These are offshoring woes Hong Kong firms are troubled with

33% say that quality of service is compromised when offshoring.

According to a survey among senior business and finance leaders by Robert Half, these are the pros and cons of offshoring:

Firms cited the following benefits of offshoring their business functions:

· Increased organisational flexibility (36%)
· Access to skills not available internally (34%)
· Reduced operating costs (26%)
· Ability to concentrate on core competencies (25%)
· Access to staff resources not available locally (24%)

There are also some drawbacks with offshoring that Hong Kong firms are concerned with:

· Quality of service / product is compromised (33%)
· External risks e.g. intellectual property loss, privacy (33%)
· Social responsibility / ethical issue (16%)
· Additional hidden costs (16%)
· Internal risks e.g. loss or reduction in control, lack of organisational preparedness (13%)
· Impact on internal staff e.g. turnover, lack of team spirit (13%)

“Ensuring the delivery of quality services and products and managing external risks in offshored countries are the main challenges when firms opt to outsource some of their functions overseas. Companies can strengthen quality assurance procedures, as well as reinforce risk management plans to minimise potential negative impacts and reap offshoring’s greatest rewards,” Pallavi Anand, Director of Robert Half Hong Kong, said.