[SwF] Fwd: Pakistan Now a Hot Spot for IT Outsourcing - news

--- In [email protected], "Nauman Khan"
<naumankhan@b...> wrote:
                            BISMILLAH IREHMAN NIRAHIM

Assalamualikum,


http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/37750.html


INDUSTRY ANALYSIS:
Pakistan Now a Hot Spot for IT Outsourcing


 Pakistan Now a Hot Spot for IT Outsourcing
<http://www.ecommercetimes.com/images/rw5893/pakistan-it-outsourcing.jpg> 

By Anthony Mitchell
E-Commerce Times 
11/02/04 5:00 AM PT 

The biggest boost to Pakistan's efforts to break into the global IT
marketplace came on September 28, when India's finance ministry
announced an
income tax of more than 36 percent on foreign firms with software, R&D and
customer service operations in India. This tax proposal had been in the
works since the beginning of the year and is expected to prompt U.S. firms
to follow GE's lead in selling off assets in India.

  <http://www.ecommercetimes.com/images/work/advertisement_118x13.gif> 
Detect and Protect Your Organization's PDAs and Smartphones
Register now for a free white paper discussing the best practices for
securing PDAs and smartphones, along with the benefits of implementing a
CREDANT Technologies solution for detecting and protecting these popular
productivity tools. 

Why is Pakistan the hot new offshore information technology (IT)
destination? This is because of a combination of favorable economic
circumstances. Just when many Western managers are finally becoming
comfortable with the idea of working closely with Indian IT firms, along
comes Pakistan.

Pakistan is shaking off decades of "also ran" status. Funds invested into
building educational institutions in Pakistan (when there were not enough
jobs to absorb all the graduates from those institutions) are paying
off as
Pakistan begins to field a modern, highly productive labor force that
is the
envy of more prosperous but less tech savvy nations elsewhere in the
region.


 
<http://www.ectnews.com/adsys/link/?creative=1908&ENN_rnd=10994259123413&ENN
_target=http://s0b.bluestreak.com/ix.e?hr&s=387923&n=10994259123413>  
 <http://s0b.bluestreak.com/ix.e?hr&s=387923> 


Why Care? 


Why should the average Western IT professional, businessperson or IT
consumer care? Because we are all going to be buying and using more IT
outputs from Pakistan. To be a smarter buyer and user of IT products calls
for a familiarity with Pakistan, even for those who do not initially
intend
to do business with Pakistani firms. We are all part of a global
economy and
Pakistan is an increasingly important part of that global economy.

The issues that Pakistan faces as it gears up for the global high-tech
marketplace are many of the same issues that both advanced and developing
economies face elsewhere in the world, as both service providers and
service
consumers. Pakistan is making no effort to gloss over its challenges,
which
makes those challenges easier to address.

With a population of 160 million and a land area almost twice the size of
California, Pakistan is a smaller and more unified country than most
of its
neighbors, which increases that nation's chances of solving its own
problems
and avoiding the mistakes that have plagued neighboring economies. 


India Helps Pakistan 


The biggest boost to Pakistan's efforts to break into the global IT
marketplace came on September 28, when India's finance ministry
announced an
income tax of more than 36 percent on foreign firms with software, R&D and
customer service operations in India. This tax proposal had been in the
works since the beginning of the year and is expected to prompt U.S. firms
to follow GE's lead in selling off assets in India.

Any Western business manager who initiated or approved the
establishment of
an IT production or R&D subsidiary in India in 2004 could find that
decision
to be a career-ending move unless they have built in financial reserves to
accommodate both the tax scheme of September 28 and upcoming taxes
still on
the drawing board.

A proposal is under consideration in New Delhi to tax activities conducted
over international private leased connections (IPLCs) that carry most of
India's voice and data traffic to and from the outside world. There is
also
a proposal to replace state-to-state customs duties (octroi) with a
national
value added tax. Both those tax proposals could be combined into a single
scheme.

