Around the World and Back Again: Sourcing Services in the USA

The United States is becoming an attractive sourcing location for IT and business services, but how viable is it, and what needs to occur to see more services evolve in Uncle Sam’s backyard, employing U.S. talent? HfS Research, with the support of the Sourcing Interests Group, conducted the largest study to date largest-ever study of U.S. enterprises to ascertain how real the prospect of the U.S. being a major competitive sourcing location is becoming.

Are the challenges of moving jobs offshore finally coming home to roost? Are companies now doing a volte-face when it comes to shipping jobs offshore? Will offshore locations in India start competing with Mankato and Martinsburg? Will IT and business process jobs start flocking back onshore? As a result of the recession, are American wage levels finally competitive with India, the Philippines and Malaysia? What will it take in terms of public policy and incentives to flip on the switch?

Although the use of offshore resources to deliver IT and business processes is now an accepted business model, there are signs that the playing field could finally be leveling for the U.S.-based worker. To uncover the extent to which U.S.-based companies may be contemplating keeping jobs onshore—or actually moving jobs back home, HfS launched its Outsourcing to the U.S. study in July through September 2012 to gauge how the U.S., as a location, and Americans, as workers, are competing for back-office or business service jobs.

HfS’s groundbreaking study surveyed and interviewed operations executives (termed “enterprise buyers”) who make or influence their companies’ business operations and outsourcing decisions in addition to leading executives from the suppliers of outsourcing services who invest in locations around the world. With data from more than 235 enterprise buyer respondents and 270 outsourcing supplier respondents, the industry now has real data on the state of play when it comes to sourcing jobs onshore.