Offshoring — if anyone was listening….

I find it kind of fascinating that people seem surprised about the offshoring of many jobs to India and elsewhere. Back in 1996 or 1997, I released a list of 10 important trends to watch for — among them, the fact that the location of work would increasingly become irrelevant over time. It’s kind of fascinating to read the list today, considering what is going on out there.

It’s not like the signs of a looming offshoring trend weren’t evident or anything!

Jim Carroll’s 10 Trends to Watch for (from 1997)

• The number of full time jobs will begin to dramatically shrink – yet, we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg in the change of the relationship between employer and employee.
• Companies will hire the best talent they can, regardless of where that person might be. A new form of career competitiveness is emerging, with extreme competition among highly skilled individuals who are beginning to call the shots.
• Lifestyle choice will come to dominate career decisions as employees begin to reject the accepted “norms” of the corporate environment.
• Where people work won’t matter – a trend that has implications for the future of both rural and urban economies.
• The ability to master the skill of “just in time knowledge” will be the key to a successful career. Knowledge is the currency of the 21st century, and as the information age descends upon us, the ability to deal with the era of the information flood will be crucial to survival.
• A generational battle for economic control and survival will soon be upon us, and business competition will increase dramatically, as a new breed of techno-savvy managers are inheriting the corner offices.
• The shape of tomorrow’s company won’t be defined by the walls in its offices – it will be defined by the reach of its computerized knowledge network, and its ability to tap into the skills and capabilities of its workers.
• Business and government will have undergone a dramatic transactional restructuring… as an era takes hold in which all the rules that we have known are being rendered irrelevant by the tools of the information age.
• The era of “wired competition” will play havoc with old-school business strategies, leading to a number of high profile business failures and dramatic new initiatives.
• Opportunity will come to strategic thinkers who embrace the information age. The continued evolution of the wired world will mean that senior management – not technical staff – will be more involved in steering their organizations through an increasingly complicated networked economy.