KPMG finds new outsourcing hotspots

Cities as diverse as Belfast, Winnipeg and Brisbane are emerging as new outsourcing hubs to rival Bangalore, according to research by KPMG.

KPMG identifies 31 cities that are running more back office functions for multinational companies and competing with leading outsourcing centres such Bangalore in India, or Shanghai in China, which are approaching saturation point.

Companies are now outsourcing business functions to other cities ranging from the large -- Buenos Aires in Argentina -- to the small, Port Louis in Mauritius, which has a population 130,000, KPMG said.

Cities that made the outsourcing league table had lower labour costs, younger populations, government incentives, multiple languages and proximity to companies' major client bases, KPMG said.

'Companies are focused on reducing their cost base, both for short-term and long-term gain,' said Shamus Rae, advisory partner at KPMG in the UK.

'As a result, more organizations are considering savings obtained through outsourcing parts of their operations. Most importantly, they should be convinced that by doing so, they are not sacrificing performance for the sake of cutting costs.'