On-shore Versus Offshore Outsourcing – Canada’s on the Ball with Top Rating – Better than India
By Paul Gasparro
ZDNet’s Larry Digman covered a report on October 16th rating countries around the globe for off-shore outsourcing. The rating was based on a series of 10 metrics ranging from Language skills and Labor Pool, to Cultural Compatibility and IP Security. Canada was overall far and above any other location, including India. The only two areas that Canada did not rate Very Good or Excellent was Government Support and Cost.
In the case of Government Support, I do not believe that Gartner understands the depth and breadth of Canada’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) program. This program provides cash and tax incentives for the development of intellectual property (IP) in Canada.
I believe, particularly with the improvements in size of the grants, and administration of the claims, that the SR&ED program is very good. Certainly it could be improved, but it does serve to encourage the development of IP, and hence serves to provide an incentive for companies like MapleWorks to do outsourcing development work in Canada.
As far as cost, you get what you pay for. Doing nearshore outsourcing development in Canada means doing it once, not two or three times. Even if the cost of labor is higher (yet significantly lower than the U.S.), the efficiency and effectiveness of the development team means net cost is lower. In addition to improved development efficiency, the labor pool is very experienced and does not require extensive management by the home team. So overhead is reduced.
It is worth looking at the Gartner charts and drawing your own conclusions. I believe you will reach the same one that I share. Canada trumps all for your next outsourcing project, and MapleWorks trumps all in North America as the choice for your next outsourced network communications project. Contact us and let’s discuss your plans.
(Paul Gasparro is Co-founder and Vice President of Business Development for MapleWorks – the smart choice for on-shore software development.)
