A new initiative may soon see Scotland rival Eastern Europe as the UK's
primary near-shore outsourcing destination.
Andrew Rigby, a lawyer who has specialised in IT and outsourcing contracts
for nearly 20 years, set up the Outsourcing Hub Initiative six weeks ago.
The plan is to encourage worldwide firms to outsource high-end business
processes to Scotland rather than the low-end services that are typically
contracted out there.
"Scotland has become famous for its call centres but this is the wrong end of
the value chain to concentrate on," said Rigby.
Rigby recently met with high-profile Scottish organisations to design ways
English firms can be encouraged to outsource processes such as software
development to Scotland, rather than locations such as India.
The organisations include the Trade Association for Technology in Scotland,
the Scottish Development International and the Chartered Institute for Bankers
in Scotland.
Rigby has also been meeting with major consultancy firms and utility
providers.
He said the initiative would mainly target outsourcing buyers in England,
followed by Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada and the US.
"Canada provides outsourcing services to the UK so there is no reason why the
UK can't provide outsourcing services to Canada," he said.
Rigby said marketing of the initiative would focus on the financial services
sector. He pointed to the success of JP Morgan's centre of excellence for
software and application development just outside Glasgow.
In response to doubts concerning Scotland's ability to rival Eastern Europe,
Rigby said: "Edinburgh does not rank sixth in the world for asset management for
no reason."
Rigby pointed to the large technology expertise Scotland holds, particularly
the skills of its large pool of graduates.
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