Is Three Miles at Sea "Offshore"?

Back Office Globalization... The two recent Dispatches on offshoring (Aug 4 and Aug 9) generated a ton of responses. Below are the last words.

Bob Canter with Performance Realty Solutions in Rockville, MD, writes. "In our multi-cultural society and working in a Global Marketplace I would say the broker who had a problem [with the caller's accent] should re-think his attitude as this outsourcing is only the beginning as it concerns the Commercial Real Estate industry."

Scott Murphy with Metropolitan Pacific in Santa Monica, CA, raises another challenge to anybody gathering proprietary real estate data. "When I stated that my 'For Lease' properties were regularly updated in CoStar -- the industry standard in Los Angeles for leasing availability -- the researcher stated that he did not have access to CoStar and would need to go over my listings individually. Due to my own time constraints, I was unable to go over my properties, building-by-building, suite-by-suite, one at a time... which was the request."

David Berger with Colliers LatAm in Miami thinks that we may solve the problem actuarially. "I learned that outsourcing works cost wise if you do not have to spend too much time going hands on with the ''outsourcees,' and I was reminded once again that some people do not adapt well to the globalization of services due to the varied accents. They want someone they can easily understand and that is like them. Perhaps successive generations will be easily integrated into the outsourced global services simply because they will be accustomed to it from their youth."

Bill Ralston with the Gibson Company in Newport Beach, CA, got me smiling. "One company trying to make outsourcing easier is SeaCode, which is promoting a plan to park a cruise ship [3 miles] off the West Coast in international waters. I see this as not only a great idea for outsourcing work, but also for the outsourcing of real estate. How long before brokers are listing office space on boats off the coast of the US or other countries to avoid problems like work permits, office security, worker safety, etc?"

Vacation Alert... To celebrate the end of summer, the PikeNet Dispatch will not be published next week. Stay tuned for the next issue on Tuesday, September 6, the day after Labor Day.

-- Peter Pike