Companies That Offshore
Offshore outsourcing is a powerful tool for businesses that need access to specialized talent. It can also reduce the cost of labor, boost revenue, and increase company competitiveness.
Outsourcing companies must be aware of their risks. Manufacturing and designing can be transferred offshore together and can deprive companies of their engineering and designing capabilities.
Telstra
Telstra has grown tremendously from its humble beginnings in the early 1990s when it was a government-owned small company. It has grown into a major telecommunications corporation with operations around the world. It is also the largest provider of fixed line telephone service in Australia.
The company's success is due to its strong investment strategy and innovative solutions. In the midst of a shortage of resources in the early years The company made a significant investment into the latest technology, and realized that the telecommunications sector was a great growth area. This was a smart move as it allowed the company to connect Australian cities both domestically and internationally. The company also pioneered the mobile phone, which enabled people to stay in touch with their loved ones regardless of where they were.
In the 90s, the company had to face major challenges, such as the deregulation of its operations and competition from rival companies. It was not content to remain passive and came up with a plan to adapt to these changes. For instance, it invested heavily in infrastructure and has spent $200 billion to enhance its services. It also came up with a new idea and launched BigPond which is a high-speed internet service for consumers.
It also cut its workforce and outsourced certain functions, resulting in savings. It also adopted a new organization structure that separated roles into functional groups rather than a traditional hierarchical system. This gave senior managers more control over their area of expertise.
Recently, Telstra announced that it will be bringing its call centres back to Australia, and that by 2021, all its small and consumer calls will be answered in the country. Telstra has taken a significant leap forward, and this will have a positive impact on its customers. The company will still operate offshore call centers for its largest international customers.
GE
Thomas Edison founded General Electric in 1892. It quickly became one of America's most profitable companies. In the 1980s GE bought several large companies, including Employer's Reinsurance and Kidder Peabody. The company's revenue grew from $5 billion to $70 billion during this period. However, despite these successes, many analysts have questioned whether the company's growth was sustainable.
Currently, GE is focusing on industrial technology and services including renewable energy, medical and power. It has also invested into additive machines, 3-D printers that can be used to create parts and products. In addition, GE's financial arm provides commercial lending and leasing.
The GE washer-dryer is the top-selling product of the company. It has been in use in American homes for more than 80 years. It was the very first machine to wash and dry clothes. This was a revolutionary invention in households. In addition to its appliances, GE also manufactures aircraft engines, medical equipment and power turbines. In the near future, GE is planning to expand its digital business, which includes cybersecurity and commercial software technologies from Wurldtech.
GE also offshores its major business processes in India which is where wages are lower than in the US. In 2004 GE Capital International Services, its own offshoring company, employed 12,000 employees. In 2005, GE sold its stake in GECIS and made it an independent BPO called Genpact. GE continues to be a major client of Genpact, which now employs 20,000 people. Genpact recently expanded its business by purchasing the maker of the Osprey Drone. GE has also invested heavily in the wind sector, with a contract to provide 87 Haliade-14 MW wind turbines from Dogger Bank C.
IBM
International Business Machines is one of the largest technology companies worldwide with its headquarters located in Armonk, New York. The company provides hardware, software and services for the IT industry. In addition, it offers financing options to help clients purchase of IT systems and software. It also has research labs throughout the world. The company's pioneering research began in the 1880s when Julius E. Pitrat invented the computing scale and Alexander Dey created the dial recorder. Herman Hollerith also created an instrument for tabulating.
The corporate vision statement of the company reflects its commitment towards leadership in the market and industry for information technology. It states that the company will offer high-value services by creating business models that combine the latest technology and industry expertise. It also focuses on customer satisfaction and value creation, which is a important factor in its long-term success.
In recent years, IBM has expanded its services division and rebranded itself as a cloud and cognitive solutions computing platform company. The company's software lineup includes analytics offerings like Cognos and SPSS. It also offers IT infrastructure software like IBM WebSphere application servers and MQ messaging middleware. It also provides mobile and security software such as the IBM Verse business email offering and the IBM QRadar security intelligence platform.
In recent years, IBM's hardware sales have declined due to the shift in corporate IT expenses from on-premises facilities to centralized operators such as Amazon Web Services. In the meantime, IBM has focused on its services and business consulting businesses, and has made a number of acquisitions in order to increase its presence in these areas. Additionally IBM has poured money heavily in cloud computing, and has a significant global presence.
Accenture
Accenture is a leading provider of management consulting outsourcing, technology and management consulting in the world. Accenture has a variety of strengths that give it a competitive advantage that include extensive industry expertise and knowledge, innovative technology solutions, strong partnerships with leading technology vendors as well as global reach and scale.
Marketing procurement, supply chains, learning, human resource management, and finance are all a part of the company's operations. It also has a presence in more than 120 countries. In addition to its core offerings, Accenture offers a number of other specialized offerings. For instance, it provides SAP S/4HANA development as well as fast-tracking customer journeys to digital businesses. It also provides security and IT consultancy services.
In the past, companies have outsourced a few production functions in order to lower costs and increase competitiveness. For instance, the garment industry has outsourced a lot of its production functions to Asian countries. In recent years however, more companies have shifted their focus away from production of goods to services. This shift has led to a growing demand for professionals with expertise in IT and digital services. These skills are also transferable across industries.
Accenture has a wide range of clients and is growing its presence in the most important markets. Its client base includes 91 of the Fortune Global 100 and more than three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500. Accenture also collaborates with companies such as Apple, Google, and Oracle to create new technologies. For offshore consulting companies , Accenture has partnered with SAP to develop an intelligent platform solution that can help upstream oil and gas companies reduce the complexity of their operations by using market standards. The solution is currently being tested by a group of major oil and gas companies, including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Equinor. This collaboration is a demonstration of how companies are moving away from traditional outsourcing and instead focusing on innovations and services.
Microsoft
Microsoft is a leading producer of operating systems and applications for personal computers. Its best-known products include the Windows range of software as well as the Office suite, and the Internet Explorer web browser. The company has been accused of monopoly, anti-competitive practices and unconstitutional behavior. In the 1990s, it began creating a complicated web of offshore entities to transfer intellectual property and cut tax payments.
When a customer buys Office in Seattle the money doesn't take the short route to Microsoft's headquarters in nearby Redmond. Instead, the money begins with a long journey beginning with an affiliate company in Nevada which isn't taxed on corporate income. Then, it crosses the Atlantic to the Bermudan company which is taxed at the island's zero-percent rate.
The money is transferred to a Puerto Rican company that accounts for research expenses and then passes a small slice to an Irish firm. The company has utilized similar structures to avoid taxes in other countries, including Britain and Germany. The arrangement has saved the software giant billions of dollars in tax.
Congress is now challenging the software giant to modify its offshore policy. The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said the company and other technology companies use offshore units and loopholes to avoid paying taxes. The committee is investigating allegations that tech firms, like Alphabet, the parent company of Google and Apple have been evading taxes by transferring billions of dollars in profits to tax-free jurisdictions that are not as high.
The partnership between SSE Renewables, Avanade and the Netherlands' Ministry of Infrastructure is part of a larger project to reduce the impact of wind farms on the environment. The partnership will develop digital tools to better evaluate the impact of wind farms on the local ecosystem. The tools will be tested in an aquarium and are expected to enhance the identification of wildlife as well as abundance monitoring and distribution analysis.