'Cost and scale still drive outsourcing globally'

In an interview with Pragati
Simlote of CyberMedia News, he spoke on the attitudes towards outsourcing.
Excerpts:

What are the different attitudes towards outsourcing?

European customers will take a lot of time in first understanding who you
are, understanding your culture, and you as a person. It could be a 12-month
cycle before they engage with you. But once they have engaged you and assuming
you are doing a reasonable job, they will not change. In Japan, the
decision-making process is even more protracted. Multiple decision-making
processes exist, which means that the whole sales cycle tends to be fairly
large, but the size of the deals tend to be smaller. Politically, outsourcing in
US is not openly accepted. The bureaucracy out there is very positive, and the
corporations very capitalistic. They need to embrace any strategy that helps
them remain competitive. Australia is interesting, between the European and
American mindsets. Once they work with you, they stay with you for the long
haul.

Is cost still the driving factor?

Avinash Singh

Value is a prerequisite. You need to be able to demonstrate value, but cost
is the main driver. Right now, we see most customers still looking at cost and
fast time to market. Some of the companies that embraced the low-cost model are
now thinking on how to leverage additional value. Companies like GE, Intel, and
Microsoft are now looking to outsource processes that are higher on the value
chain, but that trend, to my mind, is still very minor. This trend will increase
rapidly and organizations like ours are evolving strategies to address that
demand. We are looking to find people more from a value perspective, for
example, finding a knowledge worker rather than just a programmer. But, as high
as 80% of the business is a combination of cost and scale.