Group Dynamics

Hiring outside contractors to develop software no longer qualifies as a radical move.

Category: Offshore outsourcing

What It Is: Subcontracting out technology work to third-party providers at overseas locations.

Key Players: Tata Consulting, Wipro, Infosys, Satyam, Syntel (headquartered in India); EDS, Accenture, IBM Global Services, Cognizant, CSC (based in the U.S., but with operations overseas, including India).

Others: Alternative regions are known for different skill sets, and range in terms of cost savings: Russia (complex development), Philippines (business processes), China (low-cost development), Ireland, Romania—even Canada and Mexico (so-called nearshore options).

Market Size: $12B* (2002)

What's Happening: After years of delivering cost savings in low-end development, Indian firms are expanding their offerings. Meanwhile, China's begun to undercut on price, and large American firms see the value of moving in themselves.

Companies in italicized yellow type are featured in Dossiers this month
* Source: Aberdeen Group. includes work done by overseas firms as well as offshore production by U.S. and European Technology industries.