Offshoring and the Global Marketplace

A Changing Marketplace Demands New Sources

Despite the convenience offered by its New York office, Impelsys considers its real advantage to be its offshore production facilities in India, where 90 percent of its staff is located. "Our model allows management and maintenance of Web site content, production of CDs and creation of other digital components with cost savings of up to 50 percent," says Shariff. "Publishers are struggling with how to create revenues from Web products, and we're seeing that if we can leverage global resources, you can have a lower cost structure. So, it makes sense that these products can be more valuable."

Impelsys counts companies such as Reed Elsevier, HarperCollins and McGraw-Hill among its client list, so some major companies are seeing an advantage in outsourcing some business processes beyond book manufacturing.

"Publishers are no longer book providers. They need to distribute content in multiple platforms," says Shariff. This is creating a new need in the marketplace, he says. "The digital side is growing, and publishers need to create products. Technology is changing so fast, they need partners to help them stay on top of it."

One American company, Fairfax, Va.-based TechBooks—one of the first in the book-publishing industry to use an offshore model—launched its first overseas effort in New Delhi some 16 years ago. It opened an office in London late last year. Today, the company, which provides pre-manufacturing services—from editorial and design to digital content services—to publishers, employs 2,100 and serves many of the top publishers worldwide. Last year, TechBooks was ranked as the fourth-largest business process outsourcing (BPO) firm in India in an Auto Data Network Orbit survey of BPOs.

TechBooks' model is largely based on what TechBooks Senior Vice President Mark Witman refers to as the "India Advantage … a highly educated, English-speaking work force with a high degree of technical competency at a competitive wage structure."