The Financial Crisis and Offshoring

A few interesting posts over at Horses for Sources (H4S) on how the financial crisis is affecting the offshore trend. As we’ve discussed previously, the political and economic trends are moving in opposite directions.

• Politics –more and more defensive posturing by politicians introducing “buy American” provisions in legislations, restricting H-1B visas, etc.

• Economic – the crisis is pushing offshore projects forward.

H4S offers two interesting posts. First, he indicates that the level of interest in obtaining offshoring advice has never been higher. But budgets are tight, so firms are trying to do this on the cheap.

The money quote:

I have never (I repeat never) witnessed such an intense level of interest in global sourcing than the current environment. I simply am struggling to find the time to do anything but take calls from companies in desperate need of working out their sourcing options.

This was followed by a guest post from Lee Ann Moore, of Equaterra. Lee Ann relates that “doing nothing is not an option,” and goes on to discuss how financially distressed firms have changed the way they work with their advisors. Equaterra is one of the firms I worked with on The Services Shift.