BUSINESS
Kerry Hallard at BSS Tour Rzeszów (September 2017, photo: Adrian Czyżyk)
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We know you are travelling a lot and running projects around the world. You have already mentioned CEE: what do other regions or countries look like when it comes to outsourcing opportunities and/or challenges? In some aspects, the world of out sourcing looks very similar wherever you are, in the sense that there are some macro-level challenges (and oppor tunities) affecting everyone: we've talked about the impact of automation which will have consequences in every corner of the world, but many other trends and events – Brexit, US isolationism, the rise of China to name but a few – also reach right across boundaries (with different impli cations for different regions of course). Moreover the general outsourcing prop osition remains strong everywhere: the ability to provide high-quality, secure services at a good price point is just as much of a benefit in Bangladesh as it is in Bulgaria and everywhere else.
detail on a comprehensive level in an interview: there is simply too much going on! However, one thing which can and must be done is the continued improve ment of communication and dialogue between professionals from different parts of the world so we can all learn from each other and apply those learnings where appropriate to the challenges we each face in our particular environments. A global outlook is now indispensable when it comes to solving local problems and capitalising on local opportunities; the announcement of the GSA's first Global Sourcing Summit & Awards in South Africa in March 2018 is an indi cation of how important we feel to be the maintenance of such international dialogue between all the countless dis tinct corners of this industry, while our inaugural Top 30 rankings (to be pub lished in January 2018) will shine a light on those locations which are outperfor ming their neighbours and competitors.
On the other hand every region, every location – every organisation, even - has its own issues with which to contend. Again it's impossible to go into any real
Casting a quick eye across some of the most important offshoring destinations, we can see some interesting activity in India, with a strong digital agenda being
displayed by both domestic players and multinationals with a presence on the subcontinent. A couple of years ago, India looked at times like something of a "rabbit in the headlights" paralysed by trepidation about the likely consequen ces of automation, but while it's still not the quickest to transform the Indian mar ket is looking much more optimistic as we head into 2018. On the other hand, China still remains a puzzle in terms of its inability to take off as a genuine global business services powerhouse: it's doing a fantastic job in manufacturing, coding, but remains an also-ran in many fields – however, much of this may simply be the result of a firm focus on its (gigantic) domestic market. South Africa is an interesting example of a market transitioning rapidly from voicebased service provision to a broader customer-service BPO and shared ser vices location. It's not yet a huge space in terms of the number of professionals currently deployed but can punch above its weight thanks in part to good cultural alignment with target markets. Mean while Latin America continues to be
Outsourcing&More | January – February 2018