IT Support: Do all the companies outsource?
Many companies in the United Kingdom are now outsourcing parts of their businesses to foreign countries. The cost of doing business in the United Kindgom has risen while the cost of doing business in a foreign country has dropped. It is no secret but outsourcing has its benefits for many large corporations.
For most companies the choice to outsource is simple. If a business or corporation decides to outsource jobs to a foreign country they more than likely will not have to pay for the workers medical insurance and other benefits. These sorts of things are usually the norm for workers in the United States.
Such benefits are not required in a country such as India or Mexico. In addition, the (foreign) workers also are willing to work longer hours for little pay. Most workers in countries outside of the United Kindgom are simply happy to have a job to do so they can support their families. Most workers will move to where the jobs are as there are not that many to choose from. If a British person wants to work longer hours then they will require that they get paid overtime pay which is generally time and a half pay.
Thousands if not millions of jobs have been lost when they are transferred from the United Kingdom to other countries. Many companies will outsource their IT department in particular to countries like India where a call center job is one of the most highly regarded jobs that one can have. Corporations will train the IT representatives to speak English more fluently so that they are more believable to the callers. In addition, the companies will train the representatives to speak with less of an Indian accent and they will even go so far as to reward those who do the best at speaking English fluently.
While outsourcing might seem like an ideal choice for those companies that want to save money. In fact, is 2008 a study was done on outsourcing and almost fifty percent of UK companies outsourced to forign countries. Major companies in the United Kingdom are known to have outsourced to India. These high ranking corporations are TMobile, TransUnion and many others. While the average IT professional in the United Kingdom makes around eight hundred pounds a week it only costs around three hundred pounds a week for an Indian professional. It is imperative that these companies consider all of the positive things that they might be losing by outsourcing. When one outsources to another country they are going to lose the stability that they once might have had when their business was all on one continent. It can make customers and other employees frustrated when they are trying to get someone who does not speak English as their first language to understand a problem they are trying to explain.
Phil Morris, MD of EquaTerra for Europe, predicted growth in UK outsourcing of IT and business processes would continue for at least a decade as increasing numbers of companies are won over by low costs and high quality of service.But offshoring IT is not costing British workers, as the UK does not have enough trained workers to fulfill demand. India offers all of the economic advantages that companies are looking for.
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