Another Location Index

Management Consultants AT Kearney released their recent offshoring location index, which compares the “top 50” locations by financial attractiveness, people skills and availability and business environment. Whilst unsurprisingly India and China lead the way, the interesting developments are that Egypt move up to 4^th place, Mexico up to 6^th and the Philippines sitting at a lowly 9^th place!

Proservartner Point of View: This report illustrates a wholly different picture to the IBM research released in late 2010, where the Philipinnes were the no 1 location for business support services. We would not agree with either the Philippines is not as low as 9^th in terms of attractiveness for offshoring, nor is it as high as 1^st – the answer lies somewhere in between.

The unfortunate timing of the release this week, whilst the political instability in Egypt was progressing, also questions the positioning of Egypt in the table. Whilst the financial attractiveness of Egypt remains high, people skills and availability remains desirable, the business environment will have to be questioned – especially given that the internet was turned off in Egypt!

The ramification of this will be felt across the globe. Given the developments in Iran, Tunisia (which lies 23^rd in the rankings) and now Egypt, organisations would be sensible in taking a much more cautious regarding the political risks in a region, considering the risk of government intervention ie the internet switched off, whilst ensuring that there are clear business continuity protocols in place to support technology, data and service.

www.proservartner.co.uk