A recent article entitled ‘TCS and Capgemini Prove There’s Still Life in the Offshore IT Model’ reports that two big firms, TCS and Capgemini, have seen growth in their offshore staff as well as revenues. Capgemini saw growth in its workforce in India of 15% in 2014 to 55,000 employees. Additionally, CEO of Capgemini India has said they are on target for their goal of 70,000 employees in India by 2017.

In AT Kearney’s annual release of their Global Services Location Index, they continue to place India on the top of their list of most attractive countries to outsource to. South-East Asia holds 6 of the 7 top spots, separated only by Mexico rising 2 spots to #4. The other notable rise is the Philippines, gaining 2 spots to #7.

It will be interesting to see how the industry evolves over the next few years, with automation playing a large role as many large firms’ look to gain non-linear growth. Peter Schumacher, in the TCS/Capgemini article, points out that Capgemini will need to do more than just increase its workforce and deliver more advantages to clients, rather than just eliminating disadvantages.

The battle for top talent is becoming increasingly heated. Even on the country level, the battle to be an attractive option to outsource is also increasing, with new outsource-friendly legislation being adopted and IT infrastructures and education being improved. The countries recognizing and making these improvements are the ones seeing the biggest moves on the Global Services Location Index.