That will challenge the market more than letting the truly weak companies go.

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George Penton
ERP Solution Management for Shared Services, SAP America

With the downturn of the global economy this year, shared services centers have been forced to react to unforeseen conditions, and have faced much greater than usual challenges in managing their credit-to-cash and procure-to-pay business processes. Ineffective management of the company’s inflow and outflow of cash, including longer collection cycles and worsening DSO can, unfortunately, be perceived as lackluster performance by the SSC. This impacts the perception of good service delivery by the SSC, especially in companies in which the SSC is not yet mature or not yet seen as a value-added business partner. Today’s reality is that effective cash management is key. Companies that effectively manage the flow of cash into and out of their organizations (their financial supply chain) will be able to weather this economic storm much more effectively than companies that do not.

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John Haworth
Consulting Principal, Global Sourcing, Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

A key consideration for best practice organizations is to be mindful of the effect of staff reductions on the employment brand of a company. The who, why and how of staff reductions will be observed by the retained staff, and word of the manner of these actions will find its way into the broader employment market. Capricious actions will lead to employment brand damage, while careful, well-executed, and generous separation terms will serve to maintain the employer’s brand as the labor market improves. Honoring prior service, making eligibility for rehire explicit, even thinking about granting service credit for those employees who may be rehired down the road could be techniques that cost little in the here and now. These approaches could go far in making the severed employees not only think well of the employer, but also help the employer keep a pool of experienced ex-employees well disposed to potential future employment.

We see the cost argument trumping all at the moment, and large scale buyer-financed, near-term investment in service delivery improvements moving out of the picture. There are, however, providers who seem to be willing to finance or defer implementation/transition charges in order to capture (and retain) clients who fit their models well. Buyers of services need to be aware of their ability to negotiate terms and imaginative solutions with providers, rather than reverting to seemingly comfortable, but discredited, models whose optics look like pure cost take out. Since there can be no sustainable benefit from these models, buyers need to be advised to understand that investment is necessary for service delivery transformation, and that it is a question of making transitions to the new model affordable, not non-existent. This too, is a consideration for now and for 2009 at least.

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Brian D. Smith
Partner and Managing Director, Financial Services, TPI

In 2008, the outsourcing market faced several challenges including portfolio optimization, attrition and rising costs in India, as well as currency fluctuations. Companies found portfolio optimization to be a challenge as they balanced onshore and offshore resources between internal and external providers, and between geographies. Due to attrition and rising costs in the FS “primary” back-office offshore environment – India – many considered alternative countries. In addition, currency fluctuations, particularly the drop in the value of the dollar relative to the rupee and the euro, impacted the business cases for new offshore initiatives, and in some cases made existing arrangements uneconomical for the buyer, for the seller, or for both.

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Phil King
Associate Partner/Shared Services Solution Leader, Atos Consulting

Starting up shared services is an enormous challenge at the best of times. Faced with the rapidly changing economic and political landscape of 2008 and looking forward to an uncertain 2009 makes it even harder. On the other hand, the drivers for shared services – and doing it right – are made stronger.

So what were three key challenges and trends I observed in 2008? The first and foremost, which I wrote about in November, has been getting approval for a business case for start-up in challenging economic times, when every investment will be scrutinized in detail for payback and ROI by any board and/or executive team, and risky projects will be avoided. So for those presenting a business case, it has been, and continues to be, important to look for value-added benefits. Headcount savings and efficiency benefits are necessary, but the best cases have also stressed improved controls, working capital benefits, and support for wider transformation of support functions such as finance, HR and IT. As well as a strong benefits case, approvers will also be looking for a tightly run project with well documented and managed risks. Over the years there have been many shared services lessons learned, and in tough times it will be even more important for start-ups to take heed.

The second challenge I have seen is that shared services is moving from the former domain of large multinationals and big public sector organizations, with support staffs running into the thousands, to become a consideration for smaller businesses and government bodies. For example, a mid-cap company that has rapidly expanded into several countries may see shared services as an attractive opportunity to gain control and prevent a proliferation of processes and duplication of activities before it becomes a much larger problem. However, in this case, it may not be as simple to create economies of scale, particularly if several languages need to be catered for. On the other hand, the benefit gained by creating shared services is that at least some critical mass is achieved, reducing the exposure that comes from having relatively small in-country staffs. The key here is creative design. It is important that systems and processes are as effective as possible, and designed in detail, that the organization can be flexible and that language requirements are reduced through automation.

A third and interesting trend is that shared services is increasingly moving beyond finance functions. We have seen HR adoption over the past few years, but in 2008 I have, for the first time, seen successful shared services implementations in customer service and order fulfillment. It seems ironic that concepts of customer service would be transferred from finance into front-office functions, but it has been effective. I can see this as a future trend as, more often than not, customer order management has been kept as a local in-country or business unit function due to its heritage of being based on local market relationships. However, as more and more companies globalize or address their markets at least on a regional basis, and supply chains are more centralized, the case for sharing customer service across geographies is enhanced. The challenge for start-ups here is that they are “front-office”, potentially more politically sensitive, and any implementation problems can directly affect the core business. So extra attention must be paid to change management activities and making sure the new shared services unit will deliver good service right from the start.

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Ray Matteson
Director of Learning Operations, Raytheon Professional Services

Training providers are having to demonstrate the same or higher levels of value while operating under an extreme cost cutting environment.

Buyers are needing to build the business case and demonstrate the value of an outsourcing relationship while providers are constructing solutions that transform an organization and reduce costs amidst economic climate pressures.

The economic times are also forcing companies to truly focus on their core competencies. They now look beyond just the traditional training services and investigate the other services that support training (e.g., education assistance, customer support, supply chain, consulting, etc.).

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Chris Nuttall
Partner in PA Consulting and a Leader of PA’s Management Group for Sourcing and Shared Services

Key challenges in 2008:

Customer focus/service challenges: Many shared services organizations face significant challenges in maintaining an appropriate focus on the customer, especially managing customer expectations and service. Customer surveys often fail to pinpoint key pain points, and customer sophistication is increasing, faster, in some cases, than the shared services organization can manage. Many service providers have grown too fast and struggle to maintain customer service standards. Customers have not always been as vigilant as they should be in managing to agreed service levels.

Financial challenges: Cash flow challenges – operating, investing and financing – remain front of mind, especially defining appropriate levels and timing of desired cash flows and managing the right mix of operating and investing cash flows. Budgets have been cut, and the key challenge is not just managing with less cash but balancing cash inflows and outflows effectively.

Capability challenges: Managing shared services and outsourced organizations requires specialist skills, knowledge and experience. Many organizations struggle to identify the right talent, and/or under-invest in training and development to create a high performance team of skilled, experienced and motivated people with up-to-date knowledge and the right capabilities. Many providers face resource and skill crunches, and continue to experience capability churn, exacerbated by high wage inflation.
Knowledge management challenges. Long-term shared services arrangements and outsourcing contracts can result in a loss of institutional knowledge…buyers may lose it, and providers may not share it. This can erode customers’ and providers’ abilities to effectively manage their relationships.

