OUTSOURCING SUCKS

No one really talks about it, but the main reason not to outsource is because the results usually suck. You end up paying twice - the first, at the bargain rate, and then at the full price as you pay some consultant to clean up the mess left by the "bargain." So this story doesn't surprise me.

Even as the prospect of high-skilled American jobs moving to low-wage countries like India ignites hot political debate, some entrepreneurs are finding that India's vaunted high-technology work force is not always as effective as advertised.

"For three years we tried all kinds of models, but nothing has worked so far," said the co-founder and chief technology officer of Storability Software in Southborough, Mass. After trying to reduce costs by contracting out software programming tasks to India, Storability brought back most of the work to the United States, where it costs four times as much, and hired more programmers here. The "depth of knowledge in the area we want to build software is not good enough" among Indian programmers, the executive said.

If it sounds like "Made in the U.S.A." jingoism, consider this: The entrepreneur, Hemant Kurande, is Indian.

UPDATE: Kevin Drum agrees - under some circumstances.
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