What is Outsourcing

Outsourcing, in literal terms, means sourcing from outside. The term is increasingly used to refer to sub-contracting of a set of functions or processes by one firm to another, or to a group of individuals. The latter organisation is often in another physical location, or another country altogether.
Outsourcing is being pursued as an active business strategy in the current economic scenario, since it enables a firm to focus on core-competency areas. It also frees the firm from resource and labour intensive functions, which are now performed by trained personnel at much lower costs.
The processes or activities that are being outsourced could range from customer service and telemarketing, to IT management, software development, market research and even financial portfolio management.
Most of the outsourcing firms are based in the USA, some in the UK or Australia and fewer still in Europe, while most of the outsourced workforce is Asian. There have been loud protests against outsourcing in the USA, and more recently in Australia, since some of the professionals might be dislocated; when processes are shifted, jobs are naturally shifted too. However, this kind of dislocation is mostly temporary and there are very few highly-skilled professionals who are actually losing jobs because of outsourcing. - Author Annie Zaidi.