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Services Outsourcing, A New Force Driving Beijing's Economy

Several years ago, "services outsourcing" was a strange concept except, perhaps, for industry insiders and academics. Now, it is an important factor in the development of China's economy.

For this reason, the Beijing—Hong Kong IT Services Outsourcing Cooperation Symposium was held to discuss recent developments in services outsourcing in Beijing and opportunities that may exist for cooperation with Hong Kong, during the two-day Beijing—Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Symposium on November 5 and 6, 2007.

Services outsourcing usually refers to business activities in which enterprises focus on their main lines of activity and hire professional service providers to handle basic, non-essential Information Technology (IT) business functions and IT-based procedures of value to the company. Service outsourcing includes Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).

The country's Outline of the Eleventh Five-Year Programme (2006—10) indicates that policy-makers nationwide "…should transform the growth model of foreign trade and try hard to develop the services outsourcing industry…to establish several services outsourcing bases." They should get involved in the international services industry, and "…seize the opportunity of global industrial structural adjustment to promote the development of our own services outsourcing industry."

Services outsourcing, an important part of modern services industry is high-tech intensive, yields high added-values, requires a low consumption of natural resources, is environmental friendly, and it is an ideal job creator. This also corresponds with the needs of economic restructuring and changes in the industrial mix of Beijing. That's why Beijing has been designated as one of the 11 services outsourcing base cities by China's central government.

The services outsourcing industry in Beijing has experienced rapid growth. It now accounts for one-third of the whole outsourcing industry in China. Professional consultant IDC predicts that the services outsourcing industry of Beijing will grow at an annual rate of 40 percent in the following years. Beijing is an ideal place to develop the services outsourcing industry, because it has the talent, access to information and technologies needed and it has a suitable infrastructure for the industry's growth.

Of the more than 400 companies involved in services outsourcing in Beijing, ITO is now their major business. ITO companies reported total revenues of US$1.5 billion in 2006, and are expected to continue to grow at an annual rate of about 40 percent. However, it is starting to shift to BPO services such as finance, consultation and human resources management, which is making the services outsourcing industry mature and complete.

Foreign-invested companies are leading the development of Beijing's services outsourcing market. In 2006, they accounted for 64.5 percent of offshore services outsourcing. Offshore development centres of multinational companies account for 33 percent of the market. These companies are not simply outsourcing recipients; they are also clients.

Much of the outsourcing business in Beijing involves Japanese clients. In 2006, software exports to Japan increased to US$210 million, accounting for 58.2 percent of the total revenues from software exports of Beijing. However, outsourcing contracts from Hong Kong and the United States are increasing rapidly, by 57 percent and 24 percent in 2006.  

Still, although the industry is seeing rapid growth, Beijing has some bottlenecks. It has few problems in providing sufficient personnel, technicians and applied technologies, but it is poor in senior professionals experienced in management, client networking, and marketing.

Universities in Beijing turns out tens of thousands of graduates every year, but a vast majority of them need training to become competent for work. It is unrealistic for companies to provide such training entirely on their own, because the initial costs are high. In addition, there are still problems in intellectual property rights protection despite the progress the city has made in this regard. 

Hong Kong has a highly developed services outsourcing industry based on advanced operational models, senior management personnel, a relatively complete IPR protection system and close ties with the international market.

During the symposium, Chester Soong, a representative of Hong Kong Information Technology Federation, shared his experiences on the qualities that a services outsourcing provider and its personnel should have.

Soong said a good outsourcing provider will be familiar with specific fields and their related procedures; keep up with the most advanced technologies and developing trends in specific fields; use the most modern software and equipment; have a skilled, specialist staff; and it will be able to provide evidence of its service capabilities and successes and its pricing.

He said senior managers of services outsourcing companies should be familiar with international models of business operations, understand the needs of clients, and they should be rich in commercial knowledge, and have excellent communication skills.

Soong also outlined requirements for an ideal services outsourcing base. It is likely that his suggestions will be used for future planning of the industry in Beijing.

