by Frank Casale

In the 10 years since founding The Outsourcing Institute, I have certainly seen many changes take place in the outsourcing industry, most of which have been evolutionary.

As we noted in last year’s Fifth Annual Outsourcing Index, companies no longer outsource chiefly to save money, but rather to gain access to top-notch, outside expertise, among other factors.

Outsourcing is also no longer for the largest companies.

And we have seen the development and explosion in business process outsourcing (BPO).

In the current issue of Outsourcing Essentials, we celebrate the newest innovations that are currently influencing our industry. Perhaps no development will have a bigger impact on outsourcing careers, however, than the migration of top professionals from outsourcer to the vendor.

As the lead story, “Preparing to Lift Out” points out, in the last three years, several stunning outsourcing agreements between very large corporations and outsourcing service providers have included a provision for transferring most of the outsourcer’s administrative staff to the ranks of the service provider. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of employees switch employers, though the work they do arguably remains the same.

This development led Judy Coffee, national practice leader for HR effectiveness at outsourcing service provider Mellon HR Services, to predict, “There is little question, at least in an HR context, that the majority of HR jobs in the future will go into an outsourced environment.”

We also celebrate innovations among a number of small companies, which despite their limited resources, have used outsourcing to give the illusion that they are national players.

And don’t miss our profile of Tandy Gold, who while with FleetBostonFinancial, founded and still coordinates the Offshore Interest Group, an organization of executives from Fortune 100 companies that have met by phone monthly since early 2001.

As always, there is plenty more too.

What do you think about this and or any other issue of Outsourcing Essentials? Let us know by: contacting me, Frank Casale, or editorial director Stephen Taub, at The Outsourcing Institute, 500 North Broadway, Suite 141, Jericho, NY 11753, or e-mail us at editor@outsourcing.com.