Pakistan Outsourcing

This would have been the most logical step in the process and Offshore Site of the development centers of India.

The neighboring country, Pakistan offers more or les the same amenities as available on the India lands. But obvious is the fact that every detailing cannot be the same, but with a huge number of skilled labors being brought out into the market each year, Pakistan constitutes a portion of highly educated intellectuals within itself.

The Pakistani cities might not be on the outsourcing map yet, but the country's software shops are out to change that.

"As a natural course, American companies would not look at Pakistan," acknowledges Jehan Ara, president of the 250-member Pakistan Software Houses Assn. "So we have to get them to look at us, and once they do business with us and credibility is established, they come back for more."

Pakistan shares India's British colonial history and has some 17 million English speakers.

It has a huge community of émigrés with experience in technology. And like India, it has a culture that values education and hard work. Wages, meanwhile, stand at about the same level as in India, with call center workers earning about $12 per day and starting software engineers pulling in $5,000 or so annually.

With unemployment being pinned up-to a manageable 8%, Outsourcing is believed to create the push, required by the country.

The recent requirements to increase Pakistan's efficiency and productivity to enhance its economy and financial stand in the global market has forced the government to catch up with the IT professionals of the country, triggering the progress of Pakistan Outsourcing.

Outsourcing companies have developed their own strategies for beefing up their business. One is to look for customers in places other than the U.S., where Pakistan's image problems are most acute.

In 1996, Lahore's NetSol Technologies Inc. (NTWK ) won a contract from Mercedes-Benz Leasing Co. in Thailand to install a software program from Britain. Later the company developed its own package, which it went on to sell to DaimlerChrysler (DCX ) in nine Asian countries.

The NASDAQ-listed company now has 270 employees and this year expects sales of $10 million. In April NetSol signed a $2.3 million deal with Toyota Motor Corp. (TM ) and hopes to expand into Europe.

Pakistan still faces major hurdles. First, there's the question of security: Few Western execs are willing to entrust sensitive data to such a troubled country. And despite its 55 tech institutes, Pakistan may face a shortage of IT workers.

About 75,000 people work in the sector today, and the government believes a further 7,000 will be needed each year to keep the industry growing at current rates. But the country's tech schools produce just 5,500 graduates a year -- and only about a fifth of those are competitive and well trained, the Software Export Board says.