IT Services to Japan to increase 3-fold

[FG Lurker]

IT Services to Japan to increase 3-fold
Business India, January 10

The export of software and IT services to Japan could triple to 1,500 million dollar in the near future if Indo-Japan double taxation avoidance agreement is renegotiated. (Complete Story)

It's going to be interesting to see how this pans out. A lot of jobs that the US/Canada/etc outsourced very early to India are language dependent (telephone support services) and won't be easy to do when speaking Japanese is a requirement.

But certainly things like back-end coding work that is language independent can be sent overseas easily.

[gkanai]

One of the major hidden costs in outsourcing is that English usually becomes the default language of business. But if neither country is a native-English speaking nation (in this case Japan and India), the confusion resulting from non-native English is a real and significant cost. It causes delays and confusion and many more issues.

It is, however, hard to measure and thus is ignored.

[Socratesabroad]

A lot of jobs that the US/Canada/etc outsourced very early to India are language dependent (telephone support services) and won't be easy to do when speaking Japanese is a requirement.

But certainly things like back-end coding work that is language independent can be sent overseas easily.

I'd certainly agree about the coding work - I've seen the finished products firsthand that several Japanese manufacturers had done by companies in India.
And while I don't much about the language-dependent stuff, I can mention this: I've seen Japanese companies outsource their translation and localization work to Indian firms as well. Sometimes the results are understandable, sometimes they're not, but with tax breaks I'd expect to see a lot more Japanese companies send their their translation and localization work to India to save cash.

All of this is not without pitfalls - as you alluded to, FGL, many Western companies scaled back call centers and the like after a plethora of consumer complaints like not being able to understand operators/tech service reps.

[FG Lurker]

One of the major hidden costs in outsourcing is that English usually becomes the default language of business. But if neither country is a native-English speaking nation (in this case Japan and India), the confusion resulting from non-native English is a real and significant cost. It causes delays and confusion and many more issues.

It is, however, hard to measure and thus is ignored.

It's ignored until the problems become blatantly obvious at least...

Dell outsourced their US business customer support to India but was smart enough to pull it back when it became obvious it was costing them business. HP hasn't been that smart and is continuing to push more and more work that way. It is costing them a lot of business and hurting their reputation. And those are where at least one side is native-English speaking!

[FG Lurker]

I'd certainly agree about the coding work - I've seen the finished products firsthand that several Japanese manufacturers had done by companies in India.

The company I work for does a fair amount of coding in India. The results are.....mixed. I don't work in that area so I only hear things 3rd hand though.

And while I don't much about the language-dependent stuff, I can mention this: I've seen Japanese companies outsource their translation and localization work to Indian firms as well. Sometimes the results are understandable, sometimes they're not, but with tax breaks I'd expect to see a lot more Japanese companies send their their translation and localization work to India to save cash.

I've often wondered why translation is not done as a team. One native Japanese speaker with a good command of English, and one native English speaker with a good command of Japanese. Maybe there is a good reason for not doing it this way (besides expense of course), but in my experience the resulting translation of this type of work is very, very good. I don't even want to imagine the disaster that would occur having someone who is not a native speaker of either language do the work...

All of this is not without pitfalls - as you alluded to, FGL, many Western companies scaled back call centers and the like after a plethora of consumer complaints like not being able to understand operators/tech service reps.

Many companies have pushed it ahead with it too though. A lot of this comes from the "current quarter, next quarter" mentality of the US corporate world. Bonuses and stock prices are based on immediate results, not on long term potential. If you can save a big pile of money now via outsourcing you get a big bonus and the stock will go up. Who cares if the decisions made will cause major financial problems for the company a few years down the road -- you'll be looooong gone by then! HP in particular really seems to be operating this way.

[cstaylor]

I've often wondered why translation is not done as a team. One native Japanese speaker with a good command of English, and one native English speaker with a good command of Japanese.

You just described my wife and me and our software development.