By Doreyne Douglas, PlanetMagpie's VP

When it comes to American companies offshoring their IT, you may feel helpless to do anything about it.  But you have more power than you think.  You have purchasing power!

Whether you are buying IT hardware, moving to a new 401K administrator, hiring application developers, or shopping around for a new insurance carrier, ask your potential vendors this one simple question:

“Do you offshore any part of your operations?”

If the salesperson doesn’t have an answer, ask them to find out.  It’s that simple.

Asking the Question Helps American Workers

In my mind, purchasing from American businesses is part corporate responsibility and part survival.  It’s in all of our best interests to fuel the U.S. economy and continue as the world’s lead tech innovator.

If enough customers tell their vendors that they care where their products are made, and where their support is based, we may start to see change.

How to Ask the Offshoring Question

There are many ways to ask potential vendors about offshoring. Let’s list out some variants you can use, depending on what type of product/service you’re inquiring about.

1. IT HARDWARE
1. Where is your hardware manufactured?  Where is it assembled?
2. Do you have any plans to reshore your manufacturing?
3. Where is your product support team located?  Where will I call when I have an issue?
2. SOFTWARE
1. Where are your developers located?
2. Do you have U.S.-based support?
3. Do your offshore developers have access to customer’s private data?
4. Where is our data hosted?  U.S.?  Where are your backup datacenters?
3. SERVICES
1. Is your entire staff based in the U.S.?
2. Do you have in-house IT support or do you outsource?  If you outsource, is it in the U.S. or offshore?
3. Do you offshore your application development work?
4. IT SUPPORT/CONSULTING
1. Is your support team all U.S. based?
2. If I call your support line and get a Tier 1 support tech on the phone, where are they located?

The Impact of Asking the Offshoring Question

If a corporation loses one customer because they offshore, they’ll survive. If they lose ten customers because they offshore, it starts to cause concern. If they lose more, it’s time to rethink their strategy. 

The gap between offshore and onshore labor costs is getting smaller, so this is a great time to let your voice be heard.

The more customers ask their vendors about offshoring, the more it influences corporations to reshore.  So go on, ask the question!  You can help make it happen.

We want to hear what you find out!  If you start asking the question, please share the responses you get with us at reshoreyourit@planetmagpie.com.