Talk:Personal offshoring

Improving the article

First things first, let's give the article a clear lead, which does actually define and explain the topic. What needs to be said in it? Petemyers (talk) 16:15, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

You're right, it currently does not have a "lead" in regards to the standard Wikipedia format. The first section is currently a preamble/introduction that introduces the history of outsourcing in general which then leads into the main topic matter. I'd suggest shifting that information down into its own section; perhaps call it "history". Then simplify/shorten some of the information from further on in the article to create the lead.

In fact, I'll do that now. BTW, the pace at which I edit this will likely be very slow. I wasn't intending to write the whole article myself...I was only intending my information to be a starting point for others to use. In fact, originally I started a topic on Litesourcing/Lightsourcing because I did not realize that no one had done an article on the super-category of Personal Offshoring.

I'd also suggest making links to the overall topic of Offshoring: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshoring Patrickice (talk) 19:58, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Patrickice... you don't need to do it all on your own. But in order for others to get involved, you've got to a) make the article clear enough so that other people can get some grip on the subject and what needs doing, and b) provide sources so that the article can be edited by others. Sources are particularly important - without them everyone else is totally at a loss to even verify what you've already written, and all that will happen is it will likely be removed by someone. I'm offering to help... but that means engaging with me here - which you've started to do which is great. Petemyers (talk) 10:09, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

Patrickice - actually sourcing the claims the article makes is the absolute top priority - for example there's one reference in the article to "a study". That absolutely must have a reference for example! If you could work hard on getting the sources up in the next few days, then I will tidy up the article for you. Petemyers (talk) 10:15, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

"next few days"? Won't happen. I have higher priorities eating my time. Next few months is doable. Patrickice (talk) 15:16, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

In that case, I will start working with the sources I have to make this article into a good stub. I will move content to this talk page that I can't find sourced (everything's available in the history section anyway). As and when we find sources, content can be moved back to the article page. Unsourced material will just be flagged and/or removed by other editors when they find their way to this page otherwise. Petemyers (talk) 15:56, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

I thought I'd pop in quickly to say that I haven't forgotten about this. The little time I've spent on Wikipedia has been devoted to the Guitar Praise lately but I do plan on finishing this one eventually. I was hoping others would jump in, but so far that does not seem to be happening. Patrickice (talk) 18:44, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

Sure. I hope there's no hard feelings about the stuff I moved onto this talk page... just making sure that we try to keep up the quality standards. I've reached the limits of my knowledge on this topic... and with the sources I've been able to find, the article contains all the information that was verifiable. Presumably you have a better idea of source material, and I can help the page get more wikified when you provide some of those references. :) Petemyers (talk) 19:43, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Temporarily removed material

This material has been removed from the page, and is being stored here temporarily for one of two reasons. It either (a) is a direct quote from another website that is not clearly marked as such, and therefore potentially plagiaristic, or (b) is not properly referenced with verifiable sources. Petemyers (talk) 16:04, 20 October 2008 (UTC)

I spent a little time looking through my old emails. I think most of the factual statements in the history section come from the World is Flat, which is focused on outsourcing in general and does not discuss these sub-topics. I remember that some of the facts came from printed magazines; there probably are online versions of those articles somehwere. But the majority of the writing is in my own words and represents my working knowledge of the subject. I don't know how you intend on sourcing that since I'm describing what I know from experience, not quoting someone else.

Take this statement for example: "many web developers in the USA charge between $1000 to $1500 for an informational website." I know this from having been involved in projects, looking at price quotes on sites like guru.com, and from the prices my personal associates charge. I also know that larger companies will charge anywhere between $5000 to $20,000 USD. How do I source that? Patrickice (talk) 18:41, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

User:Patrickice can I recommend that you check out WP:Verify, which clearly explains why verifiable sources are important, what they are, and how to put them in. Then also check out WP:ORIGINAL which explains why wikipedia articles cannot be original research, they must be dependent on secondary sources, and demonstrably so. I haven't deleted your work - I just moved it to the talk page. As and when we find sources for this information we can move it back. One big reason that's important is because another interested editor like me is unable to amend or improve on your work because it lacks sources. If you provide some of the links to the sources here, then I can go away and do the hard graft of checking them out, and putting stuff back into the article. I don't mind doing that... but providing some sources to begin with is necessary.

