Last year, the economic downturn caused some organizations to temporarily scale back on I.T. outsourcing efforts while they tackle fundamental issues including keeping the company afloat. This year, I.T. outsourcing is making a comeback… in Asia. As Dell Services (NASDAQ:DELL) Chairman Jim Champy predicts the Asian I.T. outsourcing market will grow much faster in 2010. “IT outsourcing is set to rise in Asia as the region’s companies begin to modernize business processes and technology systems in a build-out that could last decades. We see, as most providers do, the Asian markets growing faster - clearly more than Europe, and certainly faster than the US”, explains Mr. Champy.

Keeping abreast with the world is certainly a difficult job, especially now with social media, blogs and other such sources all over the place; it’s becoming difficult to know exactly where to look.  I myself have different favored sources of information, including those for news headlines, and social media, that I search regularly.   On one such occasion, I came across the Top 10 Business Deals of 2009 from TIME.com.  With regards to outsourcing, the item included in the top business deals for 2009 was the HP (NYSE:HPQ) - EDS deal.

If the first few days of a month can be an indication of how well an industry can perform by the months’ end, then this December ’09 should be a great month for the outsourcing industry –bar any mishap of course.  Aside from ushering in the holiday season, several different outsourcing companies have ushered in lucrative agreements since the start of December.

With the United States market still in slump, businesses project difficulties in profit increase in the next 7 years. Job cuts continue in the US and the rate of job creation of 25 per year is not sufficient to offset job losses in the next 5 years. On the other side of the world, Indian outsourcing firms show an opposite trend. Global IT service providers such as Infosys which provides technical consulting, design and development of business solutions have been aggressively increasing their workforce. Last week, the company reported that in the second quarter it has hired 6,069 people offsetting the 4,521 employees it laid off in the same quarter. Tata Consultancy Service is also bullishly hiring with plans of hiring 25,000 people worldwide for this year 2009 and 90% coming from India. Also part of the bandwagon is Wipro Technologies. In October 15 Wipro CEO Azim Premji said that the company is planning to hire about 500 local employees for a new service centre by Jun 2010. Manpower India Director Cherian Kuruvila also highlighted this hiring trend by Indian outsourcing firms saying, “Companies are expected to build a talent pool for upcoming projects as green shoots are visible”.

In an aggressive attempt of major technology manufacturing firms to diversify its markets for more consistent revenue streams, they have been buying and bidding for business process outsourcing services firms.

“Not just a place to take a vacation”- that’s what the Philippines is now becoming with the trend of the BPO sector in the country. Right now the Philippines ranks 2nd in the offshore BPO services globally. The country would be hosting its first Outsourcing summit organized by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP) where delegates from around the globe would be able to discuss the direction of the industry. As the hosting country, this provides the Philippines with the golden opportunity to showcase its assets and advantages as a choice for outsourcing needs which includes geographical preference, cost and quality of labor.

Last March 26th, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published IBM’s application to patent a system that automates the process of offshoring IT jobs. On the same day IBM gave layoff notices to 5,000 U.S. workers.  Critics argue that the timing of IBM’s patent application clearly gave the reason for the layoffs. Another interesting fact is the time when IBM submitted the application – September 24, 2007. According to The Register, “it was submitted in September 2007, just a week before IBM withdrew its offshoring patent. At the time, Big Blue said that the first patent was an error: it breached an IBM policy introduced in 2006 that vetted business method applications for “significant technical content”.”