The State of Sourcing - Latest Comments

Re: Technology in publishing: What next?

SpiralUp Solutions — Tue, 31 May 2011 10:58:36 -0000

Nice article. With newer players coming in, they will bring in newer perspectives and ideas which will surely improve the quality of the service offerings in this industry.

Re: Why is the outsourcing of publishing services still taboo?

SpiralUp Solutions — Tue, 31 May 2011 08:34:23 -0000

Outsourcing/offshoring is an established and accepted practice in many industries including publishing services and hence not sure if it is a taboo anymore. As pointed below, there are a lot of language nuances, style and cultural sensitivities involved that impact the core business of the customers as compared to regular IT/BPO services. Providing the end deliverable a 'native' touch will help in providing a comfort feel for the customers. Continuous learning, innovation and improvement in services (especially in large assignments) will help in shifting from 'cost' to 'value' as the driver for offshoring in this industry.

Re: Why is the outsourcing of publishing services still taboo?

Dawn L Hale — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 13:57:55 -0000

What is the top 10 industries that outsource?

Re: Larger and longer term contracts for the LPO industry?

Jennifer — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 03:38:01 -0000

LPOs are indeed becoming a bigger and bigger area of focus, especially since after medical, its the easiest to offshore.
http://oksgroup.com/index.php?...

Re: Top 5 University iPad initiatives

Brian Russel — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 06:35:57 -0000

Giving iPads to students is not required as they don't travel like business person.

Re: Technology in publishing: What next?

Brian Russel — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 06:32:27 -0000

Very good article. Apart from technology, the skills are required to be upgraded in Publishing.

Re: Indian law firms eye LPO business

sonic producer pro — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 13:08:08 -0000

In the three main LPO markets – the United States, the United Kingdom and India – there is the potential for rule changes which could place outsourcing agreements under increased scrutiny or even have a material impact on the ability of law firms and .

Re: Indian law firms eye LPO business

dui attorney irvine — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 04:13:51 -0000

However, the LPO industry should keep an eye on the Ministry of Law and Justice's plans to tighten overall regulation of the corporate legal sector. ...

Re: Why is the outsourcing of publishing services still taboo?

Rebecca — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 14:28:26 -0000

Outsourcing of editing still seems to result in very poor overall quality to me. In the complex area of STM publishing, in particular, editing and even proofing require someone who has a good handle on the subject matter AND high proficiency in the language. This combination of traits is rarely found in offshore outsourcing to my knowledge. As pointed out earlier, this is a difference in subjective versus objective tasks. I would not be against outsourcing/offshoring technology/IT tasks, and in fact, my group does outsource those tasks, onshore. But we call them "vendors", which removes some of the stigma attached to the word "outsource".

Re: Why is the outsourcing of publishing services still taboo?

SourcingPractice — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 01:37:39 -0000

Bennett - Thank you for your comment. And yes, cultural nuances are often very difficult to master - right from dealing to the client to executing the outsourced work. I think this has been the reason, if not a driving factor for vendors to open offices in the US. With a 'native' workforce onshore, vendors are capable of addressing concerns that buyers may have but also address cultural issues by having an appropriate onshore presence.

You mention the "lack of comfort with the level of services being provided". Do buyers remain wary of the maturity of the outsourcing industry? Is this the same case when work is outsourced to an onshore vendor (by onshore I mean an all American/British vendor)?

-Vivek.

Re: Why is the outsourcing of publishing services still taboo?

SourcingPractice — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 01:32:03 -0000

Libby - Thank you for your comment! My example of technology was to illustrate how it displaced jobs. A significant proportion of outsourcing contracts are now driven by the lack of capability internally to perform technology driven jobs. An example of this would the conversions of content to various e-book formats. Given the steep learning curve and the necessary time to acquire the skills, outsourcing offers and easier solution. It is a solution that also implies a faster time to market.

That being said, I agree to your point about the poor quality of the product. Creating content, in my opinion, is difficult to outsource. And, whether to outsource or not is a separate issue all together!

-Vivek.

Re: Why is the outsourcing of publishing services still taboo?

Libby123 — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 17:22:11 -0000

But outsourcing content creation isn't like a technological improvment. A technological improvement is like using a computer instead of a typewriter. Having the person using the computer be outside the market that is being served is short-sighted. Publishers may save money today but will lose profits later from poor quality of the product. Editoial services are core to a publisher's business and when publishers outsource this core function, they lose control over that essential function to their evential detriment.

Re: Why is the outsourcing of publishing services still taboo?

Bennett — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 08:00:15 -0000

I think that the distinction must be made between outsourcing as a general practice and offshoring in particular, as is being discussed here. There are very different aspects to each. Publishers regularly outsource all components of the publishing process, from authoring to publication. One of the big differences between IT and Services offshoring is the objective nature of IT and the subjective nature of Services with implications as noted by Btdodson. I don't see a taboo, but more of a lack of comfort with the level of services being provided. There are a number of service providers who now have offices in both the US and in India that are securing substantial service contracts from publishers and executing them successfully by applying the appropriate expertise on either end.

