In my (published) book Search and the New Economy, I offer some interesting insights into the economics of outsourcing. The conventional wisdom (which needs defending) is that outsourcing is a means to cheaper output and higher speed of production – cheap labor, or as economists put it, “time saving value”. The assumption here is that firms adopting this strategy will not have to keep experienced workers on board just to form a team of multi-skilled specialists in outsourcing. Indeed, they will be able to find cheap labor in countries like India, where workers are both well educated and readily available.
One aspect of the debate about outsourcing is about the quality of that work – will it be of a high standard? Will it provide the goods and services that justify the higher costs? The usual response is that, yes, it will provide good value for money; experience is important, yes it will deliver value, etc. The real question is how much of those goods and services, and what kind, can we do without?
Now let’s take my search and the new economy quiz for me online to the next level. The question is this: What kind of services, and at what scale? The traditional model, based on highly developed nation-states, may no longer be viable. For example, even China has a very limited number of qualified professionals trained to run its economy. Outsourcing some aspects of the services – for example technical assistance – seems to be unavoidable.
However, the model used by the developed nations, especially those with a large pool of educated workers, also shows limits. There are too many people who have the technical skills necessary for running the type of business that needs specialized knowledge, but lack the training themselves. It’s as if someone had taken all the blueprints for building a new house, sat down and sketched out every single step in detail – but then left out the most important parts. There would probably be a lot of problems, and the house wouldn’t come together correctly.
What kind of solutions does outsourcing offer? Companies that offer to take my search and the new economy quiz for me online are just one click away. They can give me access to a whole range of qualified experts. We’ll discuss some specific examples in a moment, but first I want to touch on the concept itself. A lot of people worry about outsourcing as if it replaces human resources, and that’s not necessarily true. Companies that outsource are merely moving their operations into a remote location, on a computer.
That computer will, under certain circumstances (such as a tight deadline or extra urgent circumstances), simply run your request from another location. That process is known as remote access. It’s becoming more common for companies to take my search and the new economy quiz for me online, as well as several other services. Those services are available through outsourcing companies, which have many advantages.
Remote access saves money, of course. It also saves time. You don’t need an actual person to answer your questions, as you’ll likely be able to get the help of a customer support representative, if that’s what you want. However, you’ll still probably spend a few hours doing research, answering questions, and getting familiar with various programs and features. In order to do this, you might as well take my search and the new economy quiz for me online first!