Outsourcing and India have almost become synonymous, but that is changing as other countries emerge with all of the right ingredients to leverage them as very attractive for companies shopping for talent,low costs ,sound infrastructure and minimal government bureaucracy. As global networking penetrates countries like Pakistan, Vietnam, Estonia, Russia and the Ukraine, they are emerging as viable contenders.

“Estonia is just one of many countries learning from the example set by India, which remains the top outsourcing destination on A.T. Kearney’s list, and the country is eager to carve out a piece of the bulging market for offshore outsourcing services. The global market for shared services and outsourcing is expected to grow to $1.43 trillion by the end of 2009, from $930 billion in 2006, according to a report released this month by consultancy Frost & Sullivan. Globally, companies spent about $233 billion on IT outsourcing in 2006.

Off shoring upstarts are making so many inroads, in fact, that by 2012, they’ll significantly dilute India’s dominance, says consultancy Gartner (IT). The consulting firm says that by 2010 about 30% of Fortune 500 enterprises will outsource to three or more countries, from less than 10% today. “So many governments have realized what an opportunity this is and there’s a lot of effort being spent in promoting their countries to the market,” says Johan Gott, manager of A.T. Kearney’s Global Services Location Index.”
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Many factors play in: political climate, economic stability, government cooperation, infrastructure, the government’s use of technology to transform the economy, cultural affinities, education, language skills and a decided lack of terrorists, a factor that has removed Pakistan as a viable candidate for many Western countries.