In the present day scenario, where competition is at its peak and markets have become so competitive, outsourcing seems to be the only lifeboat that can help industrial companies to tide over troubled waters. A recent survey has brought to light that about 84% industries depend heavily on outsourcing today compared to an astonishing 5.4% in 1999. There are several benefits of outsourcing. First of all it curtails cost, facilitates hiring of efficient workers from various parts of the world, etc. There are several factors that an industrial company looks for before outsourcing to another country. Egypt is one such country which fulfils most of these criteria. In fact Egypt is gearing itself to become one of the most sought after country for outsourcing.
The Egyptian workforce boasts of having multilingual and skilled laborers. The Egyptian population can speak German, Spanish, French, English and several other languages. As Egypt has always been a site for tourist attraction for its famous pyramids it is very natural that the people of this country are well aware and comfortable with the various traditions and cultures of European countries, which add to their advantage. Egypt lies between Asia, U.S.A and Europe so its time zone allows it to work for different industries located in different parts of the world for all 24 hours of the day.
Egyptian Government Support
The government of Egypt is taking various initiatives to promote outsourcing to Egypt. The government is planning to build business parks to attract more international companies. Egypt has high level of skilled IT professionals and engineers. To develop and nurture young talents and encourage people to work in outsourcing industries the government has introduced new courses and programs in various universities. The most important factor that should encourage international industries for outsourcing to Egypt is that they can easily hire talented people for working in IT sectors at less cost.
In spite of Egypt having a lot of potential there are several factors that restricts outsourcing to Egypt. One of the most important factors is the unstable political scenario of the country. Though the infrastructure of Egypt is quite good yet it needs to be developed. This country fails to provide reliable and cheap telecommunication services when compared to other countries. The corruption perception index shows a low rating for Egypt, which is 2.8. This shows that illegal activities in this country are very high. Outsourcing involves handling of confidential and private data. So it requires a work force that can be trusted for security reasons but Egypt as a nation fails in this area.
When compared to other industrialized countries of the world Egypt has a less favorable working environment. The law and order of a country plays a very significant role in any outsourcing decision. Egypt showcases a very poor picture in this area. For larger scale outsourcing, contractual law also presents challenges. In Egypt an average of 39 or 40 days are required just to put a contract in place. Resolving these problems will encourage more outsourcing to Egypt.
