A perspective on the language of our industry.

It is an exciting time to be in business.

Companies in search of becoming stronger competitors are now using workers around the world as their workforce.

Take the marketing executive in Manhattan, who works with the statistical researcher in Moscow to analyze the behaviors of customer in London. She directs manufacturing in Shanghai to modify production based on the findings – all using the information systems constantly being improved by software engineers in Bangalore.

This teamwork is creating supremely competitive companies and happier consumers – faster response, lower costs and higher quality. All freeing up money for product innovation and for our marketing executive to invest.

And what do we call this exciting new era of global collaboration? We have given it a terribly negative name: Offshoring.

Offshore. Sounds so Ameri-centric. Whose shores?

Call it globalization, cross border teamwork, multi-national networks – just don’t call it offshoring.

In the meantime, a high tech manufacturer uses a contract manufacturing specialist to supply parts. The goods are shipped by a logistics specialist to distribution partners around the world. All the order processing is run by an order processing specialist. Even the office plants are watered by a plant watering specialist (and they have never looked so green). And we refer to this exciting new era of inter-company teamwork by another terribly negative name: Outsourcing.

Sounds scandalous. Losing something. Sending it away.

Call it partnering, teaming, cooperation, or collaboration – just don’t call it outsourcing.

Global teamwork is more like it.