In my professional career in and about software companies, I've primarily run into offshoring of things like call center & customer care, documentation, quality assurance and testing, and R&D. In software, such stuff may be so commonplace that it can be considered Offshoring 1.0 and behind us - a done deal. And from a macroeconomic perspective the US may even be all fine after Offshoring 1.0. Dr. Daniel Drezner blogs that the World Trade Organization's recent annual trade report release indicates:

The strength in the rebound in [IT] employment in 2004, and the resilience of wages of computer occupations, do not support the view that offshoring services of high-skilled IT specialists had a marked impact on overall US employment in these occupations up to the end of 2004 ...

So what's in Offshoring 2.0?

If InformationWeek's July 18th issue and article, "Behind The Numbers: Customer Satisfaction Not A BPO Priority" is a hint of what is to come next on the offshoring front (note that in BPO the "O" stands for outsourcing, which should be differentiated from offshoring), more than 30% of respondents in a June 2005 study said that they outsource sales & marketing to some extent. This is the second item in a list behind call center or customer care (which is close to 45%). Note: my intent by pointing out this article is simply to cites the stats, not reflect my personal opinion on either customer satisfaction or outsourcing in business.

Well just last week (and for the first time), I was approached by an MBA friend involved with business development for an offshoring company in India that provides services related to product lifecycle management, customer lifecycle management, and strategic brand management. This is my first, personal introduction to Offshoring 2.0.

Steve Shu