Blue Cross Blue Shields Opening Doors to Global Sourcing

Don't be surprised if you see a job posting on a blue cross website for a "Global Sourcing Manager". If you trace the history of adoption of offshore outsourcing/global sourcing the private Payers have lead the pack, followed by pharma and lifesciences companies. A new trend is in the making - more and more blue's are opening the doors to offshore outsourcing. Blue's have been shy of outsourcing and have always adopted onsite contractor model.

Here are some of the drivers for the adoption

• The private payers have already adopted offshore and are saving money, to compete in the market Blue's have little choice but to start looking for IT talent globally
• Pure quality IT skillset shortage is forcing exploring offshore options like India
• A very unique reason that I have heard lately is - "When we hire IT contractors, most of them seem to be of Indian origin. So why just get a skilled person when you can drive significant value by working with tier 1 offshore players"
• Migration and integration projects are favourites for offshore - these projects are driven by technology and do not have as strong a business case.

Perot's, IBM's, Accentures and CSC, watch out for offshore tier1 and tier 2 companies in your safe heavens.