My coffee intake tends to mirror a large corporation’s various vendors: spanning from cheap, low-quality standbys to pricier, higher-end options. As I’m wholly dependent upon both, what can this tell us about how corporations view reshoring in IT?
![](https://lighthousetechnologies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Coffee-20160106-1024x683.jpg)
It’s widely assumed that all onshore outsourcing providers are expensive, but services like our very own Rural Software Testing have proven that companies can get a whole lot better testing for not much more than they’re paying for offshore. |
I drink a lot of coffee. No, seriously—I drink a lot of coffee. To the tune of sixty ounces a day—and that’s a light day. For the sheer volume of it that I’ve consumed, I tend to think of myself as a relative connoisseur. From the good to the bad, the cheapest to the stuff that runs $50 a pound, I’ve drunk it all and developed quite an affinity for a quality cup o’ joe.
But, do you know what I find most interesting? I hardly ever drink truly great coffee. And while I definitely prefer it to the cheap swill I normally consume, I simply can’t justify spending $20 a pound when I can happily get by on the stuff that costs $5. And it’s not just a means to an end, either; I generally enjoy drinking cheap coffee—it serves its purpose exceptionally well.
So how does all of this relate to offshore outsourcing and reshoring? It’s quite simple, really: the disparity betwixt what you want, what you need, and what you can afford.
Like the coffee I drink, different outsourcers serve different purposes for different prices—the better ones are more expensive while the cheaper ones tend to perform at a lessened clip—and the consumption of their services depend entirely upon what’s economical for the job.
So let’s take a reshoring company like us, for example, how might a company view us if looking through a caffeinated lens?
While traditional thought dictated that all onshore outsourcing providers would be quite the expensive cup, services like our very own Rural Software Testing have proven that a whole lot better cup of coffee can be had for not much more than the low-end stuff they’re getting offshore—and sometimes for less! After all, I’d drink the best cup my money could buy; why shouldn’t a corporation do the same?
Remember, the right cup is merely the one that provides what you need when you need it. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need a refill.
Cheers,
Mike Hodge
Lighthouse Technologies, Inc
Software Testing | Quality Assurance Consulting | Oracle EBS Consulting