India undisputed leader in offshore services: Gartner

Mumbai, Dec 12 (UNI) India remains the undisputed leader in offshore services, according to the findings of a research agency Gartner.

But, interestingly, countries such as China, Russia and Brazil are providing credible alternatives, said the study, which was released here today.

In terms of its potential scale, China fared poorly for language skills. China, India and Singapore all demonstrated strong government support for the promotion of their country as an offshore services location.

The study predicts in 2008, offshore spending in Europe will grow by 60 per cent, while 40 per cent in the US.

It pointed out that the political and economic environment remains a concern for many companies while moving work to offshore locations. In this area, countries such as Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam all performed weakly.

On the other hand, countries like Australia, New Zealand and Singapore all led the rating not only in the higher-cost locations category, but also for cultural compatibility, global and legal maturity, and data and intellectual property security and privacy, proving that the link between lower risk and higher cost holds true.

''The aim of the study was not to rank each country, as every organisation will have a different view of which factors are the most important for their needs, but rather help sourcing managers determine which locations are right for their organisations,'' said Ian Marriott, research vice-president at Gartner.

Gartner used ten criteria that it determined important for organisations to consider when looking at a potential location for offshore or near shore IT or business process services. They were language, government support, labour pool, infrastructure, educational system, cost, political and economic environment, cultural compatibility, global and legal maturity, and data and intellectual property security and privacy.

Gartner's top 30 locations for offshore services, by region, were Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Uruguay, Australia, China, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Northern Ireland, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey and Ukraine.

''While these 30 countries demonstrated their suitability to develop or enhance their offshore service credentials, another 35 countries were also considered,'' added Mr Marriott.

These countries have exhibited initial activities to establish an environment that would be considered attractive for companies considering their own investments in a lower-cost country, or have external service providers located there that are beginning to sell services beyond their domestic market. However, they failed to make it into the top 30, he added.

UNI