US Firms Look to Canada for Outsourcing Help

Like many software outsourcing companies, the Boston-based Keane often sends work to its employees in India. But at the same time, Keane is expanding its base of software developers in its original, and much closer, outsourcing location: Canada.

While the debate over software and call-center outsourcing from the United States focuses mainly on India, the Philippines, Singapore and other points far from America, its significant growth in Canada has attracted relatively little attention. Canada lags India in the number of people working in outsourcing businesses. But its stability, proximity and cultural similarity to the United States tend to attract higher-value, more sophisticated work.

At the same time, outsourcing companies, including Keane, have started dividing jobs between operations in Canada and India.

The lack of cultural differences between the two countries has helped Canada also draw the call-center part of the business. “We can honestly talk about last night’s ballgame because we watched it,” Scott said. And because Canadians are more aware of American fashion trends than Indians, Best said, Canada is a better spot for the customer service operations of U.S. fashion retailers.

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