Market challenges: As the number of large service providers decreases, market power is shifting to the largest service providers. In addition, a proliferation of smaller, viable, providers is creating challenges around provider discovery, or how to find the best providers, and governance, or how to manage multiple providers for an end-to-end process.

Governance and team-working challenges: In a single-provider environment, it is straightforward to identify the responsibility for a service outage, process deficiency or software bug. But in a multi-provider environment, this becomes very challenging. Many customers and providers have difficulty in teaming and developing appropriate inter-relationships and levels of trust that deliver a joint business outcome.

Enterprise-wide and portfolio challenges: Executive management teams can be uninterested in shared services and outsourcing, especially as they may not understand the enterprise benefits, costs and risks or alignment to strategy. Many initiatives continue to be managed as one-off arrangements, rather than as part of a broader portfolio approach, resulting in lost synergies and the take-on of unnecessary operational risk.

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Craig Ackerman
Vice President, Shared Services, HMSHost

Challenges included:

Keeping vendors to schedule on automation deliverables. Our approach: use a PMO-driven process; meet frequently, reviewing progress and issues; over-communicate expectations; and commit additional resources as needed to stay on schedule.

Competing for scarce internal resources. Our approach: review projects and priorities quarterly; maintain internal project management and technical teams; and use a structured and disciplined approach to project management.

Improving working capital in a down market. Our approach: implement and communicate tighter receivables processes and procedures; standardize vendor terms; and study the feasibility of supply chain financing.

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Venkat Gopal
IT Outsourcing Advisory Consultant

Financial Challenges: Under the current economic situation, the pressure to manage cost and cash flow is extremely heightened, seizing a major part of business management’s bandwidth. But companies still need to run their businesses and their insatiable appetite to see external service providers do even more on this front is understandable. Providers have had to constantly and periodically present to the customer’s management how they have efficiently managed their 3 Ps – people, processes and pricing – by leveraging the benefits of traditional offshoring services. Customers are now also expecting providers to help them further stretch their budgets by enabling them to leverage more from process reengineering and global shared services centers. The centralization of back-office tasks can lead to significant cost savings from economies of scale, improved utilization and standardization. Process reengineering delivers the greatest cost savings and thus plays a pivotal role in the success or failure of a shared services strategy. It impacts the core of an enterprise’s functions and, as such, customers expect service providers to put their skin in the game by being open to embrace contractual terms embedded with higher risk-to-reward ratios.

Knowledge Management Challenges: Most service providers have traditionally underestimated the value derived from improved knowledge management and, hence, have been torpid in making the required investments in this area. However, successful service providers have leveraged this to their complete advantage and have reaped the benefits from harnessing their knowledge management strategy by forming deep and mutually beneficial alliances with universities, centers of learning, industry bodies and thought leaders. Some of the successful service providers have also tapped, on a global basis, experienced and retired domain and process experts for specific contributions. Service providers should build a panel of such individuals for idea generation and knowledge management.

Market Challenges: It has been observed over the past few years that engaging a large service provider is not necessarily the only answer to a successful outsourcing relationship. Recently, we have seen contract sizes become smaller and shorter in duration. Simultaneously, the scenario that is emerging is leading toward the proliferation of many specialized shared services and outsourcing firms that are much smaller in size and have deep industry domain experience, process knowledge, configurable solutions/intellectual property and tools that provide a jump-start to address the challenges faced by the customer. The traditional approach to provider discovery may not be ideally suited for identifying, rating and qualifying such specialized service providers. Thus, customers need to equip themselves differently and adopt a completely different approach to provider discovery.

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Being both a web design and development firm, we required more than just a simple task manager. We needed an issue tracker to report, update, and resolve bugs with the web-based applications we were building for our clients.  The few online tools that existed at the time provided rudimentary task management and were absent quality time tracking capabilities. Issue tracking software is helpful for many reasons. When it comes to running a business and keeping track of large amounts of data using scrum software, things can sometimes go wrong to the point of your not knowing how to fix them. However, with a 24-hour help desk right at your fingertips, problems with your project or database will be dealt with and solved immediately. Listed are some tips for linking issue tracking to scrum software.

Found a bug?

If you create an account in the system, you can login, report a new issue, or view existing issues.
While viewing an issue, on the bottom left side of the page, click the “Watch it” link to receive notifications about resolution progress. Also, we appreciate your comments, feedback, and help testing and proposing patches.
Has your bug already been reported? Please search for a similar looking bug, before reporting a new bug.
Looking for work

The issue tracker no longer assigns new issues to any particular person, they go to “unassigned” instead. This means that anyone is welcome to pick up an issue and decide to work on it. But when is it the right time to do so? And how do you know anyone else isn’t working on it? If everyone follows a few simple rules, it will be clear.

Keeping Things Straight: While some people are well acquainted with their computer’s systems and inner workings, not everyone knows what to do (besides panic) when something happens to their database or their information system. It seems to be out of their control. Issue tracking software can help with this because it basically installs a help desk right into your computer.

Even though scrum project management software ensures that your data will be well taken care of, this may only mean that, in some cases, it will be kept organized and updated. There are no guarantees that your data will be protected from computer defects, hardware failures, or even viruses. Having someone at your aide can be of immense help, especially if computer maintenance is not where your strength lies.

Making It Work For You: All issues are different, and the folks on the other end of the issue tracking system know this. That’s why there is the feature of reporting the issue either over e-mail or by phone. This not only gives you the freedom to remain busy, instead of on hold for hours at a time or left lost trying to translate, but this also ensures that the help you receive will be intelligible and benefits your specific problem in a timely manner.

With some software it is necessary to get an update or add-on for different uses. Even if you are using something specialized and complex like scrum project management software, you will receive help from someone who knows about that specific software. There is always someone who is experienced with your problem waiting for your call for help.

Overview: Sometimes running large projects, organizing outrageous amounts of data, and keeping a team of hundreds in check can be stressful. But that stress only mounts when problems that you cannot fix by yourself arise. That is what issue tracking software was created to curtail–helping you with what you can’t do for yourself.

This article provides a basis for understanding secure programming with PHP and gives a broader view of the subject. You should keep in mind that these guidelines identify only the most common threats and how to avoid them, reducing the risk of security compromise at the same time. The basic rule for writing a secure application is: never trust user input. Poorly validated user input constitutes the most severe security vulnerabilities in any web application. In other words, input data should be considered guilty unless proven innocent. Choosing php and mysql as programming language for a website is not enough. With open source coding being one of the inherent properties of php mysql development, securing your codes becomes essential. So when one allows the users to upload files on the website, then security is definitely at stake.

PHP Programming Protection

While it is not entirely possible to protect your site, yet there are few precautions that you can incorporate for better protection of PHP programming. Some of these are:

• You should check the referrer, for being sure that the information sent is from your website and not an outside source. Since, there are maximum chances of the information being fake.

• Restriction of the type of extension files being uploaded on the website is yet another method of security check.

• Renaming files is another way in which the program can be secured. This procedure involves the checking of double-barreld extensions like yourfile.php.gif.

