Sunday, September 04, 2005

Being a Desired Outsourcing Hub

It is believed that the efforts by the Malaysian Government to promote the information and communications technology (ICT) services sectors could make the country one of the strongest competitors to India's business process outsourcing (BPO) dominance in the coming years.

There is a growing trend of companies from developed nations outsourcing Latest News about Outsourcing IT jobs to the Asian region -- including Malaysia -- as a strategy to cut costs and boost profitability.

This can be attributed to the fact that this region has the ability to offer a huge pool of knowledge workers at a low cost.

In the Asia-Pacific region, India and China have emerged as two candidates which top the list when it comes to offshoring IT jobs. Both can offer cost benefits, abundant offshoring experience and people skills.

Challenging the Leaders

Malaysia is also ranked highly among the locations competing for offshore jobs. Factors such as low infrastructure Discover a better way to manage the business of IT with IBM Tivoli solutions. costs, attractive business environment, and high levels of global integration have helped Malaysia become more attractive to foreigners.

It is believed that the efforts by the Malaysian Government to promote the information and communications technology (ICT) services sectors could make the country one of the strongest competitors to India's business process outsourcing (BPO) dominance in the coming years.

Malaysia should be able to compete effectively with other markets, given the continuous efforts to raise educational levels, high investment in research and development (R&D), and extensive training.

Market research firm International Data Corp. (IDC) reported that the local IT outsourcing market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 27.2 percent over the next five years, hitting the US$349.2 million mark in 2008.

Beating the Competition

Some of the popular IT outsourcing jobs include operating data centers, IT infrastructure, applications development and information management functions.

The American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) sees Malaysia as an attractive location for foreigners to invest in BPO and shared services.

Despite the intense competition for BPO and shared services for foreign direct investment (FDI) among regional countries, Malaysia is one of the leading candidates given the ease of doing business here.

Amcham noted that American companies are increasingly looking at Malaysia and other Asian markets as possible regional or global centers for BPO or shared services investment.

The Malaysian American Electronic Industry (MAEI) Annual Survey 2005 noted that there have been an increase in the number of American firms relocating back-end business functions, including IT support services to Malaysia.

Multimedia Development Corp (MDC) and The Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry Malaysia (Pikom) are also promoting Malaysia as a hub for BPO and shared services.

Poised for Success

MDC is positioning Malaysia and the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) as a provider and low-cost location for high-value shared services such as call centers, back office operations and IT centers.

Pikom has a two-pronged strategy which involves attracting foreign organizations to outsource to local companies and to bring local players to regional and global markets.

Malaysia certainly has what it takes to excel as an IT outsourcing hub, and with the groundwork being done by all the relevant parties, the prospects look bright.

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