Lobbying for offshoring

The forthright remarks by Thomas Donohue, president of the US Chamber of Commerce, on the controversy over offshoring should go a long way in allaying apprehensions and set the stage for an orderly growth of the BPO business in countries like India.

To paraphrase an old aphorism, what's good for the US business is good for the US. It follows that the best way to get something accepted by US policymakers and eventually the public, is to get American businessmen to root for it.

The problem with offshoring so far was that those whose jobs were affected by it were able to get themselves heard by the politicians and the media, while the companies going in for it, which should have been publicly supporting the practice, were hiding behind the bushes.

Because of election year sensitivities in the US, some prominent Indian software companies have been left to making one-line announcements of deals with even more prominent US companies and information like the number of jobs likely to be created in India and even the extent of office space being acquired have become taboo.

In this context, Mr Donohue has done everyone a service by declaring forthrightly that offshoring is good for US business and ultimately the US public and it is the lobbying spearheaded by the chamber which has prevented as many as 70 proposed pieces of legislation from doing any serious damage.

As things stand, the only area that can get affected by any kind of restriction on offshoring is US government work and when the ordinary citizen realises that things like administration of his healthcare benefits is likely to improve with offshoring, then even those few restrictions will go.

The political uproar in the US and parts of the developed world against offshoring has had one salutary effect, leading to its greater acceptance.

Both sides, the offshorer and the host, are now examining and preparing for deals much more carefully, thus ensuring that rush jobs that fail down the line and give the idea a bad name are avoided.

If there was one thing wrong with offshoring, it was the desire by slow coaches in the developed world to jump on to the offshoring bandwagon and expand quickly to make up for lost time.

A few well publicised setbacks have thankfully driven home the point that good preparation and careful transitioning are central to success.

It is significant that even as the decibel level against offshoring has risen in the last few months, newer and bigger deals have emerged unabated, producing an over 50 per cent annual growth in the BPO business in countries like India.

There is indeed an inexorability about offshoring. It is a business idea whose time has come and nothing in the world can hold it back so long as companies are allowed to operate in an increasingly globalised world.

There is no doubt that eventually outsourcing and offshoring will win. The current need is to prevent hiccups and temporary setbacks from disturbing what should be a smooth process.