U.S. IT brokerage firms, their U.S. clients and domestic Indian IT
operations will be largely untouched by the September 28 tax scheme.
But the
traditional offshore migration path of outsourcing
<http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/search.pl?query=Outsourcing&scope=networ
k> Latest News about Outsourcing to an offshore location first -- before
setting up captive operations there -- has been disrupted in India until
economic reforms reduce the role of the Indian government in the
economy and
consequently reduce that nation's revenue requirements.

For Westerners with long-standing personal ties to India, that country's
September 28 tax scheme could have both personal and financial
consequences.
For new Indian workers who hoped for a position with a Western firm
based in
India, that country's revenue policy will alter careers, lifestyles and
futures. Westerners can pack up and look for other another country to
set up
operations. However, what country? 


Pakistan's Advantages 


Pakistan is the primary beneficiary of India's decision to tax foreign
firms
with captive IT operations in India. No other economy can match Pakistan's
labor pool of educated English-speaking workers. No other economy can
match
Pakistan's scalability  Relevant Products/Services from InterLand Business
Hosting Services
<http://www.ecommercetimes.com/images/new/icon-inline-shop.gif> ,
reliability and low-cost environment.

Pakistan offers five advantages over India:

1. Western experience: Executives at IT firms in Pakistan often have
worked
and gone to school in the U.S., which is Pakistan's largest export market.
Indian IT firms whose managers have worked in the West are generally more
expensive than similarly positioned Indian firms, without always providing
noticeable differences in program implementation capabilities. The
willingness of Pakistanis to return home from the West stands in marked
contrast to most Indians who arrive for school or work in the West and
never
look back.

2. Professionalism and integrity: The personal integrity of Pakistani
managers is easy to identify and appreciate, especially by Westerners with
business experience elsewhere in the region. However, the relatively open
and trusting nature of Pakistanis has made them easy prey for Indian
business brokers who have managed to cheat several Pakistani IT firms by
offering to provide them with outsourcing contracts in exchange for
up-front
fees. The Pakistanis assumed that these Indians were open minded and
charitable for coming to help less experienced firms in Pakistan gain
access
to international contracts, until the Indians took their money and
disappeared.

3. Higher labor availability: Fewer holidays in Pakistan means less
slippage
in staff availability compared to India. IT firms in India are advised to
hire a diverse workforce so that members of one community can enjoy
important festivals while members of other communities cover the
phones and
keep production going.

4. Good accents: Pakistan's official language is English. Only Kolkata
(formerly Calcutta) and the Punjabi areas of India can come close to
competing with accents in Pakistan, where many families speak English at
home and where accent neutralization for non-native speakers of English is
substantially easier than in India. Language skills and accents provide
Pakistan with a major advantage over all other Asian outsourcing
destinations.

5. Low cost talent pool: India's top-tier labor force for IT work has been
stretched thin in many areas, especially Bangalore, where escalating wage
rates, turnover and higher outsourcing prices are reaching critical
mass at
the same time that the urban infrastructure  Relevant
Products/Services from
Sybase ASE Linux Express Edition  FREE
<http://www.ecommercetimes.com/images/new/icon-inline-shop.gif> has
exceeded
its carrying capacity. Annual turnover rates reported to
InternationalStaff.net for most merchant call center
<http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/search.pl?query=%22call%20center%22&scop
e=network> Latest News about call center facilities in India at the
beginning of November are approaching 100 percent. High turnover rates are
causing a shift to second tier Indian cities and to Kolkata. Escalating
turnover rates are one of the Indian outsourcing industry's dirty secrets.
In comparison, Pakistan's top-tier talent pool is largely untapped and
turnover rates are less than 20 percent. 


Safety and Security 


Pakistan is not without challenges, some of which are real (improving the
telecommunications infrastructure) and some are exaggerated, especially in
terms of the security  Relevant Products/Services from AT&T Network
Security
Solutions <http://www.ecommercetimes.com/images/new/icon-inline-shop.gif>
situation. Once you have lived through a few riots in India, once you have
taught yourself how to quickly turn the lights out and lay down on the
floor
because you are afraid of what might come through the window, then
Pakistan
doesn't seem so scary anymore.

