The internet has revolutionized business and life in general in ways never before imagined.
People have always talked about a global economy, but these days that is truly what we have.
The internet has made borders and geographical location less important than anyone could have imagined just 20 years ago.
This economic shift has made outsourcing one of the hottest trends in business.
The IT sector is especially keen on this type of labor.
Outsourcing has become possible for businesses of all types and sizes.
Even a salon owner in Iowa can take advantage of outsourcing.
Perhaps they will hire someone from India to maintain their books.
Anything that can be done offsite can now be done much cheaper through the internet.
Here are some of the possibilities and advantages of outsourcing.
Skilled occupations such as web designers, accountants, programmers and dozens of other occupations that require considerable education or experience can be quite costly in westernized countries.
After all, these people had to pay for their education and put in the time to attain the skill level and now they want to be compensated.
The same education is available in countries like India, Pakistan and the Philippines for a fraction of the cost.
These professionals can therefore charge much less for their services without feeling cheated.
Lower living costs in their countries also make their wages go considerable further than in the U.
S.
Outsourcing of course doesn't have to mean using foreign workers.
Outsourcing also has advantages when hiring Americans to do the job.
Worker efficiency has been proven to suffer for those on salaries compared to those paid per job.
The per job employees have control over their own earning and therefore waste less time.
Outsourcing jobs to freelancers on a per job basis can save companies thousands of dollars in lost productivity costs.
Employers also save by not having to pay payroll taxes and other benefits that full time employees demand.
In a large company, this can save millions of dollars a year.
Outsourcing also allows companies to maintain a pool of very specialized workers that normally they would not have access to.
A company may only need a graphic artist a few weeks out of the year.
By outsourcing, they can find a full time graphic designer and only have to pay for the job they need done.
Small businesses can also use outsourcing to take advantage of time zone constraints.
A global market means that a company likely has customers in vastly different time zones and they need a way to respond to those customers in a timely manner.
Outsourcing the services of a call center or simply by hiring a worker in the desired time zone who can work from home can alleviate this hurdle.
Outsourcing often gets a bad rap from those who feel that jobs should be kept in the U.
S.
What outsourcing actually does is keep the high paying jobs in the U.
S.
while still allowing the company to operate in the green.
Many companies simply relocate their operations overseas when things get too costly at home.
Outsourcing is a way to avoid this.
If a company is concerned about its image, they can always simply hire American freelancers.
In this case everyone wins.
Outsourcing is here to stay and is the way of the new global economy.