India has become one of the preferred destinations of outsourcing projects, services and operations mainly from IT (Information Technology) and ITES (Information Technology Enabled Services) domain in multiple industries like healthcare, advertising and media, aviation, travel, etc. The country has a young, talented and relatively cheap workforce that produces the enviable combination of quality and profitability. However, outsourcing is not always loaded with advantages, but it also has some disadvantages.
Advantages of outsourcing to India
Perfect quality: Indian firms practice strict quality measures, on a par with global standards, so projects and services have no quality compromises.
Less cost: The cost of resources in India is too less compared to developed economies. This helps in significantly reducing costs for companies that decide to outsource to India.
Familiarity with global languages: Most of the resources are well versed in spoken and written English. This helps in clear communication which is essential for the successful management and completion of projects.
Focus on key business areas: The outsourcing of other processes such as customer service, back-end, etc. can help control focus spread. In this way, companies and organizations can focus on key competency areas.
Disadvantages of Outsourcing to India
Every coin has two sides and outsourcing to India also has some sticking points, which vindicates the notion.
Risk exposure: Although it rarely happens, if the project is dropped midway, there is very little a company can do other than take legal action. The risk becomes higher in the case of the assembly line process where the next step depends on the previous step that has been outsourced.
Scope and budget improvement: If not everything has been clearly mentioned, then there is a chance that the project will expand its scope. This can result in painful delays and increased costs.
Communication problems: Although most of the resources are English experts, there may still be some problems caused by misunderstandings.
Reduction in Employment: This is an important issue that has seen a lot of opposition in outsourcing. If the projects are subcontracted, it means that they have been carried out at the expense of the resources of the country of origin.
However, the huge benefits of outsourcing to India outweigh the drawbacks, which are the reasons why outsourcing has always been on an upward trend.