Americans have somehow associated the word “outsource” with evil. Outsourcing is the enemy, taking American jobs and wreaking all kinds of havoc on those living in developed countries. But the word “outsourcing” usually calls to mind the process of businesses sending mass numbers of manufacturing jobs overseas. When manufacturing jobs are outsourced, blue-collar workers are often sent home and forced to apply for unemployment.
Outsourcing is affordable. Photo credit: itua on Flickr
Cost Reduction
As David Bornstein pointed out in the New York Times, when services are outsourced, it’s rarely to replace American jobs. Businesses make the decision to outsource these services because they can do so affordably. If given the option of creating those jobs in the States, it would be far too costly.
When services are outsourced, American businesses are relieved of routine and mundane back office tasks that take time and energy from highly-skilled workers. They free up businesses to achieve more using fewer resources, while also helping improve economic situations in developing nations.
Improving Business Functions
Big data, for instance, has given us access to more information than an average human could possibly ever consume, yet much of this data can be harnessed for useful purposes. By contracting with overseas outsourcing service providers, businesses can have data sorted and categorized for use in improving their own business processes. Instead of paying top dollar for an American worker to sit at a desk forty hours a week, businesses can turn the work over to these overseas workers for a fraction of the price.
Businesses that outsource services actually increase conditions for U.S. workers by increasing their efficiency and allowing them to focus on high-level jobs that will help them move up the corporate ladder. By giving companies the chance to save money on basic functions, outsourcing can actually provide additional job security for American workers, since a thriving company is also a lasting one.