A growing number of European multinationals are hoping to capitalise on keeping more of their operations closer to home, and that is having a marked impact on potential sales of IT and consulting projects, according to the specialist IT and consulting telemarketing company, INCo.
With costs of labour a diminishing fraction of total costs, the temptation to site manufacturing overseas is reduced, and long, complex supply chains are turning out to have risks that many firms didn’t appreciate. When oil prices increase, so do transport costs. When an epidemic such as SARS hits Asia or when an earthquake hits Japan, the disruption to supply chains hurts product supply.
Firms trying to reduce inventory costs can also benefit if the goods are made nearer home, and with the northern European business recovery now well underway, opportunities for IT and consulting companies are becoming more prevalent.
INCo, who are continuously contacting the market on behalf of clients via telemarketing to find and qualify sales leads and opportunities, warn that suppliers who are not geared to market growth may miss out.
“Companies are re-thinking their supply chains and manufacturing profiles. Executives no longer assume that they should always make things in the country with the lowest wages. Increasingly, it makes sense to make things in a variety of places, including the UK,” said INCo managing director Neil Ritchie.
