As a manager of a tech business, I have found it is now essential to differentiate my products and services in such a way, they cannot just be easily outsourced to the lowest bidding company. Cheaper development of more routine tasks can be beneficial for all, and can be used by British companies as a compliment to their existing product line and service offering. If British companies focus less on low value products, they can focus more on higher margin more value adding products.
We deal in artificial intelligence and high end consultancy at Brainy Technologies. Since we have access to the best universities in the world, and the best professors, our services are not so easily duplicated by those without this access. To stay competitive, we also offer free services for a limited time such as free support. Going forward, I believe this will be essential as service augmentation and differentiation are one of the few legitimate survival strategies remaining in the western tool box. Good quality and excellent communication remain also, but for how long?. Also, manufacturers for electrical products offer manufacturer warranties. If you believe you have solid code, then support for a limited time should be standard also. After all, people will not use a support service much if you built good easy to use code. You are not really giving away much if you did the job right the first time.
That is a controversial issue. I just wanted to highlight what is needed to survive in today's globalised world.
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