A directory of Canadian outsourcing companies published by Ottawa-based research firm Branham Group Inc. should help raise global awareness of the outsourcing capabilities available in this country.
The Directory of Outsourcing Companies and Capabilities in Canada is a compendium of around 250 companies offering outsourcing services, ranging from call centre to technical support. Companies listed aren’t necessarily home-grown businesses, but do have locally based facilities. There is a fee to being part of the Directory.
Branham Group’s director of sales, Peter Kuske, said he hopes the publication will raise the country’s profile and, specifically, make U.S.-based companies realize the breadth of services available here. “They don’t know who’s available to them. They don’t have a who’s who,” he said.
The poor level of awareness around what Canada has to offer is largely a cultural issue, said Kuske, in that Canadians generally don’t trumpet their successes and abilities.
He sees the directory as falling within the scope of what he’s amicably coined the “bureau of unCanadian activities” – the chest thumping that Canada’s IT industry lacks due to an engrained “inferiority complex.”
Canada needs to consider its competitiveness and position in the globalized world, and this Directory will help polish that national brand, said Bernard Courtois, president & CEO of Ottawa-based Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC).
The country has very strong attractions in the area of outsourcing services, said Courtois, “but the biggest problem is that we’re not visible enough and that capacity is not top of mind enough in the world generally.”
The Directory, in its first edition, will be available globally but will be promoted mainly within North America, with the majority of publications being distributed in that region. It will be distributed within North America through economic development agencies that in turn will make it available via local embassies and consulates. Government departments will also serve a similar role; and companies taking part in the Directory will each receive 500 copies. A copy of the Directory can be obtained from any of these players, or by visiting www.branhamoutsourcing.com.