• Changing the permission command for the upload folder so that files within it are not executable.

• All the alterations created by the user should be allowed only when they ‘Login’ into the database. On the other hand the owner of the site should always keep a close watch on all files being uploaded and then make them live.

Mysql Programming Security

Another aspect in php and mysql web development is the protection of the mysql libraries. Therefore, the most important aspect involved in protecting the mysql program is the security of the entire server host.

Securing MySQL is very essential for the smooth running of the website. This is based on Access Control Lists and SSL-encrypted connections, for protecting the php mysql web development program from random users visiting the website.

Some of the vital things to be considered for online site protection are:

• Accessing of the mysql database should not be allowed for any and everyone.

• Privileges to the users should always be accompanied with some restriction. If one can easily connect to the server without any ‘login’ then the security level code of the MySQL server should be rechecked.

• The MySQL database should be void of plain-text passwords. Use programs like MD5 (), SHA1(), or some hashing function for complete protection.

• Do not choose passwords from dictionaries, since they can be hacked easily. Use programs that break the passwords.

Therefore, the successful development of a website through php and mysql web development is complete only when the site owner consults a professional programmer. They expertise in the optimization of the MySql hosting database. This program is dynamic in nature and is an effective tool in the creation of browser-based applications.

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In this article we would like you to get acquainted with main outsourcing trends predicted for the next few years. Some of them start emerging nowadays. We tried to present here trends that can really affect the outsourcing industry.

 

1. Consolidation

 

2. Globalization

 

3. P2P Offshoring

 

4. Green IT

 

5. Virtual Worlds

 

6. Service-oriented architecture

 

7. Convergence of technology and business

 

1. Consolidation

 

The end of 2008 caused aggravation of the competition between outsourcing companies. There are lots of offshore vendors nowadays and new companies emerge every day. And in the situation that has formed at the present moment a lot of outsourcing organizations are unable to survive. That’s why experts predict some significant consolidations in the nearest future.

 

2. Globalization of the market

 

Globalization f the sector is caused by the outsourcing boom. By recent time main outsourcing countries have been considered to be India and China. They still remain, but a number of states have joined the ‘outsourcing movement’, e.g. countries of Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine). So the outsourcing sector gains the global scale. The large number of outsourcing companies leads to the more definite specialization of outsourcing.

 

3. Person to person offshoring

 

Normally offshoring is associated with medium-sized and large-scale businesses, but there is a new trend in outsourcing: Person-to –Person Offshoring (PPO). It consists of services that can be outsourced by entrepreneurs to individuals. They include:

 

- Online Tutoring Services

 

- Accounting, Finance and Tax Preparation Services

 

- Home Design and Related Services

 

- Editorial and Writing Services

 

- Graphic Design Services

 

- Transcription and other Administrative Support Services

 

- Software Coding and Other IT Services

 

- Website Creation and Maintenance Services

 

- Marketing and Sales Support Services

 

- Other Ancillary and Concierge Services

 

Main models of P2P Offshoring:

 

1) Direct Interaction:

 

Under this model a vendor directly interacts with a client. Parties conclude a contract. Since the cost of individual projects is fairly low, clients usually pay the vendors with credit cards which can help offset some of this risk.

 

2) Online Marketplace Model:

 

This model involves the mediation of the online marketplaces (freelance-sites).

 

4. Green IT

 

Global companies start taking concern of their impact on environment increasingly. This fact makes them change their demands to their suppliers. This is the reason why lots of outsourcing engagements now include the paragraph as to the environmental protection. Environmental concern is becoming one of the evaluation criteria for service providers. Environmentalism in terms of Green IT becomes a trend and gets shapes of the industry.

 

According to the Brown-Wilson Group’s (an outsourcing industry consulting firm) study, more than 21 percent of US and European countries that outsource have added green policies to their outsourcing agreements.

 

However, the real impact on the outsourcing industry will be seen after implementation of the ‘green’ legislation by governments of European countries.

 

5. Virtual Worlds

 

Recently the popularity of virtual worlds such as Second Life has grown significantly. These worlds allow people build virtual offices, attend virtual meetings and get real deals. Though the market of outsourced virtualworld services is rather young, but it gathers pace.

 

6. Service-oriented architecture

 

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) enables the customers to take one piece (or several pieces ) from the process they wish to outsource and render to a provider (just like in Lego where one cube can be taken away from the whole structure and replaced by another one). Service-oriented architecture helps to concentrate on one piece of a process, thus enabling to provide more detailed specialization for outsourcing vendors.

 

7. Convergence of technology and business

 

According to this model clients refrain from outsourcing their business processes in parts (in isolated pockets) to different companies. According to this, the higher demand will be for providers that can deliver all aspects of outsourced processes in one package.

 

Basing on materials by Evalueserve, www.silicom.com, Brown-Wilson Group, Outsourcing Journal

 

http://www.ainstainer.com/

 

Recently Sony announced at Tokyo that it will be cutting 8,000 jobs which constitute five percent of its total permanent workforce and the rest from the part-time employees as a result of the global slowdown.

According to Sony, the new business plan is expected to deliver more than $1.1 billion in cost savings a year by March 2010.

What is offshoring? Offshoring is a type of outsourcing. Offshoring simply means having the outsourced business functions done in another country. Frequently, work is offshored in order to reduce labor expenses. Other times, the reasons for offshoring are strategic — to enter new markets, to tap talent currently unavailable domestically or to overcome regulations that prevent specific activities domestically.

The phrase that I think describes the old, outdated approach well is, ‘your mess for less’, with the outsourced company taking on your operation and simply running it at a lower cost.

Today’s corporation succeeds based on its ability to establish and sustain a network of strategic business partners. More and more companies are realizing the benefits in turning around core competencies and outside relationships. “Do what you do best and outsource the rest” is the credo, and for good reason.

Outsource for More Profits

Resourcing allows to free internal resources and allow HR practitioners to be more strategic. Instead of entering data, crunching numbers and pushing paper, HR can focus on core/non-administrative functions. Offloading the administrative work maximizes the organization’s resources.

Alternately they can offer access to expertise. Organizations that outsource gain access to know-how they probably do not possess. They tap into a broad network of experienced people and best practices.

There are, however, some common misconceptions about outsourcing, including the belief that it can and will in every situation:

One of the core reasons is that outsourcing cuts costs thereby increasing profits. Although outsourcing will provide cost savings for some organizations (mostly those that are very large and extremely inefficient), in most cases, it is dollar-for-dollar cost neutral.

Take an organization with hundreds of people in HR: If it can save just 5 percent of the $100 million dollars it spends on HR, it will save $5 million. But a company with only 10 people in HR is not going to pay for the service by shifting the work off one or two employees. What will happen is that the department will gain an increase in benefits or services — more bang for the buck.

Besides, “The capital crunch and cost pressures due to the financial crisis will force enterprises to outsource more of their back office operations to vendors like Sitel for cost arbitrage and access to talent pool. In spite of lower IT budgets, we are upbeat on surviving the crisis and sustaining growth,” Adeni asserted.