The biggest danger that Westerners face in South Asia is from automobile
accidents, particularly at night. India has over 8 times the number of
highway fatalities per passenger mile than the U.S.

If you go looking for trouble, you will find it, whether in the back
alleys
of Karachi or the parking lots of many suburban U.S. shopping malls.
Americans who have worked in both Karachi and Mumbai report that there
is no
discernable difference in the safety and security situation in both
cities.
The lack of reporting in the U.S. media on the occurrence of violent
disturbances and general strikes in India, versus the close coverage often
afforded to Pakistan, has created the illusion that Pakistani cities are
somehow more dangerous than cities elsewhere in the region, especially for
Americans.

The U.S. Department of State does not maintain accurate statistics on
economically or personally motivated attacks against their own
personnel in
foreign countries. Nor does it collect accurate information on crimes
committed against U.S. nationals in foreign countries. This leads U.S.
citizens to avoid safe areas (for example, Islamabad) and to incur
excessive
risks in areas where Americans are routinely victimized (for example,
Mexico
City).

The U.S. government is not doing a good job at providing assistance for
Americans who have been assaulted, robbed or otherwise victimized in
foreign
countries. If it did, there would likely be some accounting of those
efforts, accounting that would demonstrate that Pakistan's major
cities have
been and continue to be a generally safe place for U.S. business
people and
their families. 


Shared Roles 


Pakistan and the U.S. have similar roles when it comes to human
rights. Both
countries are a beacon of safety and a haven for refugees. The
government of
Pakistan has not been advertising this fact. The people who have fled to
Pakistan from surrounding countries in the region have, on a one-to-one
personal basis. They are Pakistan's best ambassadors.

Before making up your mind about Pakistan, talk to people who have left
there or have passed through there. Their origins might be different but
their stories are often tragically similar. Too often, it seems as if they
are all reading from the same script: family members (or themselves) in
neighboring countries who have been victimized, jailed, possibly tortured,
relatives killed, and all survivors traumatized and dispossessed. Pakistan
welcomes them and serves as a place of safety and security.

From Iran, Afghanistan, India and elsewhere they come, seeking the same
things that immigrants to the U.S. have always sought: opportunity,
liberty,
freedom of religion and respect for personal beliefs.

Americans naturally identify with the underdogs, the runners up, the
people
who are trying harder than anyone else to succeed. This is why many
Americans find it easy to identify with Pakistanis.

It is not necessary for Americans to take sides in disputes between India
and Pakistan. Taking sides is not required. Long-term peaceful
solutions are
required.

Increased trade and joint projects between Pakistan and India will pull
those two countries together and create incentives for peace. American
firms
doing business in one or both countries can contribute to peace through
responsible business practices and the moderating effects that employment
and prosperity provide. This can and should be accomplished when American
firms are allowed to operate on an equal footing with local firms,
which for
now only appears possible in Pakistan.
<http://www.ectnews.com/images/end-enn.gif>                      

                                               Allah Hafiz...

__________________________________________________________________
Nauman Khan
ICQ#: 43403799

Mobile#:03036661332

naumankhan.itgo.com

+   <http://wwp.icq.com/43403799> More ways to contact me 

naumankhan@b...

mail@u...

naumankhan@i...

urShadow@g...

naumankhan@q...

                                          yarhmkAllah
__________________________________________________________________
--- End forwarded message ---






------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar.
Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free!
http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/wDNolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

_____________________________________________________

IMPORTANT!!!
DO NOT send attachments above 150 KB!

Do you enjoy being in SwF??
 Why don't you tell your friends to join SwF?
   Help this list grow...

======[ Subscribe ]==================================

Send a blank e-mail to subscribe SwF at:
-> share-with-friends-subscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org


======[ UnSubscribe ]================================

To unsubscribe send a blank e-mail at:
-> share-with-friends-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

======[ Contact ]====================================
[email protected]
 - contact the moderators team for questions,
   complaints, suggestions or comments

Enjoy! & do Share with Friends! ;-)


##################################################### 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Share-with-Friends/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    Share-with-Friends-unsubscribe-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/