subject: The Offshoring Transition in Outsourcing [print this page] Most IT executivesunderstand the basic planning requirements for offshoring the development of applications. Deciding which infrastructure activities can be offshored isrelatively different,somewhat because the reliability of infrastructure affects business operations directly, and also because people who perform infrastructure roles workclosely with other functions such as operations and third-party vendors. Given these "bottlenecks", managers planning a move must evaluate whether jobs under offshore consideration require proximity to senior management, application designers, vendors, or machines. Indubitably, any function requiring close access to any of these onshore resources is a poor candidate for offshoring. What's more, in some countries and industries, regulations limit cross-border access to customer data, so any role requiring such access would not be wholly transferable. Any entity that offshores work should take these elements into consideration for a seamless transition.