服务外包：北京现代服务业发展的主力军

文/程禾

在北京，每100人中就有超过70人从事服务业，服务业增加值已占北京地区生产总值比重的70％以上。这两个70％不仅凸现了北京服务业的快速发展，也吸引了香港投资者的注意力。在刚刚结束的第11届北京·香港经济合作研讨洽谈会“北京·香港IT服务外包研讨洽谈会”上，北京市就该产业发展的现状、趋势以及京港两地之间的合作做了重点推介。

服务外包是指企业将价值链中原本由自身提供的基础性的、共性的、非核心的IT业务和基于IT的业务流程剥离出来后，外包给企业外部专业服务提供商来完成的经济活动。服务外包可以分为信息技术外包和业务流程外包两大类。作为当今国际产业特别是现代服务业转移的新趋势，服务外包业具有信息技术承载度高、附加值大、资源消耗低、环境污染少、吸纳就业能力强、国际化水平高等特点，其产业优势恰好与北京产业结构升级的要求相吻合，已经成为了北京现代服务业发展的主力军。

从2003年开始，北京就成为了全国服务外包业发展最好的城市，占据了国内外包市场份额的三分之一左右，并呈现出快速发展的局面。2006年3月发布的国家“十一五规划纲要”中指出，要“转变对外贸易增长方式，大力发展服务外包，......建立若干服务外包基地，有序承接国际服务业转移，紧紧把握新一轮全球产业结构调整的机遇，促进我国服务外包产业的发展，扩大知识密集型服务外包产品出口，推进外贸增长方式的转变。”

北京作为中国的首都和现代化的国际大都市，在发展服务外包业方面有很多优势，如人力资源和教育资源集中、全国的信息汇集和传播中心、较好的基础设施及技术优势等，服务外包产业的发展也有着自身的特点：

一是以信息服务外包为主，业务流程外包正加速发展。目前，北京从事离岸信息技术外包的企业约有400多家，2006年的信息技术外包收入超过15亿美元。近两年，伴随着全球新一轮服务产业的转移，外包服务已经从信息服务领域扩展到金融、咨询、人力资源、研发等领域。北京目前已经初步形成了门类齐全的服务外包业态，并呈现出良好的发展势头。

二是外资公司发挥着引领作用，本土服务外包企业增势迅猛。据初步统计，2006年，信息服务离岸外包中的外商投资企业占到了64.5%，以中讯、中软国际、神州数码为代表的本土信息服务外包提供商近几年也是发展迅猛，从业人员和业务量年均增幅都在30%以上。

三是目前以承接日本业务为主，欧美外包业务空间巨大。以软件外包为例，2006年，北京市对日软件报关出口2.1亿美元，占全市软件报关出口的58.2%；同时期对香港、美国软件报关出口合计占32.6%，增幅分别达到56.9%和24%。

四是汇集了一批外包企业总部，产业聚集效应日益显现。中关村软件园聚集了博彦、软通、文思等国内知名服务外包企业总部；金融街、北京商务中心区、北京经济技术开发区等也聚集了一批金融和研发外包企业。

但是，北京服务外包业的发展也有自己的“瓶颈”。首先，北京虽然每年都有大量毕业生，然而刚出大学校门的学生与用人单位要求往往存在一定差距，缺乏相应的培训机制。其次，北京拥有大量的信息技术人才，却缺乏有丰富客户经验的高级管理人才进行专业化的市场开拓、客户开发等管理工作。再次，北京的知识产权保护进展虽然十分明显，但还存在一定的问题，对软件开发、IT服务业、游戏和动漫开发、广告设计等外包业务有一定影响。

洽谈会上，北京市商务局相关负责人表示，北京已经成为国家商务部、信息产业部和科技部认定的全国11个服务外包基地城市之一，拥有丰富的技术成果和人才资源储备，服务外包已初具规模；香港拥有发达的国际商贸网络和高效的商业运作经验，以及健全的知识产权保护制度。京港两地企业完全具备条件在服务外包领域加强合作，共同开拓国际服务市场，实现互利双赢，促进两地服务外包产业做大做强。