Friday, July 22, 2005

Hong Kong's advantages promoted at the 2005 OutsourceWorld London

I had the privilege to lead a delegation of Hong Kong companies to attend the 2005 OutsourceWorld London event in the end of June. It was the second such event we joined, as part of the IT Outsourcing promotional missions for Hong Kong, funded by the SME Development Fund of the Trade and Industry Department of the HKSAR Government. (We went to San Diego in February.) The following is an article on the online journal of Hong Kong Trade Development Council.

http://ict.tdctrade.com/suc-e402.htm

July, 2005

Hong Kong's advantages promoted at the 2005 OutsourceWorld London

Hong Kong's advantages promoted at the 2005 OutsourceWorld London

Hong Kong companies used a top Eurpoean show as a beachhead into the UK outsourcing sector when they visited London last week. Outsource World (29 - 30 June) attracted up to a thousand visitors and more than 60 exhibitors to the Royal Horticultural Hall in Victoria, London for the conference and exhibition.

Six companies exhibited at the event on the Hong Kong pavilion organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (TDC), Hong Kong Information Technology Federation (HKITF) and Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) to promote Hong Kong as the world's trusted outsourcing partner with China.


Charles Mok, ex-officio member and immediate past president of HKITF, said that Hong Kong is a gateway to China in terms of outsourcing.


"Hong Kong is a conduit, its the place where you sign the contract, where you deal with the product design, the quality control, product management, delivery and legal requirements."


"We have a great opportunity of working with international companies interested in getting into the China market to establish their own businesses, their own branches - and obviously when they do that they need IT support and we hope Hong Kong will be their project manager."


Mr. Mok said there is much talent, expertise and technical knowledge in the relatively low-cost labour pool in China. Hong Kong, meanwhile, has a greater understanding of international business requirements and mindset, and can communicate better with partners around the world.


Hong Kong's value in outsourcing was underlined by executive director and founder of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals Michael Corbett.


"Hong Kong is very much playing the role it has traditionally had in business: it is setting itself up as a high-skill area and as a conduit and point of management support for companies that are trying to reach into that market, whether they are customers or providers," he said.

Both Hong Kong and China are emerging in terms of their participation in the global market of outsourcing, according to Michael Corbett, executive director and founder of the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP).


"I think Hong Kong is very much playing the role it has traditionally had in business: it is setting itself up as a high-skill area, and as a conduit and point of entry, and as a point of management support for companies that are trying to reach into that market, whether they are customers or providers."


Fritz Chiu, principal consultant IT Development for the Hong Kong Productivity Council, and centre manager for the Hong Kong Software Industry Information Centre said: it wasn’t easy for Hong Kong software companies to reach the end-user directly, he had enjoyed a “very good discussion” with a consultancy firm at OutsourceWorld, and this would be pursued after the show.


The dates for OutsourceWorld London 2006 have yet to be confirmed.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

-->