Will cost cuttings result in more jobs to be outsourced?

This is a repost of an answer I recently posted on Linked.

I think in the short run no, in the long run yes.

Outsourcing, especially to other countries, started more than a decade ago (in its current definition). It was overdone and rushed, before creating the right processes and procedures to measure, monitor, manage, and adjust. There were some successes and lots of failures too. The failures slowed down the practice and in some cases even reversed the trend. As methodologies became more and more established and better implemented, and as the vendors learned to meet the needs of their clients better, the outsourcing started becoming the norm rather than the exception. and I believe this trend will continue.

From a bigger picture perspective, to remain competitive companies need to do things horizontally (focusing on their particular expertise and added-value) and outsource functions that are required to run a business but are not particular to their company. This is not necessarily bad for the workforce, although it does shift the jobs around. Also this does not necessarily mean jobs will move outside the countries, although in some cases they do, but for some other jobs there should be an increase via insourcing (if that is a word). This process, over time, should level the playing field.

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