The argument for offshore outsourcing begins with a basic assumption: There are masses of high-quality IT workers available in places such as India, China, and the Philippines at low cost. Yet what worries business-technology managers most about sending work abroad is poor quality and high costs.
That’s because there are so many ways an offshore project can go sour. Despite the enticing tales of Ph.D. engineers who will work for $10 an hour and pristine, Six-Sigma offshore-programming facilities, the risks are greater and more complicated than they appear on the surface. Even those bullish on offshore outsourcing have their concerns, according to a new InformationWeek Research survey of 300 business-technology executives. Among the 40% of respondents who are considering or already using offshore outsourcing, what weighs most heavily on their minds is the quality of the work performed, unexpected costs, and project delays (see chart, “Outsourcing Worries”, page 4).

read the full story:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=15500032