Thirty-six percent of financial executives say their companies' use offshore outsourcing, according to a CFO magazine survey. That's twice as many as in 2004. Among companies with annual revenues of more than $1bn, the number of offshorers rises to 49 percent. Meanwhile, research firm Gartner estimated the size of the market for offshore IT and business process outsourcing at nearly $35bn in 2006, and forecasts a market of $70bn to $100bn by 2011.
Companies and offshore service providers alike have expanded their views on which functions can be offshored, with everything from traditional call-center work to legal research on the table. They have also learned how to better manage the outsourcing process. At the same time, finance chiefs have gained a healthier respect for the hazards involved in sending work overseas.
Far less fearful of a public backlash than before, companies today have a world of options when it comes to offshoring arrangements. "It's become a global bazaar," says Raffy Ohannesian of DLC, a finance and accounting-services firm.
Source: CFO, http://cfo.com