Patent for country choice
By Techgirl

Bank of America has done well in India.  It has branches in at least 5 major Indian cities and has outsourced a large chunk of its American and European back office work to India.

Indian has been used as an outsourcing hub for more than 25 years.  Every year, many Fortune 500, as well as smaller companies, evaluate a number of outsourcing destinations like India, China, Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, and Indonesia before deciding where to send their IT-ITES work. Each company uses the same criterion – political stability, telecom services, technical skills, language, previous track record and costs.

Today, while reading Techdirt I stumbled upon a Bank of America patent pending with the US Government on how to evaluate a country as an outsourcing hub.  The patent document lodged with the US Government reads in part

“
A business entity facing budget issues may choose to employ a work force from another location. The option to relocate may be considered by both American and many foreign countries, especially those countries having a high cost of living and a demanding work force. A line of business faces many risks to relocate a portion or its entire workforce, including investing significant capital, time, and personnel. Further, the business entity may also consider many relocation options and each option's characteristics before making the decision to relocate. The business entities often find that assessing a country as a relocation option is an arduous and risky task.

A method and system for assessing a country as a relocation option is needed. Further, a method and system of comparing a group of countries as a relocation option is also needed. The assessment of a country may include an analysis of the country's geographic considerations, risk factors, and the mitigation factors. The country assessment may also consider the specific needs of the business entity and may balance of risks and rewards that are associated with the relocation option.
“

What??  Haven’t GE, IBM, Oracle, SAP, Intel, Coca Cola, Citibank and hundreds of others not being doing this for 25 years?  Can such a Bank of America patent titled ‘Country Assessment’ be approved by the US Government? 

According to the patent document, most of the ‘inventors’ of the patent are from US, but there is at least one person from India.  Avtar Singh Monga from DLF City Phase 2, India is listed as one of the co-inventors of this patent to select a country to outsource to.

What next?  Someone trying to patent how to choose Genpact from a host of BPO vendors in India!

Techgoss note: Techgirl is a senior Tech journalist who reports on the IT, KPO and KPO Sectors for a leading media house.  In her spare time, she dabbles in satire in her blog http://techgirltalk.blogspot.com