Among companies already committed to India; a look at Patni's numbers
by Tamina Vahidy, Line56
Thursday, March 02, 2006
The value of this survey is limited by its sample space, but it is still worth noting the enthusiasm of existing customers of India, Inc. to pass more business to that geography
Not remarkably, 61 percent of respondents said that their leading expectation from an outsourcing relationship was "better quality resources and enhanced services at a lower cost."While respondents want cost savings, they choose vendors based more on cultural fit (the leading factor to 24 percent of respondents) and quality of service (also 24 percent) than on cost (14 percent). One way to think about this result is that, since there is no shortage of lower-cost Indian vendors, cost as a closing factor is commoditized and companies are freed up to seek vendors based on other desiderata.
This is a newer phenomenon, as last year's Patni survey found only 10 percent of respondents putting cultural fit in first place.
Given what is at stake, it was disturbing to find that 34 percent of respondents admitted to having no formal change management process for outsourcing. Meanwhile, 41 percent have an in-house team, 12 percent go through their service vendor, and 12 percent use outside consultancies.
These numbers indicate that companies believe that outsourcing is easily accomplished and managed. That's a dangerous attitude to take given the managerial and process complexity of outsourcing, and it should be interesting to see if future Patni surveys show customers moving towards more outside help.
