Reverse Offshoring June 2008 Trend or Strategy As the offshore outsourcing industry continues to mature, a question becomes increasingly relevant, Are we seeing a trend of geographical reversal in the technology-based services industry, like other technology-oriented businesses have witnessed in the past? Indian firms who succeeded in offshoring are now hiring employees, launching operations and establishing base in their clients own backyards. This paper tries to understand the motive of these firms and this phenomenon. This publication contains copyrighted material. Please do not re-use or reprint anything within this document without written consent from Tholons, Inc.
Reverse Offshoring may be defined as the condition wherein companies established within service provider nations (India, Philippines, China etc.) hiring professionals in the client nations (US, UK, Japan etc.) for delivery of work that had been initially offshored to them from the client nations. This paper aims to understand if the case of hiring by companies in the client nations is the onset of an industry-wide trend or more of a strategic decision on the part of the individual companies. Prelude: Geographical Reversal of technological innovation Technology Innovation Learn form Innovation Master and Improve Technology Technology sold to the Innovating Geography Economies of Scale & Cost Reduction Illustration 1: Geographical Reversal Technologies are innovated, developed, re-invented, reach economies of scale and then go back to their own inventors. This also relates to the product life cycle of the innovation as the technology is accepted and grows so does the improvements. With those improvements demand increases while price tends to lower due to economies of scale. This is a distinct trend applicable to most technological innovations. Case 1: Automotive Sector (Product) Karl Benz is generally acknowledged as the inventor of the gas-powered automobile. In 1879 Benz was granted a patent for his first engine, designed in 1878 these cars were produced in a slow tedious process and production output was meager at best. In the early 1900s, US manufacturers General Motors, Ford and Chrysler started manufacturing automobiles in quantity. The manufacturing process later evolved with Toyota further improving the assembly line method. Toyota now sells cars in Germany and the US where the initial phase of the automobile revolution took place. Hence, as automobile innovation went from the growth to the maturity phase there was a shift in the geographical operations as innovation reached economies of scale and went through several developmental iterations. 2008 Tholons 2 of 12
Case 2: Medical Tourism (Service) While Asia is known to have developed competencies in medical practices far back in history, developed western nations began refining the practice. People have traveled in search of better medical facilities and treatment ever since. This demand for better medical practice in countries like India spurred a new generation of doctors who started working in the US and UK in the 1970s. As the reputation of the doctors from India improved and these ex-pats returned to their home country, the facilities and quality of medical treatment improved until they reached the same/better level as that of the developed nations. Further, due to prevailing cost differentials, people in developed nations now find traveling to India more economical compared to getting treated in their home country. This has given rise to Medical Tourism, a trend that has always been there but now with the directional flow reversed. Reverse Offshoring: Trend or Strategy The technology services sector was taken by a storm with the introduction of offshored outsourcing. IT/ITeS based businesses suddenly realized that this phenomenon enabled them to not only grow their top lines but also enable them to drastically improve bottom lines. Offshoring earned US$ 70-76 billion globally and grew rapidly at the rate of 30% in 2007 from the previous year. 1 To understand the reversal of offshoring, offshoring must be understood as a distinct phenomenon and it is important to re-state its significance in the context on this paper. Every trend has its own drivers; offshored outsourcing has key drivers which have provided it success over the years. They can be stated as the following: Cost Arbitrage It is often assumed that countries like India, Philippines, and China etc. are providing cheap labor for the industry. However, the underlying truth may not be so evident. The reason these nations can offer their services at such low comparative costs is simple the difference between price and cost. Price (Purchase Price Parity) differs in each country, which means that a person can buy the same basket of goods/services for lower price in the service provider nations. This enables the employees to have the same standard of living (i.e. from client nations) at a much lower comparative cost (Salary Cost). Labor Pool The second most pertinent fact that gave the impetus to offshored outsourcing was a shortage of labor pool in the client nations. However, since the operations needed to be scaled rapidly and economically the offshore labor pool which was untapped was a ready answer. Focus on Core-Activities A department store would rather concentrate on selling than process customer service tasks, software development for their stores and other such non-core activities. Offshoring has helped clients focus on their core-activities by offloading non-core activities to offshore providers. 1 Source: FY 07 Estimate; NASSCOM Strategic Review 2008 2008 Tholons 3 of 12
