Internet Technology (IT) companies from advanced countries are increasingly outsourcing their work to developing countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The main motive behind this outsourcing of IT work is to reduce the costs to the company. An estimated 50% can be reduced by outsourcing IT jobs to offshore countries with lower economies.
Most companies that undertake outsourced work, such as BPOs (Business Process Outsourcing), can handle many aspects of IT works. These aspects may range from software developing and testing, help desk support and data entry and processing. Offshore IT companies usually hire proficient professionals to develop software such as .NET, Java/J2EE, wireless/mobile application developments, database solutions and smartcard solutions among others. These professionals may be permanent employees of the offshore BPO, or they may be hired from time to time on a contractual basis.
Outsourcing IT to other countries does not always mean huge projects outsourced by big companies. Even individual work is sometimes outsourced. India is indisputably the hub of outsourced IT work -- mostly from America. In Bangalore, India alone, there are 110,000 employees who perform jobs like building software, designing chips, reading MRIs, running computer systems, etc. These people are IT professionals who may work at a rate of less than $7 an hour. This certainly saves the American company a lot of money; while, at the same time, adds fuel to the foreign economy.
Offshore IT companies need to be dynamic. Outsourcing companies prefer their offshore counterparts to keep in tune with rapidly the ever-changing information technology. Hence, companies that undertake IT outsourced jobs continually upgrade their employees sending them for training in the country of the parent company.
