Knowledge-based outsourcing: Australia's fresh offshoring prospect
Knowledge-based global outsourcing offers a promising chance for Australia to cash in on the billion-dollar offshoring venture.
The Australian Computer Society have tapped Swamy & Associates, independent offshoring advisors and mangers to investigate the feasibility of Australia’s involvement in high-end analytics work. It has come up with encouraging data to capitalize on the growing demand for knowledge process outsourcing in the US, Europe, and Japan. This promises a prospective 150,000 – 200,000 posts for full-time work.
Australian Computer Society (ACS) president, Edward Mandla points out, "Offshore-outsourcing of processes has so far been characterised by considerable community anxiety and apprehension within Australia.” He continues, "Yet the emerging reality is that Australia can look at the global trend towards offshoring as an opportunity rather than a threat. Global offshoring has moved to the next level and we need the support of government and industry to capture the opportunities. Phase one was basic administrative and processing tasks. Phase two is knowledge-based analytics. As a medium cost destination, Australia is ideally suited to take on knowledge-based, ICT-enabled analytics services."
Mandla says this is a call for Australia to set up a national agency tasked with develop a long-term strategy for the Australian ICT sector, facilitate international partnerships and promote the Australia as a competitive destination for offshoring work.
"The current industry landscape in Australia consists of more than fifteen industry association giving mixed messages, and with an over reliance on volunteers and a lack of funds to develop programs. There is no 10 to 15 year plan and there are competing state and federal interests. The result is there's no appropriate government policy which addresses these opportunities, and it appears no true willingness to have Australia positioned as a global technology player."
The ACS has developed an Onshoring policy that upholds Australia’s affordability – as much as 20% - 40% less than that offered in the US, Japan, UK and other major European centers. It cites Australia’s other advantages as such:
- a well-developed financial services sector
- a well-trained and educated workforce
- sophisticated infrastructure which includes strong Business Continuity Planning processes
- competitive multi-lingual skills spanning European and Asian languages
- respect for intellectual property
- a stable political and economic environment
- transparent legal and governance system
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