Multishoring is a trend that mirrors the evolution of IT outsourcing. Gone are the days of 10-year deals being awarded to the traditional global outsourcing providers. The reality of IT outsourcing now is shorter contracts, with a number of specialist suppliers.

Similarly, multishoring enables companies to secure best-of-breed outsourcing solutions, thus tapping into specialist skills sets and maximizing the merits of each offshoring location.

You can have different suppliers, in different locations for different functions. As multishoring takes off, what we’re seeing is a trend towards suppliers opening operations in different locations to give companies the option of a multi-shore strategy but with the security of a single supplier contract.

Simply outsource processes elsewhere in an attempt to break from the traditional mould
Use India as one supply location as part of a global strategy whereby elements in which India excels, such as knowledge process outsourcing, will be outsourced to India, but other processes will be nearshored, onshored or offshored to other locations. In terms of costs, India and China remain amongst the cheapest options, yet the tax-free incentives schemes offered by Dubai, for example, are leading to a far greater competition regarding cost in the global market place.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the new global environment is offering opportunities aplenty to end users. With the emergence of global service provision, end users have the world at their feet and the multishoring ‘pick and mix’ approach can maximize this.

By capitalizing upon several offshoring locations, possibly in tandem, end users can accrue a low cost offering with the particular skills that are required. India is still a vital cog in the outsourcing wheel, but taking the risk and going elsewhere can sometimes reap massive benefits.

Through innovative outside relationships, organizations are aggressively reshaping themselves and fundamentally changing the way they do business. Unprecedented levels of performance and profitability have resulted from these efforts. The bottom line is that outsourcing has become one of today’s most powerful, organization-shaping management strategies. Smart corporations of the future will serve their customers by functioning more as a focuser of resources than as an owner of resources.

Outsourcing a non-core function like the data center to a high quality provider that gives enhanced levels of service at a lower cost helps businesses to compete in today’s highly competitive marketplace.

In conclusion, it can be safely said that outsourcing allows freeing of internal resources and allowing executives to be more strategic. Instead of entering data, crunching numbers and pushing paper, company executives can focus on profitability and core/ non-administrative functions. In other words, offloading the administrative work maximizes the organization’s resources.

Bottom line

Outsourcing is a necessary component of a profitable company’s business plan. By choosing wisely, a company can be more profitable and efficient by letting other companies take some of the load.

 

Introduction

Many well intentioned offshore projects get off to a flying start, but fail to succeed over the long term or worse still are abandoned mid-way, even though a considerable time & effort is spent by companies before and during the initial stages of an offshore engagement on activities like documenting the project RFP, evaluating and shortlisting service providers, defining quality parameters, training the offshore team, and the like. This article looks at some factors that may impede the success of the offshore outsourcing endeavor with suggestions to avoid or overcome them.

Unrealistic assumptions on cost savings

The first and major obstacle to success is the unrealistic assumptions on the savings. Organizations assume savings will happen right from the day the delivery starts happing from the offshore location.  The initial costs involved in the offshoring (often referred to as the soft costs or hidden costs) that are over and above the direct cost of the contract, often bring down the resultant savings drastically in the first six months to a year. These costs arise due to time spent in pre-offshoring activities like process documentation, vendor evaluation & selection, overseas travel both to the vendor location and of their pilot project team to your offices, and upfront investment in equipment & other hardware to facilitate data communication between your office(s) and the vendor’s offshore location(s) before the process transition can begin.

Also many companies that outsource work offshore wrongly assume that labor arbitrage will yield savings on a person-to-person basis (i.e., Since a full-time equivalent employee in India cost 40% less, the savings will be in the same range!) without factoring in the difference in productivity of and offshore worker v/s that of an inhouse employee; and the differences in operating model of the offshore vendor. Hank Zupnik, CIO of GE Real Estate, who has overseen numerous projects outsourced offshore for over a decade, rightly observed that one offshore worker couldn’t simply replace all the work done by one American worker.

In reality, most organizations save 15-25% during the first year; by the third year, cost savings often reach 35-40% as both the sides move up the learning-curve and the client modifies their internal operations to align to an offshore model. Its is important to set realistic targets and timelines for cost savings at the start to avoid a mid-course ‘blame-game’ both internally and with the service provider.

Lack of well documented in-house processes

Documentation is a time intensive and often neglegted activity. It is observed that most internal processes are only about 30% documented, while one of the prerequisite before offshoring a process is that the documentation level should be at around 90%. The documentation activity should include mapping the current process, putting down the transition strategy, evaluation of all risks of failure and drawing up a contingency plan. Once the documentation is completed, the company may change its outsourcing strategy (e.g., from a single vendor to multiple vendors); or it might actually give a greater thrust to offshoring if the vendor(s) seem better equipped to reduce risks while keeping the costs low; or the company might be deterred from outsourcing offshore due to the high risk involved if the endeavor fails. Though the results of risk analysis vary between companies, documenting the risks & preparing the contingency plan are important and a lack thereof may lead to mid-way abandonment of the offshoring project.

Poor expectation  management

Outsourcing engagements have a supplier (vendor) and a recipient (client), and both will have different expectations from the relationship. That the service is delivered from offshore complicates it further, and expectations mismatch become problematic.

An expectation gap may arise when you are in doubt about the vendor’s capability and hesitant to offshore anything beyond a specific task, while the service provider expects greater chunk of “higher value” work and might feel unchallenged by dealing only with standard, unchallenging tasks. If this expectation gap continues, the vendor may over time, accord low importance to your project or may even want to get out of the relationship as soon as a higher value-add work comes their way.

Similarly, you may expect the vendor employees to come up to a level of understanding that matches that of your in-house staff, but they may not be able to think or perform beyond the task that has been outsourced, and may ask questions that may seem ‘silly’, resulting in frustration at your end and possibly an early termination of the contract.

You should chart out a growth plan for the outsourcing relationship so that the service provider have their eyes set on the next target in terms of new processes coming their way. Knowing this growth path, the vendor and their employees will try to gain deeper insights into your business, thus resulting in superior results during the initial ‘unchallenging’ stages of offshoring too, and a stronger sense of loyalty to their relationship with you.

Also ensuring continuous knowledge transfer to the vendor’s employees working on your project, make feel as a part of your extended organization and perform better.

Failure in bridging the Cultural Gap

Most of the offshore workers will not have an exposure to the Western way of life and to the Western work culture. Therefore besides the training related directly to work, your in-house staff may need to spend time in acquainting the vendor’s employees with the cultural nuances of the organization and that of the your company’s home base, be it Europe or US. For example although English is an official language in India, pronunciation and accents can vary tremendously. Though many service providers put their employees through accent & language training and have cultural education programs, inherent differences due to culture, religion, social activities, way of dressing, and even the way a junior interacts with a senior colleague will not be easy to overcome. Something that’s common sense to the Western worker may be a completely foreign concept to an overseas worker.

Similarly your senior management & your in-house staff directly involved in the transition process need to acquaint themselves with the culture of the country where the vendor is located to communicate effectively with them and be able to understand the soft aspects of doing business with them. This avoids issues that can arise due to misunderstanding the ‘language’ at either side. Mutual visits to the other country are very helpful for effective working relationships as they help in drastic improvement of each others understanding and in the quality of work.

