Companies That Offshore
Offshore outsourcing is a potent tool for companies that require access to specialized talent. It can also reduce costs for labor, boost revenues, and improve company competitiveness.
Outsourcing companies must be aware of the risks. Moving design offshore and manufacturing can deprive a business of its design and engineering capabilities.
Telstra
Telstra has made significant strides since its humble beginnings in early 1990s when it was a government-owned small company. Today it is a huge privatised telecommunications company with operations all over the world. It is also the largest provider of fixed line telephony services in Australia.
The company's success is attributed to its innovative solutions and a strong investment strategy. In the early days, when resources were limited, the company invested heavily in new technology and realized that the telecommunications industry had enormous potential for growth. This was a smart decision, as it allowed the company to connect Australian cities domestically and internationally. The company was also a pioneer in the use of mobile phones, which allowed people to keep in touch with their loved ones wherever they were.
In the 90s, the company faced major challenges, such as the deregulation of its operations and competition from competitors. It refused to sit back and developed aggressive plans to adapt to these changes. It poured $200 billion into infrastructure and made huge investments in it. It also came up with a new idea and launched BigPond which is a high-speed internet service for users.
It also reduced its staff and outsourced certain tasks, which led to savings in costs. It also adopted a new organization structure that separated roles into functional groups instead of the traditional hierarchical structure. This gave senior managers more control over their area of expertise.
Telstra recently announced that it is bringing its call centers back to Australia and that, by 2021 its small business and consumer calls will all be answered in Australia. This is a major improvement for Telstra and is likely to benefit its customers. Telstra will continue to operate offshore call centers for its more 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 including Employer's Reinsurance and Kidder Peabody. In this period the company's revenues grew from $5 billion to $70 billion. However, despite these achievements some analysts have been questioning whether the company's growth was sustainable.
At present, GE is focusing on industrial technology and services such as medical, renewable energy, and power. It has also invested in additive machines, 3D printers that can be used to design parts and products. In addition the financial arm of GE provides commercial loans and leasing.
The company's most popular product is the GE washer and dryer that has been in use in American homes for more than 80 years. It was the first appliance that could be used to wash and dry clothes, which is an innovative invention for families. GE produces not just appliances but also medical devices, aircraft engines and power generators. In the near future, GE is planning to expand its digital business that includes cybersecurity software for commercial use and technologies from Wurldtech.
GE also offshores its most important business processes to India in a country where wages are cheaper than in the US. Its captive offshoring business, GE Capital International Services (GECIS), employed 12,000 employees in 2004. In 2005, GE sold its stake in GECIS and transformed it into a standalone BPO known as Genpact. GE continues to be a major customer of Genpact which has a staff of 20,000 people. The company recently diversified its operations by purchasing the maker of the Osprey Drone. GE is also investing heavily in the wind industry, by supplying the Haliade-X 14MW wind turbines to Dogger Bank C.
IBM
International Business Machines (IBM) is one of the largest technology companies, headquartered in Armonk, New York. IBM provides hardware, software, and services to the IT industry. Additionally, it provides financing to assist its customers purchase of IT systems and software. In addition, it operates research labs across the globe. The company has a rich history of groundbreaking research that dates to the 1880s when Julius E. Pitrat patented the computing scale, Alexander Dey invented the dial recorder, and Herman Hollerith created a tabulating machine.
The corporate vision statement of the company is a reflection of its determination to be a leader in the industry and market for information technology. The corporate vision statement states that it will provide quality service by combining technological expertise with business model innovation. It also puts a top priority on customer satisfaction and value creation since it is essential to its success in the long term.
In recent years, IBM has expanded its services business and redefined itself as an cognitive solutions and cloud computing platform company. The software portfolio of IBM includes analytics-related offerings like Cognos and SPSS. It also offers IT infrastructure software, such as the IBM WebSphere application server and MQ messaging middleware. It also offers mobile and security software such as the IBM Verse business email offering and the IBM QRadar security intelligence platform.
The hardware business of IBM has been declining in recent years due to the shift in corporate IT spending from on-premise facilities to centralized providers like Amazon Web Services. IBM has been focusing on its business consulting and services businesses and has made several acquisitions to increase their presence in these fields. IBM has also made significant investments in cloud computing and has a global presence.
Accenture
Accenture is a leading provider of management consulting outsourcing, technology and management consulting in the world. The company has a number of strengths that provide it with a competitive advantage with regard to extensive industry knowledge and expertise, innovative technology solutions, strong relationships with top technology companies, and global scale and reach.
Marketing, procurement, supply chains as well as learning and management of human resources and finance are all a part of the company's procedures. It also has a presence in more than 120 countries. Accenture also offers a variety of specialized services in addition to its primary offerings. For instance, it offers SAP S/4HANA development as well as fast-tracking customer journeys to digital businesses. It also offers IT and security consultancy services.
Historically, companies have outsourced certain production processes to reduce costs and improve their competitiveness. For instance, the apparel industry has outsourced many of its production functions to Asian countries. In recent years, however, more companies have switched their focus from product production to services. This shift has resulted in an increasing demand for professionals with experience of digital and IT services. These skills can be transferred across industries.
Accenture offers a variety of clients and is expanding its presence in key markets. Its client base includes 91 of the Fortune Global 100 and more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500. The company also partners with companies such as Apple, Google, and Oracle to create new technologies. Accenture for instance, has partnered up with SAP to develop an intelligent platform that aids oil companies in the upstream to simplify their processes by using market standards. This solution is being tested by a consortium of major oil and gas companies including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Equinor. This collaboration shows how companies are stepping away from traditional outsourcing to focus on services and innovation.
Microsoft
Microsoft is among the world's most successful manufacturers of operating systems and application programs for personal computers. The most well-known of its products are the Windows line of software and the Office suite and Internet Explorer web browser. The company has been accused of anti-competitive practices, monopoly and the use of monopoly. In the 1990s, it set an elaborate network of offshore companies in order to transfer intellectual properties and reduce tax payments.
When a customer purchases Office in Seattle Microsoft's headquarters are not located in Redmond. Instead, the money takes an extended journey. Instead, the money begins with a long journey beginning with an affiliate company in Nevada which isn't taxed on corporate income. The money then crosses the Atlantic and is taxed by a Bermudan firm at a zero percent rate.
From there, the money goes to a Puerto Rican company that accounts for research expenses and then passes some of the proceeds to an Irish company. The company has employed similar structures to avoid taxes in other countries, such as Britain and Germany. The software giant has saved billions in taxes through this arrangement.
Congress is now challenging the software giant to change its offshore policy. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said that the company, along with other technology companies, utilize offshore units and tax loopholes in order to avoid the payment of taxes. The panel is investigating claims that tech companies, like Alphabet the parent company of Google, and Apple have been evading taxes by transferring billions of dollars in profits to low tax jurisdictions.
The partnership between SSE Renewables and Avanade is part of a larger initiative to improve the environmental impact of wind farms in the Netherlands. The partnership will develop digital instruments to better monitor the effect of a windfarm on the local ecosystem. The tools will be utilized in aquariums to improve the identification of wildlife and monitoring of abundance.