As outsourcing to India becomes more expensive, North American companies are more inclined to 'nearsource', keeping work in the Western Hemisphere, where they can operate in a closer time zone.
In years past a company could save 40 to 50 per cent by hiring Indian firms to handle IT and other services, says Atul Vashistha, chairman at neoIT, a management consulting firm.
Should the US dollar continue its descent, that differential would shrink to 10 to 20 per cent, he estimates. "If you're only going to have a 20 per cent savings, clients start to think about time zone," Vashistha says.
Argentina's time zone advantage
Kimberly-Clark had time zone in mind when it hired Cognizant Technology Solutions in Buenos Aires to handle tech support for its SAP software applications.
Image: Telemarketers working at an international outsourcing call center in Nairobi. No longer content to be known solely for wildlife safaris and savory coffee, Kenyan officials have begun marketing the east African nation as destination for companies looking to outsource labour | Photograph: Tony Karumba/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: Top 10 greensourcers
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