Globalize Operations Client firms set-up base in service provider nations and eventually expand their operations in those domestic markets. This enabled them to enhance their brand value in the service provider nations and increase global presence. Expansion to multiple countries also helps manage operational risks - if the economy of a country is not performing upto the mark presence in other countries may help mitigate or isolate local risks for example. Reasons for Reverse Offshoring For any condition to redirect the current direction of offshored outsourcing the reasons for offshoring would have to be nullified. This comparison of the reasons for offshoring shall give a better understanding about this shift. Cost Arbitrage Popular opinion cannot make us myopic about the facts. And the fact is that even after the high attrition (ranging from 50% in R&D and Research to upto 100% in voice based BPO), wage inflation (10% in low end BPO to 30% in middle/top level management) and rise in the overall cost of operations (15% in Tier-2 emerging cities to 30% in Tier-1 top outsourcing destinations) in the service provider nations there still exists 30% to 50% difference in the IT/ITeS Sector in terms of the cost arbitrage. 2 This arbitrage is not going to diminish in the near future hence cost does not drive the reverse offshoring trend. Labor Pool While client nations continuously face the problem of scalability of operations because of labor pool shortage the service provider nation on the contrary has a ready supply of labor. The quality of education is improving and the labor force is becoming more prepared to join the offshore brigade. Hence, availability of labor force is also not going to cause this geographical shift of operations. Focus on Core-Activities The core-competency for a business is not going to change either, outsourcing is here to stay and offshoring enables businesses to not just concentrate on their core-activities but also assures quality and assurance from the fact that the service provider nations now have considerable experience of successful delivery of services to the client nations. Globalize Operations Economies are by nature, volatile and dynamic, geographical expansion has always been an integral part of business operations. Offshoring has aided that objective and will continue to do so as more firms expand to the new, emerging and untapped markets in the service provider nations. The reasons for offshoring hence still stand, which means that reverse offshoring may not be an industry wide trend. However, there are other reasons supporting this recent tendency as well. 2 Source: Tholons Estimates 2008 Tholons 4 of 12
Delivery from Offshore Government/Visa Regulations As the operations of the service provider nation s corporations expand. Client delivery has become a real issue - as the restrictions on visa and work permit come into play in client nations. Post-9/11 US has made the H- 1B and L1 visa regulations more stringent for example, while Indian IT companies are on the verge of hitting capacity with the US H-1B guest-worker visa program. Wipro alone hired 4,002 people on H-1Bs in 2006 the second highest of any company, trailing only Indian rival Infosys' 4,908. This creates a challenge for the service providers. Hence, hiring in the client location starts to make more sense. The Top H-1B Employers of 2006 Rank Company No. of Visas 1 INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES LIMITED 4908 2 WIPRO LIMITED 4002 3 MICROSOFT CORPORATION 3117 4 TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LIMITED 3046 5 SATYAM COMPUTER SERVICES LTD 2880 6 COGNIZANT TECH SOLUTIONS U S CORP 2226 7 PATNI COMPUTER SYSTEMS INC 1391 8 IBM CORPORATION 1130 9 ORACLE USA INC 1022 10 LARSEN & TOUBRO INFOTECH LIMITED 947 Intellectual Property and Confidentiality Illustration 2: Top H-1B Employers There has always been a worry for IP protection and confidentiality as the client and service provider are separated by geographical, and at times, cultural boundaries. Data center and operations being performed in the client location broadens the scope for service providers and expands the markets they operate in. This often strengthens the case for hiring by service providers within the client nations as this instills a greater feeling of security as their IP is not going offshore and the confidential data centers are kept in-house. Expansion in the Client Nations Large corporations in the service provider nations are