Some companies may try to save the travel cost by communicating over the phone or using video conferences, but in the long run this proves to be more expensive because of the delay related to transitioning the process overseas and the longer time taken to get the expected quality or performance from the offshore team.

Disaffection of in-house staff

Extensive knowledge transfer and training are required prior to and during the transition of work to the vendor, and this needs to be consistently supported by the in-house staff. However layoffs can cause major morale problems among the in-house “survivors,” leading to disaffection and work slowdowns. Internal people may refuse to transition to the offshore model because they have a certain comfort level, or they don’t want their co-worker to lose his job. Some of your staff may also start proclaiming, that offshore outsourcing is not saving money to the company after all and that it was a bad idea, which futher lowers morale of other employees. Sometimes your in-house project management team may need to work into the night and arrive at work in the early morning to manage the offshore team, and their perception about who is benefiting and who is hurting becomes personal.

You have to set aside management and employee time before, during and after the offshore transition to talk to your employees about the whole proposition of offshoring and how it will help the company to become more competitive in the long term. A consensus needs to be built among all employees favoring the company’s offshoring efforts. Without this kind of a mandate, offshore endeavors are doomed.

Backlash from customers as a result of poor quality control

The cost savings resulting from offshoring is the primary motivation for businesses to engage in the same. It is often realized late in the process that quality is an important factor for a successful offshore engagement. Poor quality of service delivery will have a negative impact on the performance and the reputation of the company may suffer in the eyes of their customers.  A lack of adherence to the quality norms by the vendor and lack of monitoring of their output can result in considerable rework, and associated follow-up costs.

KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of the offshore engagement should be defined in the beginning itself, so that the performance can be measured objectively during the tenure project and mid-course corrections are done wherever needed. It is also advisable to institutionalize regular satisfaction surveys that measure the “perception” of the engagement across several stakeholder levels.

Conclusion

Offshore outsourcing is a phenomenon that’s here to stay. Companies that are adopting this are learning operate in a global business environment, and will benefit in the long run as they gain insights into other countries and their way of conducting business. However a failed or abandoned offshore outsourcing venture may set back the company by both the money spent and the willingness to take up such opportunities in the future. It is therefore important to study and analyze all factors that will affect the offshore endeavor and ensure that steps are taken to overcome the pitfalls well ahead of the offshore transition.

References

Dean Davison; Top 10 Risks Of Offshore Outsourcing; http://janutcc.com/HTML/Teaching/Download/Global/Assignment/Risk/Risk 8.pdf

Fleming Parker; Key Success Factors for Offshore Outsourcing to India; http://www.articlesbase.com/outsourcing-articles/key-success-factors-for-offshore-outsourcing-to-india-392264.html

Dr. Joe Greco; The Hidden Costs in Offshore Outsourcing – a Case Study;
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/the-hidden-costs-in-offshore-outsourcing-a-case-study-191103.html

M.M.Sathyanarayan; How to Determine True Business Value of Offshore Outsourcing; http://www.articlesbase.com/outsourcing-articles/how-to-determine-true-business-value-of-offshore-outsourcing-207683.html

Stephanie Overby; The Hidden Costs of Offshore Outsourcing; Sep. 1, 2003 Issue of CIO Magazine; also available at  http://www.ibmemployee.com/PDFs/CIO_Hidden_Costs.pdf

Are you having trouble deciding whom you should vote for in the upcoming election? Let’s make it easy. Rate the candidates on the following critical issues:

Adopt conservative fiscal management policies. Slash our debt and discard Keynesian Economic Theories that support deficit spending and drain our nation of value. By borrowing to cover its own deficits, the government competes with private enterprise for precious capital. This reduces the amount of capital available for new plant and equipment and research and development. A smaller deficit will reduce interest rates and lower the cost of borrowing. This will lead to faster growth, which, in turn, will produce a net increase in government revenues.

Combat offshoring and outsourcing. Americans don’t care whether their jobs are “offshored” to India or “outsourced” to Indiana. Regardless of the term or place, it is a disease that destroys employee morale and hampers the organization’s ability to grow. It may cut costs in the short term, but at the expense of the people who have the potential to create value for the organization in the long term. What’s needed is bold, decisive, and visionary leadership in business and government capable of releasing this potential.

Create new jobs. The key to long-term prosperity is how quickly America can transform the results of corporate restructuring and technological advances into a job-creation machine. America has the potential to create new industries, new jobs, and new products that can compete effectively in global markets. Isolationism and protectionism aren’t the answers. Among America’s greatest assets is our free-market system, which provides the opportunity for the constant creation of new enterprises and new jobs. We must begin by investing in the development of America’s West Coast. America’s West Coast constitutes a major part of the rapidly-developing Pacific Rim. For the United States to play a pivotal role in its development, we must invest in education, infrastructure, science and technology, and training for displaced workers.

Create value. Every market is value-driven, and where there’s value, there’s profit. The real question is who’s creating the value? China’s becoming the manufacturer of choice, and India’s intellectual capacity is unparalleled. As they create value, they’ll reap the profits. Many American companies have to contend with raiders, takeover artists, and other “paper entrepreneurs” who simply shuffle existing wealth around rather than create new wealth. China and India, on the other hand, are creating new wealth.

Cut foreign aid and invest in America first. Why should we place foreigners above Americans? We must teach foreign nations they must depend on themselves and not on “American welfare.” America must take a return-on-investment approach to all foreign aid. Each time we invest abroad, we should ask ourselves are we getting our money’s worth?

Encourage American labor unions to organize labor in foreign nations, especially in Mexico. The critics of the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA) argue that cheap Mexican labor will create “a giant sucking sound” as American corporations head south. American labor unions would benefit by discarding this line of thinking and entering Mexico to organize their labor. The benefits of such an effort would be two-fold. First, America would benefit since these efforts should slow the downward movement of American wages toward a global average and quicken the upward movement of foreign wages toward the American average. Second, unions would benefit since these efforts would reverse decades of declining union membership.

End world dependence on Middle-Eastern oil. We need to uncap the numerous closed oil fields in America’s heartland, creating jobs for Americans and revenues for America. We need to form an oil consortium with other non-OPEC nations, including Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico, Norway, Russia, and the United Kingdom to compete directly with OPEC for world oil revenues. Above all, we need to invest in commercially-viable alternative-fuel sources that will eventually make oil obsolete.

Fortify the nation’s infrastructure. Invest in communications, transportation, and utilities, especially in high-tech regions. Repeat the successes of Silicon Valley and Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill throughout the United States. Additionally, we must begin to build roads to last using high-tech materials and production technologies. If we build roads to last, we can spend less on routine maintenance and repairs and more on improvements and new projects to keep pace with economic growth and changing transportation patterns.