Re: Why is the outsourcing of publishing services still taboo?

SourcingPractice — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 01:44:43 -0000

Thank you for your comment - it echoes several others I have heard / come across in the recent past.

The implications and possible consequences of outsourcing is a long drawn discussion that transcends into global economies. Sure outsourcing is taking jobs because businesses want to save costs, but another side to it is how it is helping businesses grow by adding to their scale, capabilities and operations. An easiest example of this duality in its nature is technology.

There have been several technologies that have been adopted across industries that have effectively cut jobs. It not only saved costs for the company, but also added to their scale and capabilities. Imagine a secretary in the '50s typing out documents in triplicates. Surely, there must have been multiple people for the role just to deal with the workload. Once the computer arrived on the scene, these jobs were cut.

-Vivek.

Re: Why is the outsourcing of publishing services still taboo?

SourcingPractice — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 01:30:56 -0000

Thank you for your comment!

Agreed. Vendor capabilities in understanding cultural and contextual nuances are still off. Editorial services certainly are proving difficult to outsource. What is your opinion on outsourcing of production and other processes that are mechanical?

- Vivek.

Re: Why is the outsourcing of publishing services still taboo?

Btdodson — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:35:48 -0000

I have worked with two publishers who have outsourced content development to developers in India. I was hired to either oversee the work of the development group or supplement their work. In both cases, the content was poorly done in many ways. The developers had no understanding of what content to present at what grade level. The English was poor as well. I personally believe that content for American textbooks needs to be developed by people who have gone through the American education system and then been trained in American pedagogy at American universities.

Re: Why is the outsourcing of publishing services still taboo?

Herne — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 12:11:59 -0000

Aside from the obvious quality of work issues, it should be obvious; when you outsource, you're sending jobs out of the country. When you send jobs out of the country, you send money out of the country. When people have no money, they can't purchase your products. Prices drop to sell more products, which causes publishers to outsource to "save money." Publishers keep shooting themselves in the foot.

Re: Patni-iGate: I Do. Now what?

Arvind Kher — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 06:14:41 -0000

If they do marry, and that's a huge if, both will benefit enormously. Patni will gain Phaneesh's aggressive growth attitude in place of their stodgy circumspect approach. iGate will gain significant cash reserves, deep delivery capability, and, not to be trivialized, a very respectable image. The portfolio synergy is high - even though there is some customer overlap, the offerings (even to common customers) are more complementary than conflicting. Contrary to conventional wisdom, I don't expect too much customer attrition. There will be management attrition, which is really a good thing for the combined entity. Attrition amongst those who do the real work is actually likely to come down. But will there be a combined entity? I fear that the brothers' inflexibility and unrealistic expectations could scuttle the deal.

Re: Patni-iGate: I Do. Now what?

Shirley — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 01:56:45 -0000

Well written. In my opinion going by the circumstance under which the marriage will take place and keeping in mind issues like retaining clients etc..it will be a while before the new entity will be of any threat to the other more established companies in the same sector.

Re: Competition from onshore?

SourcingPractice — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 06:22:36 -0000

Hi,

I am on holiday and will not be checking my mails till 3rd January 2010. For any project/research related queries please contact Jui (jui@valuenotes.com) or Mark (mark@valuenotes.com)

Until then, wishing you the best of holidays and a Happy New Year!

Regards,
Vivek

Re: Competition from onshore?

SDDGS — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 06:18:02 -0000

There are legal process outsourcing companies (LPOs) that offer top tier and better quality services than most of the on-shore providers or contract attorneys. Best of all, LPOs charge a fraction of what the contract attorneys charge.
http://www.sddglobal.com
high-end legal outsourcing

Re: TiEing up Indian Higher Education

Officer992001 — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 22:54:37 -0000

hii, read your article. good reading. do you think with heavy pvt sector investment to develop world class edu infra-structure (e.g. ISB) we will be able provide AFFORDABLE education? The largest number of students come from middle class.

Re: TiEing up Indian Higher Education

Aditya Babbar — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 12:36:17 -0000

Thank you for all the hard data in your post. If possible, could you please provide links to the sources as well?

I agree with your premise that private sector needs to play a more prominent role in this domain. The two big challenges faced by them are the large capital investment and some of the archaic regulations. If the regulations can be simplified and capital is easily accessible, we could see things changing for good soon.

Re: Why isn’t the corporate learning community excited about the iPad?

Paul35mm — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 12:28:11 -0000

My feeling on this is technical. ipad and iphone don't support flash. Until they do, which Apple says is not in the plan, you can't take either device seriously as a corporate training tool because so much training is delivered via flash-based video.

Re: How much will Seth Godin earn by self-publishing?

SourcingPractice — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:23:38 -0000

One of his titles sold 50,000 copies. Considering SG's take on communities (or 'tribes'), it would be safe to assume that SG would have already had these 50,000 people join his community. These 50,000 represent close to 11% of his community.