the outcome of the offshored outsourcing trend, these firms are now looking to expand operations. This gives them access to the client s domestic market and expands reach deep into the client nation. This is another strong case for hiring in the client nation. Hence, after understanding the drivers towards this phenomenon, we take the factors that can be a reason behind the reverse offshoring trend: 1. Cost: Lowering Cost Arbitrage (Rise in salary and cost of doing business) 2. Scalability: Inadequate Talented Labor Pool (Unable to fulfill demand) 3. Government Regulations: Offshore Delivery (Restrictions on Visas) 4. Risk/Strategy: Expansion/Risk Mitigation Strategy (Company specific strategic decision) 5. Perception: Intellectual Property (Hindrance to offshore) 2008 Tholons 5 of 12
Government Regulations Scalability Risk / Strategy Cost Reasons Perception Reverse Offshoring Source: Tholons Reverse Offshoring: Cases & Citations This geographic reversal can be observed in multiple technology-based industries. This paper will look to find if the IT/ITeS Industry is also heading towards reversal. Reversal of offshoring for the IT/ITeS Industry can happen in three primary ways: 1. Organic: Set-up base in the client nation and employing local population 2. Direct Hire:Hire people in client nations to work for and in service provider nations 3. Inorganic: Acquire firms in client nations and run operations Analysis of each of these ways of reversal with cases and citations follows: 2008 Tholons 6 of 12
Organic: Hiring in the West by the East India is the premier location for offshore outsourcing of IT/ITeS jobs; however, many of the Indian MNCs have begun hiring in the client nations (US, UK, Japan etc.). Most of these service providers have a base in the client nations whether in the form of a sales office or client communication center. Some of the top names with offices in the client nations are Tata Consultancy Services (IT & BPO), Wipro (IT & BPO), Infosys Technologies (IT & BPO), HCL Technologies (IT & BPO), Satyam Computer Services (IT & BPO), Cognizant Technology Solutions, Patni Computers, MphasiS (IT & BPO), WNS Global Service, Exl Services, FirstSource, 24/7 Customer, HTMT, Transworks etc. Illustration 3: Onsite Locations for major Service Providers Filipino firms like SPi and Pointwest Technologies also maintain offices in the client nations. PeopleSupport is a firm that was established in the US; however, their operations have now shifted to their multiple locations in the Philippines, and they continue to maintain their US office. Most of these firms just have sales offices in the client nations with delivery centers almost exclusively being at offshore sites. Providers who recruit a larger number of resources in the client nations are typically the more established (larger) service providers with an in-country delivery center. The best example is Tata Consultancy Services. TCS recently opened a 1,000 employee strong development center in Cincinnati, Ohio and won a lot of American hearts. Presently, TCS employs more than 3,000 American nationals operating inside or outside of the USA. Wipro, the other big name in offshoring also has more than 8,000 non-indian employees, out of which 1,142 (14%) are British, 734 (9%) are Americans and 82 (1%) are Japanese. Wipro does not have their own set-up in the client nations but hires to maintain their client nation presence, operations, client delivery and sales. Moreover, Wipro plans to set up a 1,000 strong operation in Atlanta, and three development centers in Raleigh, North Carolina; Austin, Texas; and Richmond, Virginia are on the drawing board. Infosys also has more than 5% non-indian employees. Infosys still believes in sending Indians to the client nations on a per-case/need basis and have not set-up base or hired aggressively like others. They topped the list of organizations availing the H-1B guest-worker visa program with the number of H-1B visas reaching close to the 5,000 mark. 2008 Tholons 7 of 12
Direct Hiring: Reverse Braindrain Another form of hiring in the client nations by service provider nation firms is direct hiring. A Londonbased firm for example, which used to help businesses set up call centers in India, now focuses on recruiting young people from Britain to work in India. Workers earn 11,000 to 30,000 rupees a month - about 150 to 400, less than a quarter of the average salary in the UK. However, employees often get a far better package than they would if they were working in the UK and their accommodations and flights are paid for. Further, the cost of living is seven times lower than in Britain, which means their value of lifestyle is much higher. The firm has so far recruited 15 people, with another 10 in the process of signing one-year contracts. According to another survey by Evalueserve, India faces a shortage of up to 120,000 call center workers with European language skills over the next five years. Does this mean that there is a shift in the availability of talent pool in client nations and the employable workforce is