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U.S. Firms Turn to Israel as Outsourcing Alternative
[Boston Globe] Matthew Kalman - "In the past 18 months, 700 new jobs have been created in outsourcing in Jerusalem alone. The industry is growing rather rapidly, from 100 employees three years ago to more than 1,500 today," said Jafar Sabbah, codirector of StartUp Jerusalem, a nonprofit created to stimulate employment. "Israelis have better English language fluency - especially since so many are U.S. expats or have American parents - than in other countries; their customs and values are similar to those of U.S. citizens; the infrastructure and security in Israel is much better than in other foreign countries; and Israelis have a high work ethic," said Greg Fern, executive vice president of MyPrepForce, a division of FSO Technologies in Westport, Conn. Eli Kazhdan, a consultant to outsourcing companies in Israel, said most of the jobs are medium-to-high-end call center work, legal and paralegal, and information technology. In a 2005 survey, consulting firm AT Kearney ranked Israel among the most attractive places worldwide for outsourcing, and Red Herring magazine dubbed Jerusalem a "new hot spot" for outsourcing.