What scores in the global tech league?

What really matters when it comes to chosing an overseas location for your technology - skills, food, buildings, climate? Mark Kobayashi-Hillary offers some ideas.

A couple of years ago at a technology conference in Budapest I remember the Czech representatives making their pitch. What sticks in my mind is that they used the beautiful architecture of Prague as the number one reason to work there.

Perhaps they were on to something. Everyone prefers working in a pleasant environment. But if beautiful surroundings are the only reason to work in a particular city then why are major companies like O2 or Mars located in Slough, in the UK's drab M4 corridor?

At least the Czechs focused on the beauty of their architecture. One other European country, which shall remain nameless here, was selling itself on the beauty of its women.

Not openly in conference of course but their representatives changed their one-on-one sales pitch based on whether or not the male delegates were wearing a wedding ring.

Tech Hotspots: The list

1. Silicon Valley
2. Bangalore
3. London
4. Tokyo
5. Boston
6. Cambridge
7. Shanghai
8. Tel Aviv
9. Seoul
10.Beijing
11.Chennai
12.Pune
13.Singapore
14.Helsinki
15.Moscow
16.Hong Kong
17.Hyderabad
18.New York
19.Sydney
20.Shenzhen

It seems every government is now playing this game, because the analysts are all publishing detailed charts and research that details the best place to offshore - aiming to guide those managers responsible for setting up offshore delivery centres.

Criteria such as education, language skills, availability of talent, government support, and intellectual property protection all get factored into the choice of where companies are locating their back office or shared service centre.

Then there are the more human factors, such as the quality of the local shops and restaurants - and this can be more important than it sounds for foreign managers who need to visit frequently.

When I was at the conference of Indian tech body Nasscom earlier this year I was stunned by the sheer number of countries that had gone to Mumbai, attempting to pinch business from under the nose of the Indians.

Representatives of International Business Wales dominated the pre-conference sessions. Other pre-conference discussions featured representatives of the high tech sector in Pakistan, Malaysia and China.

The first evening reception was sponsored by Nova Scotia, Canada. Lunch on day two was sponsored by Costa Rica, and dinner that evening was thanks to the Egyptians. The keynote sessions on day three featured representatives of Australia, China and Egypt and then the lunch was funded by our very own Think London.

The very final session of the conference examined software innovation in China, India and Israel. It was like the United Nations of outsourcing.

My own organisation, the National Outsourcing Association, has a glitzy award ceremony every autumn and one of the gongs goes to the best outsourcing destination.

Last time it went to the Philippines and I was in Manila last month observing how this prize was held aloft as a badge of honour and credibility. The awards and analyst reports really can count for a lot, leading direct to significant investment and job creation.

But I find that I need to keep on reminding trade associations and government leaders that sending trade missions to London won't really win any new business. Which CIO is going to go to the Barbican Centre for an afternoon of offshore suppliers selling their services via PowerPoint?

Outsourcing offshore is all about trust and stability. Knowing that the service can be delivered time and time again from that remote location. So every manager making a decision like this will go and see the place in person anyway. Bringing planeloads of suppliers in to meet potential customers is a waste of time.

If governments really wanted to market their region more effectively then they should educate more of the technology analysts, journalists and bloggers. Get them out to see what you have to offer, because these influencers create the CIO opinion and perception of how good a region really is.

I know that includes me as a candidate and, no, I'm not just angling here for some free trips to far-off places. My six-countries-in-a-week trip in February was quite enough to last me a while but if an invitation to explore a sun-kissed paradise comes along then it's all in the name of research.

Mark Kobayashi-Hillary is the co-author of Global Services: Moving to a Level Playing Field (BCS 2007) and a director of the National Outsourcing Association.