rising to the prospects of offshoring, since they (although a small number) are now willing to utilize opportunities outside of their country in search of work? This is another subphenomenon which has been talked about widely as Reverse Braindrain. Braindrain was a huge concern for the developing nations in the 1990s when the western nations were pulling away talented individuals out of the domestic workforce. However, due to the recent surge in career opportunities in the developing nations (due to offshore outsourcing), the workforce of the developed nations is now being hired by the service provider nations. It remains to be seen in the future if Reverse Braindrain increases in scale, since with the small numbers presently it cannot be termed a trend. Inorganic: Acquisition in client nation However, setting-up base is not the only way of hiring in the client nations, in fact remotely so. As the IT/ITeS Sector heads towards the shake-out phase in the Industry Life Cycle, where only the strong may survive and smaller outfits are gobbled up through acquisitions. The number of acquisitions in the client nations by the firms in the service provider nations indicates the reverse flow of operations. The table below gives a snapshot of inorganic expansion by firms in service provider nations. Acquired Acquiree Location Operational Domain Wipro Technologies Infocrossing US IT Infrastructure Management WNS Global Services Call 24/7 UK Accident claims management Trinity Partners US BPO and IT business solutions to financial institutions WNS Assistance FLOvate Technologies UK Mortgage systems platform Quatrro BPO RSM McGladrey Financial Process Outsourcing US Accounting Services 3i Infotech J&B Software US BFSI Solutions 2008 Tholons 8 of 12
Patni Computer Systems Taratec Development Corp US Life Sciences Services SPi Springfield Service Corp US RCM Quintegra Solutions ValleyUS US ERP, Client-Server, Legacy, CRM, and e-commerce Zensar Technologies ThoughtDigital LLC US Consulting and Solutions Ayala Corporation (Integreon) Satyam Computer CBF Group US LPO Bridge Strategy Group US Management Consulting Caterpillar (Market Research & Customer Analytics) US Analytics HCL Technologies Capital Stream US BFSI Solutions FirstSource BPM US Healthcare Claims Processing MedAssist Holdings Inc. RCM Rolta India Broech Corporation US ERP, Database & business Intelligence solutions PeopleSupport RapidText Inc. The Transcription Company US Transcription and captioning services Table 1: Acquisition in Client Nations by Service Provider Nations firms Source: Tholons The list of recent acquisitions shows that there are plenty of corporations doing inorganic expansion leading to reversal. However, most of them are expanding their service lines or due to risk mitigation strategies. The fact also remains that some well known service providers have not expanded in the client nations or acquired. One of India s leading service providers in fact, believes that individual countries simply cannot keep offshoring. A threshold is bound to be reached when availability of jobs in their own country will rise and cost would come down due to lack of demand. Thus, establishing operations in client nations, which creates visibility and also helps them solve visa regulatory issues and create a rapport with the client government, who are constantly asked uncomfortable questions about jobs being offshored from their country. Hence, most of the acquisitions are more strategic in nature and company specific, which negates the hypothesis that these are due to the reverse offshoring trend. 2008 Tholons 9 of 12
Five Factors of Reverse Offshoring Analysis pertinent to Reverse Offshoring will give us an idea on the impact the five factors of offshoring are having on this phenomenon. 1. Cost: Lowering Cost Arbitrage Presently, cost differential between the client nations and service provider nations is still high and although the cost is increasing it is not a strong enough reason for geographical reversal. Tholons gives cost a 1 out of 5 as a reason for reverse offshoring; however, it will become a stronger reason in the future as the differential comes down further. 2. Scalability: Inadequate Talented Labor Pool Unable to fulfill demand of talent pool would be a serious problem in the future. Currently however, there are ways of working around this and the service provider nations are churning out more graduates who are better prepared and available for hiring. Increasing attrition and higher pay are subsets of the same issue, but on the present scenario basis Tholons give it a score of 2 out of 5 as a reason for reversal, but having an increasing nature. 3. Government Regulations: Offshore Delivery, Visa Regulations The current US law for example, limits the number of foreign nationals who may be issued a visa or otherwise provided H-1B status in the US to 65,000. 