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YellowStone Business Solutions |
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Business Opportunities |
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The imports from Asia to the US have been steadily rising in the past decade. Imports from China to the US were a whopping $102B and $100B for the years 2001 and 2000 respectively. The United States currently takes in over 42% of China's total worldwide exports.
The United States is also India's, Singapore’s and Malaysia’s largest trading partner and premier export destination. Imports from India were over $9B and $10B for the years 2001 and 2000 respectively. During the year 2000, India’s exports to USA increased by 17.65% in dollar terms, compared to 1999.
India’s software exports to the US have grown by over 40% year over year in the past decade. India currently develops software for more than half of the Fortune 500 companies. |
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The US is the Premier Export Destination for most Outsourced Services in the World
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The Aberdeen Group in their Analysts Report titled: 2002 Spending Priorities and Trends state that outsourcing of all forms is poised to command a greater portion of corporate IT budgets as business and IT managers look to reduce costs, and service providers offer improved efficiencies and better service.
The 2000 Outsourcing Index, a report on outsourcing trends published by the Outsourcing Institute and Dun & Bradstreet predicted that BPO would increase by a higher percentage when compared to IT outsourcing.
The global BPO market is assumed to be over $100B for the year 2003 alone! |
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Opportunities for outsourced services abound, especially with Wall Street’s continued stress on better financial reporting for US companies. Now that the restructuring efforts have been mostly completed, many industry analysts are speculating that US companies are ripe for outsourcing more of their non-critical functions.
In a good economy, the argument had been that outsourcing gives companies access to best practices and enhances their competitive edge. In a slow economy, the argument for outsourcing would be lower costs – something which Asian companies have touted all along and something which they are well known for. |
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However, in spite of the cheerful news and predictions about the outsourcing market, one must realize that only about 5% of the BPO work is currently being outsourced to offshore facilities. Other than multinational ‘captive’ BPO subsidiaries, the companies that are getting portions of the 5% pie include Asian companies that have an established marketing and sales presence in the US.
According to many, the BPO industry could well be following in the footsteps of the Software industry. It took time for US companies to feel comfortable with outsourcing their software work offshore. But when the time came for offshore outsourcing, most of the work went to companies that had already invested extensively in sales and marketing efforts in the US.
To make use of the BPO-related Opportunities, Asian companies must demonstrate their commitment to US clients now—by making themselves accessible in the US.
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Without a US presence, mid-size companies would continue to lose ground to the larger outsourcing houses of Asia. |
