Global Sourcing: Seeing Beyond Cost Savings to Capture Sustaining Value

Global sourcing is a vital contributor to the core needs of many organizations. It is a practice that is on the upswing as an increasing number of organizations become aware of how to leverage global resources to support a wide variety of operational goals.

In a recent study of global sourcing habits and experiences, initiated by Ziff Davis Media on behalf of Lionbridge Technologies, Inc. (March 2006), surveyed organizations make it clear that the key driver behind outsourcing is to save money. This survey serves to identify a common flaw in global sourcing programs: excessive focus on costs is commonly undermining global sourcing relationships and wasting important opportunities for companies to improve quality of service, increase productivity and shorten time to market.

Our survey indicates that a majority of respondents see “cost-savings” as the primary benefit of outsourcing. The failure to realize other vital benefits — beyond cost savings — is the central focus of this white paper.