Malaysia among top destinations for outsourced jobs

Malaysia has emerged as a popular destination for businesses looking to contract out business processes offshore.

According to the 2014 Global Services Location Index by A.T. Kearney, the nation was found to be the third most preferred country in the world for outsourced jobs.

The index, which surveyed 51 countries worldwide, measured the viability of countries as an offshore destination based on their financial attractiveness, people skills and availability, and business environment.

Malaysia scored an index of 5.98 out of 10, beaten only by India (7.04) and China (6.15).

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“Technology’s relentless progress continues to transform in unanticipated and fundamentally different ways, not only where work is moving to, but how it is done,” Paul Laudicina, A.T. Kearney’s chairman emeritus and co-author of the study, said.

The study warned of a new counter trend, however, which might bring work back in-house for certain functions.

This was found to be particularly true of the information technology function, whose strategic importance has vastly increased over the past decade with the advance of digitisation.

“What was once a decision based primarily on cost-effectiveness has now started to incorporate other considerations, for example, whether the function is core to the business and therefore needs to be brought back in-house, as well as external regulatory factors impacting business relationships, accountability, and the ability to protect intellectual property and customer privacy,” Erik Peterson, study co-author, partner, and managing director of A.T. Kearney’s Global Business Policy Council think tank, noted.

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