For close to 10 years U.S. based I.T. professionals have bemoaned the movement of I.T. jobs from American soil to Bangalore and Mumbai. Decrying the cost benefits as “short-sighted” and pointing towards communication gaps and quality delivery as potential issues to be reckoned with. While much of this has been dispelled by the high quality and lower cost solutions successfully delivered, those in the India bashing camp appear to have something to cheer about although it’s “cold soup” as far as I’m concerned.

It appears the world’s corporations in the inexorable drive for lower costs have found China to be the new darling. According to InformationWeek’s article "A Smoother Route to China," salaries in China are 25 to 40% lower than in India. With this it’s simply a matter of time (years not months) before our India based I.T. brethren experience some of the same concerns although this time with more hand wringing as they are essentially being beaten at their own game. Indian firms realized this early on though and have been moving up the value chain and in many cases out of outsourcing altogether (previous blog on India Service Providers moving into Software Development).

Two important considerations; I used the word “inexorable” because that’s precisely the scenario. This isn’t the last stop on this train. Time will come when the outsourcers will find Sub-Saharan Africa and then Guatemala and so on and so forth as business’ never ending chase for the lowest cost supplier moves onward. So my advice…insure you are continuously delivering value to the business with information and/or services that can’t be delivered by outsiders.

Last, there’s a serious hurdle to China supplanting India and it’s in verbal and written communication skills. The language of business in India is English and has been for a long time. Kids learn English from early on and by the time they enter college they are extremely conversant. In China…not so much.