Alexei Miller, Executive Vice President at DataArt, was a panelist at the Global Outsourcing Strategy Round Table at NYU’s Stern School of Business.

The discussion covered strategic features of certain geographic areas and focused on how the decision process works in outsourcing projects: whether geography is a primary factor for vendor selection or if companies should consider the world “flat” and assemble the best talent from multiple locations. Miller highlighted current outsourcing trends and industry discussions: if the future belongs to global full-service, “can-do-anything” outsourcing vendors or to small, niche-focused players; whether the clients of tomorrow will want to buy commodity skills or expertise; how cost variations are being affected by the latest economic downturn and currency movements.

Miller also touched upon several issues imperative for any outsourcing firm: choosing between diversification and niche focus, necessity of strong project management, communication challenges in a heavily distributed environment and solving potential cross-cultural tensions.

www.stern.nyu.edu