Everyone loves a good myth but, when it’s perpetuated by the media, it doesn’t take long for fact and fiction to become intertwined - which is why Darryl Conley’s recent presentation to delegates at Global Sourcing Live event offered a breath of fresh air.

Using evidence compiled by the Everest Group, Conley set about debunking some of the myths surrounding offshoring that had built up an almost unstoppable momentum over the past 12 months.

Firstly he reported that, despite recent headlines, labour arbitrage would still deliver significant cost benefits for at least the next ten years.

Secondly, Conley attacked exaggerated media coverage of decisions by the likes of Lloyds TSB, Philips and Aviva to bring offshore operations back home, claiming that it offered a “distorted” version of offshoring’s true picture.

He then set about dismantling the claim that only low value work was being offshored. “There is a fair degree of activity right across the value added stack,” he said, before using the example of knowledge process outsourcing as an area of potentially huge growth to further hammer home his point.

All well and good, but what about the bottom line? Everest’s research showed that 70 per cent of buyers were achieving savings of between 30 and 50 per cent. A further two-thirds of respondents also reported improvements in productivity (although on the flip side just 50 per cent noted any enhancement in quality).

Finally, tackling the myth that offshoring is only about India, he told delegates that the growth of areas such as Canada, the Philippines and Mexico (helped by their proximity to the US) meant that these countries were now posing a genuine threat to South Asia’s traditional dominance.

As a piece of myth-busting it was hard to beat.