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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (31781)	11/20/2003 4:32:33 PM
From: Softechie	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 89467

Ted Kenendy will beat Da Idiot if he runs...that's how bad it is...

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (31781)	11/20/2003 6:29:13 PM
From: Crimson Ghost	Respond to of 89467

The Democrats better make sure that Bush partisans do not control the voting machines via Diebold.

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (31781)	11/20/2003 11:52:19 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 89467

Offshoring may be risky move ____________________________________ Savings, though substantial, aren't always as much as expected By JOHN SHINAL SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE Thursday, November 20, 2003 U.S. companies sending information-technology work overseas merely to cut salary costs may find their savings are either disappointing or short-lived. The reason is that the unexpected costs of moving IT jobs to India and China, including skyrocketing salaries, are changing the financial equation of offshoring just as U.S. executives are rushing to adopt the practice. Interviews with business consultants, corporate executives, market analysts, venture capitalists and others who have looked closely at the trend revealed that much of the conventional wisdom about moving IT work offshore is, well, off base. "Too many companies are viewing offshoring as a tactical decision," said Gregg Rock, president and founder of BrainStorm Group Inc., an offshore consulting firm in Boston. Rather than make offshoring decisions on a project-by-project basis, "the decision needs to be a strategic one," said Rock, whose firm has organized 12 conferences this year that connect U.S. companies with overseas IT firms. Although the savings in sending IT work abroad can be substantial, they are not as straightforward as comparing salaries in India and Silicon Valley. It is true that salaries for software developers in India are a fraction of those paid in Silicon Valley. For example, software developers in Bangalore, the hub of the Indian IT service industry, make an average annual salary of about $12,000, according to a recent report from the Tech Strategy Group, a consultancy that advises companies on offshoring. Similar jobs pay about $80,000 in Seattle and Silicon Valley, the report said. Yet salary costs are only about 50 percent to 60 percent of the total cost of moving work to India. Other costs, such as travel and infrastructure expenses, severance packages for laid-off U.S. workers and the increased time required to manage multiple development sites, result in total savings that are less than half what many executives expect. "Most companies are seeing a 30 to 40 percent cost advantage," by sending work to India, said M.R. Rangaswami, co-founder of the Sand Hill Group, a consultancy. That figure is in line with a recent report by the Gartner Group that pegged the savings at about 40 percent. In the meantime, the salary gap between Bangalore and Silicon Valley is narrowing quickly. Salaries for software developers and other IT service professionals are rising about 20 percent to 25 percent a year in Bangalore, said Rahul Sood, co-founder and managing partner of the Tech Strategy Group. Sood travels to Bangalore monthly. seattlepi.nwsource.com