Here is multiple definitions related to
Outsourcing and other related definitions such as offshore, nearshore.
OUTSOURCING
Outsourcing is the delegation of tasks or jobs from
internal production to an external entity (such as a subcontractor). Most
recently, it has come to mean the elimination of native staff to staff
overseas, where salaries are markedly lower. This is despite the fact that the
majority of outsourcing that occurs today still occurs within country
boundaries, especially in North America. It became a popular buzzword in
business and management in the 1990s.
Where functions previously performed by an organisation
are supplied under contract from a third party.
Buying goods or services instead of producing or providing
them in-house.
While outsourcing is not exactly a new innovation, the
shifts that have occurred recently in this space are worth noting. As the need
for e-learning moves higher up on the IT and corporate training agendas,
organizations are wont to take on the IT management burden of implementing a
learning management system (LMS).
The concept of taking internal company functions and
paying an outside firm to handle them. Outsourcing is done to save money,
improve quality, or free company resources for other activities. Outsourcing
was first done in the data-processing industry and has spread to areas,
including telemessaging and call centers. Outsourcing is the wave of the
future.
A long-term, results-oriented relationship with an
external service provider for activities traditionally performed within the
company. Outsourcing usually applies to a complete business process. It
implies a degree of managerial control and risk on the part of the provider.
The transfer of components or large segments of an
organization's internal IT infrastructure, staff, processes or applications to
an external resource such as an Application Service Provider.
OFFSHORING
No commonly accepted definition of "offshoring"
exists, and the term has been used to include various international trade and
foreign investment activities. Services that U.S.-based organizations purchase
from abroad are considered imports. They may also be linked to U.S. firms'
investments overseas -- for example, U.S. firms may invest in overseas
affiliates as a replacement for, or as an alternative to, domestic production.
In recent years, services offshoring has been facilitated by factors, such as
the Internet, infrastructure growth in developing countries, and decreasing
data transmission costs. Organizations' decisions to offshore services are
influenced by potential benefits such as the availability of cheaper skilled
labor and access to foreign markets, and by risks, such as geopolitical issues
and infrastructure instability in countries that supply the services.
'Offshoring' of services
generally refers to an organization's purchase from other countries of
services that it previously produced or purchased domestically, such as
software programming or telephone call centers.
NEARSHORING
Nearshore outsourcing,
a form of offshoring, is the term used to refer to the practice of getting
work done or services performed by people in neighboring countries (e.g.
Canada, Mexico) rather than in your own country.