Foster partnerships between American businesses and university laboratories, between science and industry. As the Japanese have proven, the industries of the future do not always emerge in response to market forces. Give American corporations first crack at the basic research (and the resulting patents) conducted in university laboratories. Boost funding for science and technical education of native-born Americans. Americans invented the computer, the facsimile machine, the micro-wave oven, the television, the video-cassette recorder, the oil drilling and refining equipment in use throughout the entire Middle East, and almost every form of modern communication equipment available, just to name a few. How many of these inventions are manufactured by American corporations today?

Overhaul the guidelines for immigration to America. Can you believe the Federal Government wants to build a permanent fence between America and Mexico and waste valuable resources to patrol its perimeter? It’s true America no longer can afford to accept and support the world’s huddled masses, but we need to shape immigration policy with more creative forethought. Tear down the fence and dig a canal instead! For a cost far smaller than that of providing welfare and other government benefits to illegal immigrants, the American-Mexican border can be closed permanently. The benefits of such an effort would be five-fold. First, it would slow the flow of illegal immigrants across America’s border. Second, unemployed American and Mexican labor could be employed to construct the canal. Third, the canal, connecting the Gulf of Mexico with the Pacific Ocean, would present the opportunity for inland states to take advantage of Pacific Rim developments. Fourth, it would reduce the world’s reliance on the Panama Canal. Fifth, profits from the canal’s operation would give a much-needed boost to the American and Mexican economies.

Privatize some government functions and downsize government. I also think we should be sharing resources across state boundaries – kind of a shared services concept – to reduce duplication of effort and reduce the wasteful government spending of tax dollars. For instance, I’d like to see regional investments in infrastructure, such as high-speed rail connecting Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Detroit, maybe even throw Pittsburgh into the mix. Privatize federal assets and services, including federal loan programs, public housing, Amtrak, and the Tennessee Valley Authority, to name just but a few.

Put an end to life-time appointments to the Supreme Court. Amend the U.S. Constitution to place term limits on Supreme Court justices. We must send a clear message that justices serve only to interpret the law, not to make the law.

Put an end to America’s unilateral free-trade policies. We need to put an end to America’s unilateral free-trade policies. We should practice free-trade only with nations who practice it with us. Why do we allow Japan full access to the American economy, when Japan puts up barriers to American ownership of Japanese corporations or restricts the number of automobiles GM or Ford can sell in Japan? If Japan puts up barriers, we need to do the same. This isn’t protectionism; it’s good economic sense.

Reduce barriers to new enterprise and stimulate entrepreneurial initiative by altering the tax code. Our tax code must reward entrepreneurship, risk taking, saving for the future, and work. The State of the American Dream can be determined by measuring the quality of corporate and government leadership and the availability of capital for long-term investment. Poor leadership, combined with a lack of capital, translates into sub-par economic performance. We must reinvest the fruits of prosperity to generate more capital for expansion and growth. One thing I’d like to see is a permanent capital-gains tax credit. We should exempt capital gains from taxation only if the entire gain is reinvested in America. If the entire gain is not reinvested in America, we should tax the gain at ordinary income-tax rates. This will encourage corporations to accumulate and invest capital to create a productive and more competitive economy. This can be accomplished by cutting income taxes, lowering interest rates, increasing consumption taxes, and forming government/business partnerships to expand exports relative to imports. If our current tax system is designed to “soak the rich,” why is the middle class drowning? It’s time to replace America’s anti-investment, anti-savings, anti-success, anti-work tax code. By taxing or subsidizing things it shouldn’t, the government creates the environment for us to borrow more than we save, consume more than we produce, spend more money than we earn, and redistribute wealth rather than create it.

Reduce the regulatory bureaucracy and put an end to frivolous lawsuits. It doesn’t make sense to saddle our corporations with oppressive regulations and frivolous lawsuits, especially when the same burdens do not affect our foreign competitors. The costs of excessive regulations are not borne by the corporation anyway, but rather they are borne by the consumer, in the form of higher prices for goods and services. Require foreign corporations doing business in America to pay the same tax rates and to comply with the same regulations as American corporations. Above all, make the government adhere to the same accounting principles and standards it imposes on American corporations.

Shift welfare funding into jobs programs, requiring work for benefits; deny non-citizens welfare and other government benefits. The Democrats do not want to dismantle any of the programs put in place by Franklin D. Roosevelt, our thirty-second president, to pull the United States out of the depths of the Great Depression. Many Democrats see the longevity and continued existence of his Depression-era programs as their memorial to him. I wonder how FDR would feel if he knew the Democrats’ memorial to him is bankrupting our nation, both economically and morally? His welfare programs, strengthened by our thirty-sixth president, Lyndon B. Johnson, and his so-called “Great Society” programs, have fostered a culture of dependency, perpetuating the poverty they were designed to end. The traditional American values of family, opportunity, responsibility, and work have been replaced with government, victimization, dependency, and entitlement. Even FDR admitted his welfare programs were meant to be temporary safety nets, not lifetime support systems. Perhaps it’s time to pull the plug?

Support a new “Made in USA” labeling system. I believe “Made in USA” should be reserved for products having 98% domestic content for parts and labor. A few years back, General Motors advertised the Camaro as “invented by the country that invented rock and roll.” Only problem is, the Camaro’s produced in Canada. Remember the Cadillac Catera? It really was an Opel MV6 produced in Germany. The Honda Accord’s produced in Marysville, OH. It’s more American Made than either the Camaro or the Catera. American corporations who manufacture their products in foreign nations should be prohibited from marketing their products back home as “American made.”

Support your vision of the American Dream. There isn’t a set definition to the American Dream – you will not find it in any dictionary. Therefore, it’s up to every individual to define it for themselves. The American Dream is not a destination; it’s a life-long journey of discovery and growth. If you needed to define it, the closest you might come is “the promise of opportunity and freedom.” The point is we have the opportunity and freedom to shape our own dreams. My dream is that we get back to what our Founding Fathers intended for our country – life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Thomas Jefferson borrowed this treatise from English philosopher John Locke. Only John Locke originally called for life, liberty, and the pursuit of property. Every American should have the opportunity to own property and to invest in our nation’s future. The best way to provide this opportunity is by creating new industries, new jobs, and new products that can compete effectively in global markets.

