Outsourcing isn’t going to disappear, and given the success that many companies have begun enjoying during the past few years, it’s not likely to level off anytime soon. It’s going to be more and more of a mainstream phenomenon, and it’s going to affect more and more workers, in more and knowledge-based industries. Meanwhile, more and more politicians will utter more and more speeches, while Congress passes a few laws to help re-train those who have lost their jobs. But when it’s all said and done, what you should expect to see, in terms of the economic impact of offshore outsourcing five to ten years from now is more of the same. End of story.

Of course, some of this more-of-the-same prediction is predicated on success with the current practice of offshore outsourcing. If companies find that offshore outsourcing reduces their costs, improves their productivity, and increases the quality of their products and services, they’ll want to do more of the same. And if they discover, to their surprise, that they failed or achieved only minimal success, then perhaps outsourcing will fade away. [ Read more… ]