POINT OF VIEW

Reengineering

The Shoreless Workforce

S. Bala and KP Santosh

Its time to retire the word offshoring, a term that long ago lost any real meaning. While
were at it, lets add to our global lexicon a new term-of-art that more accurately reflects
the modern world in which todays best and brightest talent thrives: Shoreless.
A new vocabulary for a changed world

The reengineering team we lead

The New Year is an exciting time for language-loving etymologists.

a Global 500 client site and set up

It is when dictionaries the world over review words new to the

a Financial Shared Service Center

popular vernacular and decide which among those terms deserves

(SSC). At a minimum, the site that

addition to their pages. This year we would argue that Merriam-

learned this lesson while helping

we selected for the SSC had to

Webster, Oxford, and the rest change things up a bit by retiring a

effectively support the 20-plus operating companies and 30-plus

word that long ago lost any real meaning: offshoring.

reporting entities our client presently has doing business in Europe.

Offshoring is now the T Rex of business terms. Mere mention

This meant the chosen location needed to give access to local

of the talent-sourcing method conjures unsettling images in

talent combinations of the type and quality that our client could

the minds of many. Yet the term itself is now as divorced from

not find in comparable quantities in any other labor market.

our present-day reality as the sight of razor-toothed dinosaurs

prowling the earth. Technology has seen to that.
In the last decade, the Internet has all but evaporated the
oceans separating us, effectively rendering our workaday world
shoreless in the process. Much good has come from this

This Future Ready article first

appeared in
Process Intelligence, the official
monthly e-zine for Genpact clients

redrawing of our global landscape, with resulting shoreless work

opportunities having rapidly elevated wages and living standards
in many emerging economies. However, as that trend continues,

To prize the talents of individuals above all

an enterprises ability to tap lower-cost labor in those same

The centralized talent pool from which SSC hires were to be

economies will diminish in importance. At the same time, the

plucked had to be able to serve the widest cross-section of

ability (and need) to tap talent combinations that are unique to

geographically, culturally and economically diverse regional

one location or another will grow.

markets. For several reasons, Poland ultimately proved the ideal

choice to meet this mandate. First, as a former communist country,

its businesspeople possess a firm historical grasp of the financial
complexities of managed economy markets worldwide (China
chief among them). That Poland was the first country to exit the
Soviet Bloc also means its workers are well versed in the Wests
free-market ways.
Then there is Polands linguistic virtuosity. Being situated in
Central Europe makes Polish citizens equally familiar with Slavic
tongues to its East, and Roman ones to its West, leaving it well
positioned to source talent that can readily communicate with a
large majority of the worlds populous. Importantly, the diversity of
language, culture, and economic background that made Poland a

Mere mention of the

word offshoring
still conjures
unsettling images
for many. Yet like the
fearsome-looking yet
long extinct T Rex,
this business term is
now as divorced from
our present-day professional reality as the sight
of razor-toothed dinosaurs prowling the earth.

smart choice is a selling point thats long set Americas workforce

apart from those in much of the rest of the world. Indeed, the
emergence of a merit-driven professional path in Poland and

Similarly, to be shoreless is to prize the talents of individuals

elsewhere outside the US promises to be Americas greatest

above all; to evaluate their skills without prejudice for the nation

21st-century export. This path systematically rewards success

they call home; to understand how their local living environment

with upward mobility, without regard for ones beliefs, origins,

uniquely shapes them for the better. Etymologists take note:

appearance, or current socioeconomic standing.

Shoreless is a word whose time has come.

About Genpact

About the Authors

Genpact Limited (NYSE: G), a global leader in business process management and technology
services, leverages the power of smarter processes, smarter analytics, and smarter technology to
help its clients drive intelligence across the enterprise. Genpacts Smart Enterprise Processes (SEPSM)
framework, its unique science of process combined with deep domain expertise in multiple industry
verticals, leads to superior business outcomes. Genpacts Smart Decision Services deliver valuable
business insights to its clients through targeted analytics, reengineering expertise, and advanced risk
management. Making technology more intelligent by embedding it with process and data insights,
Genpact also offers a wide variety of technology solutions for better business outcomes.

S. Bala heads the Global Reengineering

practice for Genpact, a leader in
business process management.
KP Santosh leads the companys
reengineering efforts in Europe. You
can reach them at s.bala@genpact.com
and santosh.kp@genpact.com

For more information, visit www.genpact.com. Follow Genpact on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Copyright Genpact 2013. All Rights Reserved.