Having questioned quality quotient of legal jobs outsourced from India for long, the American law society is now accepting it as a "reality" with even Fortune 500 firms opening up to the idea. The New York Law Journal, one of the highly reputed and most read publications among American lawyers, said in an article in its latest issue that "outsourcing legal work to India is no longer a novelty. It's a reality."

Most companies have either not outsourced or have dismissed BPO as a delivery model for their F&A activities. This can be for a range of reasons, and having been a consultant in shared services and BPO for the last 18 years I have heard all of them. That’s not to say BPO is the right thing to do for all organisations, as with everything it depends on circumstances.

Despite fear of a recession in the U.S., jitters on virtually all major stock exchanges worldwide and widespread cut-backs in corporate spending, EquaTerra’s 4Q07 Pulse surveys revealed that outsourcing demand is rebounding, with continued strong growth in EMEA and a substantial increase in North America.  In fact, 70 percent of EquaTerra advisors cited increased demand levels for Information Technology (IT) and business process outsourcing in 4Q07, with demand up 19 percent over 3Q07, up 24 percent over 4Q06, and at the highest level recorded since 2Q05.  Further, 59 percent of service providers cited new deal pipeline growth in 4Q07, and 57 percent expect demand to increase in 1Q08.