Global outsourcing: The next wave

Most companies are using outsourcing in some form with varying degrees of success, but done properly and strategically, global sourcing strategies can also create new forms of value for customers and sustainable competitive advantages for the business. To do that, it's important to assess all aspects of an organization's business activities to determine where there are opportunities to leverage outsourcers' capabilities, intellectual property, best practices, global infrastructure or geographic presence. Some of the business and financial benefits of this next wave of global sourcing include lowering R&D costs and shortening time-to-market for new product development processes. But there are challenges in realizing these benefits, including a hesitance to entrust partners with the primary responsibility for processes and operations that are core to the business or directly impact top-line growth. The key is having an organization-wide strategy.

Learn more about outsourcing for competitive advantage:
- read the article at CRM Buyer

ALSO:
- read this on measuring offshore partnerships
- this on why global outsourcing initiatives fail
- and this on how to make outsourcing succeed