Upgrade public education and establish a national apprentice program to replace vocational training. America’s failure to invest in human capital has damaged our ability to compete. Too many American workers lack the skills necessary to perform today’s knowledge-intensive jobs. To begin, establish a national course of study: English language and literature (reading and writing); mathematics; science and technology; social studies, including history and geography; art, music, or another discipline designed to stimulate creativity and lateral thinking; personal and household finance; and commercially-viable foreign languages. Good conduct also should be taught, shaped by in-school discipline, if necessary. Students arrested for violent crimes or for the possession of drugs or weapons immediately should be removed from the traditional school setting and enrolled in special military-style academies for the duration of their primary education. It’s time to start rewarding students who exercise good conduct and punishing those who don’t; students who exercise good conduct should be given the opportunity to learn in an environment free of fear. Dropping out from high school also must be discouraged. This can be accomplished by denying high-school drop-outs welfare and other government benefits, including the right to drive a car. Those who complete high school and decide not to go on to college, should be required to enroll in a national apprentice program for two to four years of schooling together with on-the-job training sponsored by local corporations. Under such a program, graduates would receive a technical certificate along with a school guarantee for technical competency. Finally, shift power from the administrators and unions to the parents and local corporations. To compete in a global economy, we must repeat the successes of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia throughout the United States. Additionally, we must repeat the successes of Jaime Escalante, an immigrant math teacher in a tough, inner-city high school in Los Angeles and subject of the hit movie Stand and Deliver, throughout the United States.

www.christophermengland.com

There isn’t a set definition to the American Dream – you will not find it in any dictionary. Therefore, it’s up to every individual to define it for themselves. The American Dream is not a destination; it’s a life-long journey of discovery and growth. If you needed to define it, the closest you might come is “the promise of opportunity and freedom.” The point is we have the opportunity and freedom to shape our own dreams. My dream is that we get back to what our Founding Fathers intended for our country – life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Thomas Jefferson borrowed this treatise from English philosopher John Locke. Only John Locke originally called for life, liberty, and the pursuit of property. Every American should have the opportunity to own property and to invest in our nation’s future. The best way to provide this opportunity is by creating new industries, new jobs, and new products that can compete effectively in global markets. Together, we can turn rust into gold.

*Adopt conservative fiscal management policies. Slash our debt and discard Keynesian Economic Theories that support deficit spending and drain our nation of value. By borrowing to cover its own deficits, the government competes with private enterprise for precious capital. This reduces the amount of capital available for new plant and equipment and research and development. A smaller deficit will reduce interest rates and lower the cost of borrowing. This will lead to faster growth, which, in turn, will produce a net increase in government revenues.

*Combat offshoring and outsourcing. Americans don’t care whether their jobs are "offshored" to India or "outsourced" to Indiana. Regardless of the term or place, it is a disease that destroys employee morale and hampers the organization’s ability to grow. It may cut costs in the short term, but at the expense of the people who have the potential to create value for the organization in the long term. What’s needed is bold, decisive, and visionary leadership in business and government capable of releasing this potential.

*Create new jobs. The key to long-term prosperity is how quickly America can transform the results of corporate restructuring and technological advances into a job-creation machine. America has the potential to create new industries, new jobs, and new products that can compete effectively in global markets. Isolationism and protectionism aren’t the answers. Among America’s greatest assets is our free-market system, which provides the opportunity for the constant creation of new enterprises and new jobs. We must begin by investing in the development of America’s West Coast. America’s West Coast constitutes a major part of the rapidly-developing Pacific Rim. For the United States to play a pivotal role in its development, we must invest in education, infrastructure, science and technology, and training for displaced workers.  

*Create value. Every market is value-driven, and where there’s value, there’s profit. The real question is who’s creating the value? China’s becoming the manufacturer of choice, and India’s intellectual capacity is unparalleled.  As they create value, they’ll reap the profits. Many American companies have to contend with raiders, takeover artists, and other “paper entrepreneurs” who simply shuffle existing wealth around rather than create new wealth. China and India, on the other hand, are creating new wealth.

*Cut foreign aid and invest in America first. Why should we place foreigners above Americans? We must teach foreign nations they must depend on themselves and not on “American welfare.” America must take a return-on-investment approach to all foreign aid. Each time we invest abroad, we should ask ourselves are we getting our money’s worth?

*Encourage American labor unions to organize labor in foreign nations, especially in Mexico. The critics of the North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA) argue that cheap Mexican labor will create “a giant sucking sound” as American corporations head south. American labor unions would benefit by discarding this line of thinking and entering Mexico to organize their labor. The benefits of such an effort would be two-fold. First, America would benefit since these efforts should slow the downward movement of American wages toward a global average and quicken the upward movement of foreign wages toward the American average. Second, unions would benefit since these efforts would reverse decades of declining union membership.

*End world dependence on foreign oil. In my July 2008 article, “Rescue the American Dream from the Tyranny of Foreign Oil,” I not only outlined several initiatives that are essential to the survival of America’s Big Three automakers, I also outlined numerous initiatives we must undertake to simultaneously diversify sources of oil supplies, dramatically slash oil consumption, and increase production of alternative-energy sources to clean up the environment, increase our energy efficiency, protect national security interests, reduce the military and political leverage of OPEC oil, revitalize the U.S. economy, and shrink trade deficits.

*Fortify the nation’s infrastructure. Invest in communications, transportation, and utilities, especially in high-tech regions. Repeat the successes of Silicon Valley and Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill throughout the United States.  Additionally, we must begin to build roads to last using high-tech materials and production technologies. If we build roads to last, we can spend less on routine maintenance and repairs and more on improvements and new projects to keep pace with economic growth and changing transportation patterns.

*Foster partnerships between American businesses and university laboratories, between science and industry.  As the Japanese have proven, the industries of the future do not always emerge in response to market forces. Give American corporations first crack at the basic research (and the resulting patents) conducted in university laboratories. Boost funding for science and technical education of native-born Americans. Americans invented the computer, the facsimile machine, the micro-wave oven, the television, the video-cassette recorder, the oil drilling and refining equipment in use throughout the entire Middle East, and almost every form of modern communication equipment available, just to name a few. How many of these inventions are manufactured by American corporations today?

*Overhaul the guidelines for immigration to America. Can you believe the Federal Government wants to build a permanent fence between America and Mexico and waste valuable resources to patrol its perimeter? It’s true America no longer can afford to accept and support the world’s huddled masses, but we need to shape immigration policy with more creative forethought. Tear down the fence and dig a canal instead! For a cost far smaller than that of providing welfare and other government benefits to illegal immigrants, the American-Mexican border can be closed permanently. The benefits of such an effort would be five-fold. First, it would slow the flow of illegal immigrants across America’s border. Second, unemployed American and Mexican labor could be employed to construct the canal. Third, the canal, connecting the Gulf of Mexico with the Pacific Ocean, would present the opportunity for inland states to take advantage of Pacific Rim developments. Fourth, it would reduce the world’s reliance on the Panama Canal. Fifth, profits from the canal’s operation would give a much-needed boost to the American and Mexican economies.

*Privatize some government functions and downsize government. I also think we should be sharing resources across state boundaries – kind of a shared services concept – to reduce duplication of effort and reduce the wasteful government spending of tax dollars. For instance, I’d like to see regional investments in infrastructure, such as high-speed rail connecting Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Chicago, and Detroit, maybe even throw Pittsburgh into the mix. Privatize federal assets and services, including federal loan programs, public housing, Amtrak, and the Tennessee Valley Authority, to name just but a few. 

*Put an end to life-time appointments to the Supreme Court. Amend the U.S. Constitution to place term limits on Supreme Court justices. We must send a clear message that justices serve only to interpret the law, not to make the law.

