Companies That Offshore
Offshore outsourcing can be a powerful option for companies that require access to talent in a niche. It can also lower labor costs, increase revenue and increase competitiveness of companies.
Companies that outsource should be aware of their risks. Manufacturing and designing can be transferred offshore together, which can rob a company of its design and engineering capabilities.
Telstra
Telstra has grown tremendously from its humble beginnings in early 1990s, when it was a state-owned small business. It is now a huge telecommunications corporation with operations around the world. It is also the largest provider of fixed line telephony in Australia.
The success of the company is due to its solid investment strategy and innovative solutions. In the early days when resources were scarce, the company invested heavily in the latest technologies and recognized that the telecommunications industry had enormous potential for growth. This was a smart decision as it enabled the company to connect Australian city both domestically and internationally. The company was also the first in the field of mobile phones, which enabled people to remain connected to their loved ones wherever they were.
In the 90s, the company was faced with major challenges, such as deregulation and competition from rival companies. But, it did not be in a rut and devised aggressive plans to respond to these changes. For instance, it invested heavily in infrastructure and invested $200 billion to enhance its services. It also came up with a new idea and launched BigPond, a high-speed internet service for customers.
It also reduced its staff and outsourced a few of its functions, which resulted savings in costs. It also implemented an organization structure that divided roles into functional groups rather than an traditional hierarchy system. This allowed managers at the top to have more control over their areas of expertise.
Recently, the company announced that it will be bringing its call centres back to Australia, and that by 2021, all its consumer and small business calls will be answered in the country. Telstra has taken a significant move forward, and it will have a positive impact on its customers. The company will still operate offshore call centers for its largest international customers.
GE
Thomas Edison founded General Electric in 1892. It quickly became one of America's most profitable companies. In the 1980s, GE acquired several large companies such as Employer's Reinsurance and Kidder Peabody. In the 1980s, GE's revenue rose from $5 billion to $70 billion. But, despite these gains many analysts have wondered whether GE's growth was sustainable.
At present, GE is focusing on industrial technology and services, medical, renewable energy and power. It has also invested in additive machines, also known as 3-D printers that can be used to make new products and components. In addition the financial arm of GE offers commercial lending and leasing.
The company's most popular product is the GE washer and dryer that has been used in American homes for more than 80 years. It was the first appliance that could wash and dry clothes, which is an innovative invention for families. GE manufactures not only appliances, but also aircraft engines, medical devices and power generators. GE plans to expand its digital business in the near future. This includes commercial software from Wurldtech and cybersecurity technologies.
GE also offshoring its most important business processes in India which has wages lower than those in the US. Its captive offshoring company, GE Capital International Services (GECIS) employed 12,000 workers in 2004. In 2005, GE sold its stake in GECIS and transformed it into a separate BPO called Genpact. Genpact employs 20,000 employees and GE is still a major client. Genpact recently expanded its business by acquiring the manufacturer of the Osprey drone. GE has also made significant investments in the wind sector through a contract to supply 87 Haliade-14 MW wind turbines from Dogger Bank C.
IBM
International Business Machines is one of the largest technology companies around the globe with its headquarters located in Armonk, New York. The company offers hardware, software and services for the IT industry. In addition, it offers financing to facilitate its clients purchase of IT systems and software. In addition, it operates research labs across the globe. The company's innovative research dates back to the 1880s, when Julius E. Pitrat invented the computing scale, and Alexander Dey created the dial recorder. Herman Hollerith also created the tabulating device.
The corporate vision statement of the company reflects its commitment to leadership in the field of information technology and market. It declares that the company will provide high-value services by using business model innovation in conjunction with technology expertise and industry knowledge. It also puts a high priority on customer satisfaction as well as value creation because it is essential to its success in the long term.
In recent years, IBM has expanded its services business and recast itself as a cloud and cognitive solutions computing platform company. The software portfolio of IBM includes analytics-related offerings including Cognos and SPSS. It also provides IT infrastructure software, such as the IBM WebSphere application server and MQ messaging middleware. It also provides mobile and security software, including the IBM Verse business email offering and the IBM QRadar security intelligence platform.
The company's hardware business has been declining in recent years due to the shift in corporate IT spending from on-premise systems to centralized providers like Amazon Web Services. In the meantime, IBM has focused on its services and business consulting businesses, and has made a number of acquisitions in order to increase its presence in these areas. Additionally IBM has poured money heavily in cloud computing, and has a large global presence.
Accenture
Accenture is among the top management consulting outsourcing, technology services and outsourcing companies. Accenture has a range of strengths that provide it with a competitive advantage with regard to extensive industry expertise and knowledge and innovative technology solutions, strong partnerships with leading technology vendors and a global reach and scale.
The company's business processes include marketing, procurement, supply chain, learning, human resources, and finance. Accenture is also present in more than 120 countries. In addition to its core offerings, Accenture offers a number of other specializations. For instance, it provides SAP S/4HANA development and speed-tracking customer journeys to digital businesses. It also provides IT and security consulting services.
In the past, businesses have outsourced a few production functions in order to reduce costs and improve competitiveness. In the industry of clothing, for example, many production functions have been outsourced Asian countries. In recent years, however, more companies have switched their focus from production of goods to services. This has resulted in a growing demand for experts with experience in IT and digital services. These skills can be transferred across different industries.
Accenture has a wide range of clients and is expanding its reach in important markets. Its client base includes 91 of the Fortune Global 100 and more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500. Accenture partners with companies such as Apple, Google, Oracle and others to create innovative technology. For instance, Accenture has partnered with SAP to develop an intelligent platform that helps upstream oil and gas companies cut down on the complexity of their operations by using market standards. The solution is currently being tested by a group of major oil and gas companies, including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Equinor. This partnership is a demonstration of how companies are shifting away from traditional outsourcing and instead focusing on innovation and services.
Microsoft
Microsoft is one of the most popular producers of operating systems and application software for personal computers. The most well-known products of Microsoft include its Windows software line, Office suite and Internet Explorer browser. However, the company has faced accusations of monopoly and anti-competitive behaviour. In the 1990s, it started the creation of a complex web of offshore entities to transfer intellectual property and cut taxes.
If a buyer purchases Office in Seattle, Microsoft's headquarters are not in Redmond. Instead the money is transported on an extended journey. The money is a long journey beginning with an Nevada sales subsidiary, which doesn't tax corporate income. Then, companies offshore crosses the Atlantic to a Bermudan company which is taxed at the island's zero-percent rate.
The money is transferred to a Puerto Rican company that accounts for research costs and transfers a small portion to an Irish company. The company has employed structures similar to this one in other countries like Britain and Germany. The arrangement has saved the software huge billions of dollars in tax.
Congress is now suing the software giant to change its offshore policy. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations stated that the company and other technology companies use offshore units and loopholes to avoid paying taxes. The panel is investigating allegations of tax evasion by tech companies such as Google owner Alphabet and Apple, who have shifted billions of dollars in profits to tax-free jurisdictions.
The partnership between SSE Renewables, Avanade and the Netherlands' Ministry of Infrastructure is a part of a larger project to improve the impact of wind farms on the environment. The partnership will create digital tools that will better monitor the impact of wind farms on the local ecosystem. The tools will be tested in an aquarium and are expected to enhance the identification of wildlife, abundance monitoring and analysis of distribution.