Did Satyam Scandal Shake Your Faith in Outsourcing?

It's no secret that the massive wave of outsourcing in recent years hasn't produced the greatest results. Businesses have plenty to gripe about--and they're not afraid to do so.

Whether it's poor project output, language/cultural barriers or excessive costs, many businesses have dialed back their outsourcing strategies. At the same time, though, plenty of true believers remain.

News of fraud at Indian IT services firm Satyam puts a new focus on outsourcing strategies, and for good reason.

A number of readers weighed in on the news, expressing a wide variety (though mostly negative) of views on outsourcing

But what's the reality? Are U.S. firms approaching a breaking point in their outsourcing strategies? Or is the Satyam backlash just a blip?

Here's what a few readers had to say:

"Been Burned": "Of course you can't trust an offshore company as well as you can trust a local one. Companies were short-sighted and naive to think so. Like your Indian partner? How do you like having all your sensitive data and intellectual property stolen? As a bonus, you have NO RECOURSE. What are you going to do, fly to India and pursue the thief through a decades-long court procedure?"

"Ken": "What do you expect? They learned from the best: us. The goal there has always been to upstage the USA business model by doing it bigger, better and cheaper..."

"Hitesh" urges level-headedness: "Guys, chill. We are all global citizens, thanks to technology filling up the gaps... Our problems might be different but, underlying social and economic parameters are the same, which are influencing and creating different symptoms..."

What about you? Did the Satyam news shake your confidence in outsourcing? Or were you already in the negative camp?