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Market Research Clients and Providers Call for Transparency in Data Collection and Analytics Offshoring Practices
Chantilly, VA (November 19, 2009) - The Foundation for Transparency in Offshoring (FTO), a non-profit organization dedicated to establishing offshoring disclosure standards for companies that deal with clients' intellectual property and customer survey or database information, officially launched today.
FTO Founder & Chairman Tom H.C. Anderson, Managing Partner of the research consultancy Anderson Analytics, says FTO does not advocate for or against offshoring, but was created to bridge "a serious transparency gap between research providers and clients. Very few buyers have sufficient information to assess the relative strengths and risks associated with offshoring," said Anderson. "In most cases, research buyers don't even know that their projects are being offshored."
Illustrating this discrepancy, FTO fielded a survey among 850 U.S. and international research buyers and providers in November 2009. When asked whether their organizations offshore research projects--compared to their research agency counterparts--nearly 20% more clients said no, 40% fewer clients said yes, and 100% more clients said they were not sure.
For more information, please visit www.offshoringtransparency.org