10 Indian firms alone account for more than 20,000 H-1B visas, which is nearly 1/3 rd of the all H1-B visas issued in 2006. Laws in UK are lesser stringent but restrictions persist in every client nation. Corporations in India like Infosys utilize only about 50-60% of the visa approvals they already possess but the concerns over these restrictions is increasing. Tholons scores 3 out of 5 as one of the factors driving reverse offshoring. 4. Risk/Strategy: Expansion/Risk Mitigation Strategy As we have seen with both organic and inorganic expansions by organizations are due to company specific strategic decision, it becomes one of the most important factors effecting reversal. However, since it is more company specific, it cannot drive an industry wide trend. So Tholons gives company specific strategy a 5 out of 5 as a reason for the reversal since most cases of reversal are due to this factor. This strategy is being adopted increasingly making it another rising factor. 5. Perception: Intellectual Property Clients always have been apprehensive towards offshoring their intellectual property and so service providers who handle data and IP within the client nations are still preferred over companies who have their data centers offshore. This hindrance has come down over the years as the offshoring process and model has progressed, yet it remains an important factor for firms in service provider nations to go to client nations to establish base since it helps them tap into a larger client base who do not want their IP to go offshore. Tholons gives this perception of the clients making service providers towards reversal a 4 out of 5; however, this is the only factor which is decreasing. Companies are becoming more comfortable offshoring their IP and appreciate the high level of confidentiality provided by the service provider nations. 2008 Tholons 10 of 12
Conclusion Even after multiple examples and attempts at reasoning no conclusive evidence of reversal of offshoring as an industry-wide phenomenon can be ascertained. However, since the factors that may in the future leads to a trend are evident and stand at a delicate balance. Chart 1: Five factors for Reverse Offshoring Source: Tholons Comparing the five forces as reasons that would justify reverse offshoring; cost, scalability, government regulations and risk mitigation/strategic decisions by organizations are rising factors which would give impetus to the reversal of offshoring; however, as clients become more open to offshoring perception as a hindrance to offshore IP related processes reduce considerably hence, reducing the reason to offshore. While most firms presently hiring in the client nations are doing it for risk mitigation or expansion as a more strategic decision rather than a trend. Hence, the key take away from this paper is that there is no visible trend of reverse offshoring in the Global IT/ITeS arena. However, the factors that may lead to reversal exist and cases are pertinent to the phenomenon. For reversal of offshoring to onset as an Industry-wide trend it would need more than a few cases and more conclusive reasons other than choices by a handful organizations looking for expansion or strategic gains. Further research would provide us with possible timelines for these forces to become more pertinent towards making this reversal possible. As of now Reverse Offshoring remains a term that is mostly speculative and its evolution into an industry-wide trend is still largely dependent on numerous factors such as the dynamic factors of cost, scalability, government regulations, and risk and perception. 2008 Tholons 11 of 12
About Tholons Tholons is a Services Globalization and Investment Advisory firm that combines "Best of Breed" consulting experience with deep execution expertise and investment insights to deliver truly effective services to its clients. Tholons offers a detailed understanding of business processes and combines it with practical hands-on expertise in executing the strategy. Tholons draws upon the considerable experience of a handpicked team, which has successfully formulated and executed globalization strategies to unlock value for Global Fortune 1000 companies. Service providers leverage Tholons expertise to optimize their global delivery model. Tholons advisors also engage with government bodies to build compelling strategies for making countries attractive destination for outsourcing. Author: Ankita Vashistha Editor: Manuel Ravago Research Director For more details about Tholons' Services Globalization and Investment Advisory capabilities, please visit our website at: www.tholons.com You may also contact: Venetia Sangeetha Director, Marketing and Public Relations venetia@tholons.com US: +1-646-290-9320 THOLONS Global Offices North America Office 3130 Fairview Park Drive, Suite 500 Falls Church, VA 22042, USA Phone: +1-646-290-9320 Fax: +1-646-349-3546 Europe Office 2 Crawfurd Farm, Ray Mill Road East Maidenhead, SL6 8SU Berkshire, UK Phone: +44-1628-566140 Asia Office India 2/10, 2nd Floor, 80 Ft Road RMV Extension Stage II Bangalore 560 094, India Phone: +91-80-23519760 Philippines 46th Floor, Yuchengco Tower RCBC Plaza, 6819 Ayala Makati City 1200, Philippines Phone: +632-894-9493 2008 Tholons 12 of 12