Thailand is a country in South East Asia which is famous for a holiday destination. But it is fast becoming a major outsourcing destination as well. According to the latest survey by Gartner, Thailand is among the World’s thirty top outsourcing countries. This is due to the low cost, quality labor pool, robust infrastructure and a stable economy which is among the fastest in the region. Also due to the time difference, Thailand is very well poised to take projects from the US. The projects which are outsourced from the US at the close of work are ready when work begins the next day. Let us take a look at a few factors which have influenced the growing power of Thailand in the competitive outsourcing market.
Language Issues
The general English proficiency of the people of Thailand is not very high. It is estimated that only ten percent of the total population has proficiency in English.
The Thai government is very keen to develop Thailand into a major Outsourcing destination. It wants to develop a four billion baht industry led by outsourcing industries. It is also taking steps to improve the infrastructure and making long term plans with a view of becoming one of the world’s top three outsourcing destinations.
There are a lot of technically skilled workers available in Thailand. The workers are quite capable of developing projects to international standards.
Thailand has excellent world class infrastructure. Also the property in Thailand is far cheaper than in other countries.
Thai Literacy
Thailand has a high literacy rate. According to UNESCO 94% of the adults in the country are literate and the number of its annual university graduates is 506,000. The government is trying to improve the level of education in the country.
Thailand has low labor costs. Also companies can achieve high cost benefits by outsourcing jobs to Thailand since the compensation packages are low. This makes it an attractive outsourcing destination.
The political environment of Thailand is not stable and is one of the major bottlenecks in the development of the country. The government is now trying to stimulate the economy by giving more attention to outsourcing, foreign business investments, and domestic infrastructure projects.
Thais are one of the major ethnic groups in Thailand while the major religion is Buddhism. The people of Thailand are very warm and friendly. Also the country is very familiar with western culture and western business process. This makes the people of Thailand very compatible with the people of other countries.
Thailand has a fair level of global and legal maturity. Its government now slowly understands the level of maturity needed to ensure the rise of Thailand as one of the major players in the outsourcing industry.Data and intellectual property.
Security Issues in Thailand
Thailand doesn’t have a robust system in place to enforce data security and privacy. According to a report, software piracy levels in Thailand are as much as seventy five percent. However the government is taking steps to improve its policies around these areas.