Is there nothing academic, or no books published on this? As it is, hanging the whole article on magazine journalism is a little thin... is there anything stronger out there we can start to look at? Petemyers (talk) 07:46, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

History

Economic theorists typically conceptualize the world’s goods and services as falling into one of two bins: tradable or non-tradable. Let us make a bold prediction. In the future the key distinction for international business will no longer be between things that can be put in a box and things that cannot. It will, instead, be between services that can be delivered electronically over long distances with little or no degradation of quality, and those that cannot. There is little doubt that the fraction of services that can be delivered electronically will grow.

Globalization empowers individuals to collaborate and compete individually, which has been described as the 'flat-world platform' by Thomas Friedman in his seminal work The World is Flat. Globalization, the internet, and the virtualization of work environments allows for a new type of workforce. The majority of these new business models incorporate outsourcing and offshoring.

Outsourcing is now a major factor in most business models. McDonalds is outsourcing drive-through ordering. Even Japan is outsourcing to Japanese-speaking Chinese cities such as Dalian. A report released by management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and Nasscom has forecast that India's outsourcing industry can grow at an annual rate of over 25 percent to generate export revenue of about $60 billion by 2010.

Precisely because the economy has changed, businesses have figured out how to produce more goods, services and profits with fewer full-time workers. Outsourcing is one such trend. About 90 percent of outsourcing actually takes place inside the United States and creates jobs at home. Only 10 percent of “outsourced jobs” are created overseas. Businesses are also relying more on free-lancers, temporary workers and contract employees. Many work off payroll (and without benefits) and simply aren’t tracked by the government’s payroll survey. Employers also leverage technology to streamline and automate operations, which can also reduce the need to payroll workers.

Personal Offshoring

Such Personal Offshoring is still new and represents a tiny fraction of the more than $20 billion overseas outsourcing industry. But management consultants and economists say it's likely to evolve into a larger niche as offshore workers identify the opportunities.

But when done correctly the financial savings can be quite large. For example, many web developers in the USA charge between $1000 to $1500 for an informational website. But a vendor located within Eastern Europe, India, or China may be able to do the same website for half the price.

Business Model Variants

There are variations on Personal Offshoring worth mentioning. But as this is an emerging trend, there is not a consensus on the spelling or practices of each sub-category of Personal Offshoring.

Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing is where web portals provide the marketplace for the work of amateurs. Instead of outsourcing the work of big business to India or China, the work is outsourced to talented people with spare time who often have day jobs. These individual vendors do the work for additional income or sometimes even as a hobby if it's in another field besides their day job.

Homesourcing

JetBlue does what they term homesourcing, where US-based housewives are hired to handle reservations and other small jobs. A few years ago supposedly 16% or 23.5 million of all US employees now work from home. Other companies say homesourcing to US-based personnel is preferred because the quality of the employees is better compared to India and China even though a bit more expensive.

Litesourcing or Lightsourcing

In a nutshell, Litesourcing could be called “managed personal outsourcing”. Typically, outsourcing involves only two parties: the client and the vendor. Litesourcing is where the difficult aspects of outsourcing are managed by an independent 3rd party. The consumer, being the client, merely needs to communicate a basic vision of what they need and pay for it. The Litesourcing provider is the interface between the consumer and outsourcing vendors.

Within business circles Litesourcing is sometimes referred to as "Lightsourcing", which should not be confused with the 3D rendering technique in computer graphics.

Microsourcing

Microsourcing denotes employees of large companies outsourcing their workload to individuals in India or China. In the business world this is considered a gray area ethically.

The process

Prospective employers post jobs on these sites and vendors respond with bids. There are often reviews and rankings of contractors posted by former employers and vice versa so it behooves both sides to behave professionally and responsibly. However, the websites do not indemnify the work of contractors.

The websites typically take a 6 percent to 10 percent cut of the fee negotiated between the two parties. Some sites offer to hold funds in escrow until the job is completed to the employer's satisfaction. In some cases, employers negotiate to pay a portion up front, a portion halfway through the job, and the rest upon completion.

Collection of sources

Please find sources for this article in order to move material back into it. Sources will be collected and listed here. Petemyers (talk) 07:59, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

• [1] Petemyers (talk) 07:59, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
• [2] Petemyers (talk) 08:00, 28 October 2008 (UTC)