Take 5, April 22, 2011

The five most important pieces of information on outsourcing that I have found this week in my travels through the web.

• 25 Most Dangerous Cities for Offshore Outsourcing:  The annual survey of offshore outsourcing location risk, conducted by the Datamonitor Group (formerly the Brown-Wilson Group), asked 3,100 corporate development leaders, including more than 400 outsourcing customers, to indicate their company’s inclination to consider specific offshore locations for outsourcing (including IT outsourcing and BPO). The survey also asked respondents to rank those cities on various perceived threats and weaknesses, including geopolitical risk, terrorist threats, climate concerns, legal maturity, environmental waste and pollution, IT and telecom infrastructure security, and crime rates.
•  List of the Most Dangerous Cities includes:  1. Karachi, Pakistan; 2. Medellin, Colombia; 3. Juarez, Mexico ;4. Cali, Columbia; 5. Tijuana, Mexico; 6. Lahore, Pakistan; 7. Jakarta, Indonesia; 8. Lagos, Nigeria; 9. Dhaka, Bangladesh; 10. Chittagong, Bangladesh; 11. Amman, Jordan; 12. Khulna, Bangladesh; 13. Faisalabad, Pakistan; 14. Rawalpindi, Pakistan; 15. Port-au-Prince Haiti; 16. Managua, Nicaragua; 17. Chihuahua, Mexico; 18. Ljubljana, Slovenia; 19. Tashkent, Uzbekistan; 20. Bandung, Indonesia ;21. Kingston, Jamaica; 22. Tel Aviv, Israel; 23. Colombo, Sri Lanka; 24. Johannesburg, South Africa; 25. Accra, Ghana
•  The 25 Safest Cities for Offshore Outsourcing in 2010; 1. Prague, Czech Republic; 2. Warsaw, Poland; 3. Brno, Czech Republic; 4. Krakow, Poland; 5. Toronto, Canada; 6. Halifax, Canada; 7. Singapore, Singapore; 8. Dublin, Ireland; 9. Kiev, Ukraine; 10. Chennai, India; 11. Pune, India; 12. Wuxi, China; 13. Monterrey, Mexico; 14. Sao Paolo, Brazil; 15. Bangalore, India; 16. Beijing, China; 17. Santiago, Chile; 18. Brasilia, Brazil; 19. Mumbai, India; 20. Dalian, China; 21. Chandigarh, India; 22. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 23. Cebu City, Philippines; 24. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 25. Kolkata, India
•  Outsourcing: IT Customers Disappointed With Results: A recent IDG Enterprise Outsourcing & Service Providers Survey of IT and business executives reveals that they’re not achieving their desired results from outsourcing, and many of them blame their own management practices for outsourcing’s ineffectiveness.
•  Indian Outsourcing Price Increases: In a recent article in the Economic Times India Web site, it was reported that Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro and HCL Technologies are beginning to see an uptick in pricing, which the article says is being driven by higher salary costs and an improved business environment. The bottom line: as much as a 5 percent price hike.