Assessing the Impacts of IS Offshoring: Preliminary Conclusions Questioning the Validity of Cultural Consideration

This paper defines an analytic framework with which to research the impact of IS offshoring on its various stakeholders and applies this to two significant case studies of offshoring in the financial services industry. It presents conclusions on one particular segment of the research programme, namely the extent to which IS offshoring drives cultural change for IS practitioners in offshore locations. It concludes that the resultant impact is notable, but not different in any significant way to that experienced by any IS practitioner who works overseas. Further, the cultural differences between onshore and offshore practitioners tend to diminish quickly as they adapt to new cultural environments.