*Put an end to America’s unilateral free-trade policies. In addition to ending world dependence on foreign oil, my December 2008 article, “Rescuing GM,” encourages the Federal Government to put an end to America’s unilateral free-trade policies. We should practice free-trade only with nations who practice it with us. Why do we allow Japan full access to the American economy, when Japan puts up barriers to American ownership of Japanese corporations or restricts the number of automobiles GM or Ford can sell in Japan? If Japan puts up barriers, we need to do the same. If China implements a 25% import tariff making our automobiles more expensive in Chinese markets, we need to do the same making Chinese automobiles more expensive in American markets. This isn’t protectionism; it’s good economic sense. 

*Reduce barriers to new enterprise and stimulate entrepreneurial initiative by altering the tax code. Our tax code must reward entrepreneurship, risk taking, saving for the future, and work. The State of the American Dream can be determined by measuring the quality of corporate and government leadership and the availability of capital for long-term investment. Poor leadership, combined with a lack of capital, translates into sub-par economic performance. We must reinvest the fruits of prosperity to generate more capital for expansion and growth. One thing I’d like to see is a permanent capital-gains tax credit. We should exempt capital gains from taxation only if the entire gain is reinvested in America. If the entire gain is not reinvested in America, we should tax the gain at ordinary income-tax rates. This will encourage corporations to accumulate and invest capital to create a productive and more competitive economy. This can be accomplished by cutting income taxes, lowering interest rates, increasing consumption taxes, and forming government/business partnerships to expand exports relative to imports. If our current tax system is designed to “soak the rich,” why is the middle class drowning? It’s time to replace America’s anti-investment, anti-savings, anti-success, anti-work tax code. By taxing or subsidizing things it shouldn’t, the government creates the environment for us to borrow more than we save, consume more than we produce, spend more money than we earn, and redistribute wealth rather than create it.

*Reduce the regulatory bureaucracy and put an end to frivolous lawsuits. It doesn’t make sense to saddle our corporations with oppressive regulations and frivolous lawsuits, especially when the same burdens do not affect our foreign competitors. The costs of excessive regulations are not borne by the corporation anyway, but rather they are borne by the consumer, in the form of higher prices for goods and services. Require foreign corporations doing business in America to pay the same tax rates and to comply with the same regulations as American corporations. Above all, make the government adhere to the same accounting principles and standards it imposes on American corporations.

*Shift welfare funding into jobs programs, requiring work for benefits; deny non-citizens welfare and other government benefits. The Democrats do not want to dismantle any of the programs put in place by Franklin D. Roosevelt, our thirty-second president, to pull the United States out of the depths of the Great Depression. Many Democrats see the longevity and continued existence of his Depression-era programs as their memorial to him. I wonder how FDR would feel if he knew the Democrats’ memorial to him is bankrupting our nation, both economically and morally? His welfare programs, strengthened by our thirty-sixth president, Lyndon B. Johnson, and his so-called “Great Society” programs, have fostered a culture of dependency, perpetuating the poverty they were designed to end. The traditional American values of family, opportunity, responsibility, and work have been replaced with government, victimization, dependency, and entitlement. Even FDR admitted his welfare programs were meant to be temporary safety nets, not lifetime support systems. Perhaps it’s time to pull the plug?

*Support a new “Made in USA” labeling system. I believe “Made in USA” should be reserved for products having 98% domestic content for parts and labor. A few years back, General Motors advertised the Camaro as “invented by the country that invented rock and roll.” Only problem is, the Camaro’s produced in Canada. Remember the Cadillac Catera? It really was an Opel MV6 produced in Germany. The Honda Accord’s produced in Marysville, OH. It’s more American Made than either the Camaro or the Catera. American corporations who manufacture their products in foreign nations should be prohibited from marketing their products back home as “American made.” 

*Upgrade public education and establish a national apprentice program to replace vocational training. America’s failure to invest in human capital has damaged our ability to compete. Too many American workers lack the skills necessary to perform today’s knowledge-intensive jobs. To begin, establish a national course of study: English language and literature (reading and writing); mathematics; science and technology; social studies, including history and geography; art, music, or another discipline designed to stimulate creativity and lateral thinking; personal and household finance; and commercially-viable foreign languages. Good conduct also should be taught, shaped by in-school discipline, if necessary. Students arrested for violent crimes or for the possession of drugs or weapons immediately should be removed from the traditional school setting and enrolled in special military-style academies for the duration of their primary education. It’s time to start rewarding students who exercise good conduct and punishing those who don’t; students who exercise good conduct should be given the opportunity to learn in an environment free of fear. Dropping out from high school also must be discouraged. This can be accomplished by denying high-school drop-outs welfare and other government benefits, including the right to drive a car. Those who complete high school and decide not to go on to college, should be required to enroll in a national apprentice program for two to four years of schooling together with on-the-job training sponsored by local corporations. Under such a program, graduates would receive a technical certificate along with a school guarantee for technical competency. Finally, shift power from the administrators and unions to the parents and local corporations. To compete in a global economy, we must repeat the successes of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia throughout the United States. Additionally, we must repeat the successes of Jaime Escalante, an immigrant math teacher in a tough, inner-city high school in Los Angeles and subject of the hit movie Stand and Deliver, throughout the United States.

www.christophermengland.com

 

How many things do you know about hacking? Well, I bet that not so many. You can now discover everything you wanted thanks to the Appin Information Security and Ethical Hacking. Download software presented and you will come upon hacking videos and tools. You will be offered all the experience on how to protect your system from hackers, taking delight in the presentations and tutorials offered. They present valuable lessons on information security and existing threats. The tools and videos offered are also interesting and you even have hacking games to test your abilities.

There are various types of software presented online. The WMA/WMV/MP3 converter is perhaps one of the most popular choices. The software is used to convert more files simultaneously, having a user-friendly interface and being quite easy to use. And as the Internet is a source for all sorts of software and programs, then we might as well mention the 3D animated screensavers. Imagine your desktop becoming animated and a dragonfly moving all over it. This type of freeware products is enjoyed by children and adults alike, offering the best picture quality and 3D elements to increase its beauty. Having a built-in desktop manager, it’s quite to use and extremely efficient.

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Are you a fan of Kazaa downloaden? Then perhaps you might be interested in downloading Kazaa manager. This software is freeware, being commonly by those who use Kazaa to download all sorts of files. You can delete, rename, move and copy any of these files thanks to Kazaa manager. There is a file catalog and a file list generator that you can use. It takes just two minutes to install and configure the program, just like many other programs presented online!

Due the advent of technology, the Internet has become our number one source of information. We enter online each and every day in search of box office movies and show our interest for the latest software presented by specialized companies. The Web is also perfect to download muziek and other products. It’s quite obvious that we have come to rely on this technology and even more evident why.

Contact:

Ms. Doanh Nguyen: Sales

Email: sales@blueball.com.vn

Sales Representative

International Marketing Department

Blue Ball Co. Ltd.

www.blueballgroup.com

Thailand

252/94 Muang Thai – Phatra Complex

Tower 2, 17th floor, Ratchadapisek Rd.

Huay Kwang, Bangkok, Thailand
Tel: +66 2 6932940

Fax: +66 2 6932941

Vietnam

Quang Trung Software City
Ground Floor, Anna Building
District 12, Ho Chi Minh City
Tel: +84 8 4371032
Fax: +84 8 4371033