The Foundation for Transparency in Offshoring Mission:

The FTO is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to educating buyers and suppliers of consumer research and analytics services on considerations related to offshoring, and to establishing sensible, clear disclosure standards for offshoring practices. FTO holds no position for or against offshoring research services, but maintains transparency and open dialogue between research buyers and suppliers are critical to making informed, secure business decisions.

FTO defines offshoring as the movement of a business process done at a company in one country to the same or another company in a different country, usually due to a lower cost of operations in the new location.

FTO certification is free. Market research suppliers may self certify here. Market research clients are encouraged to require their suppliers to certify and to show their support for the transparency initiative here.

Resources

Thinking Outside the BPO:Knowledge Process Outsourcing to India

Offshoring to India: Are Your Trade Secrets and Confidential Information Adequately Protected?

Key Issues In Offshore — Business Process Outsourcing

News Release

FTO Coverage in Research Conference Report (Nov. 2009)

FTO launch press release (11-18-2009)

View the presentation about Offshoring Transparency
from The Research Industry Summit on Data Quality (TMRE)

Founder & Chairman

Tom H.C. Anderson
Managing Partner
Anderson Analytics, LLC.
USA

Board of Advisors

Sonia Baldia
Partner, Business & Technology Sourcing
Co-Chair, India Practice
Mayer Brown LLP
USA

Eric M. Bell
CEO & Founder
Market Research Global Alliance
USA

Ann Margreth Hellberg
Director
NexoSI Consulting
Former Vice President of ESOMAR
Sweden

Jon Leiman
Owner QMS Partners & Founder
Market Research Bulletin
USA

Gordon Morris
Global Insights Manager
Sony Ericsson
UK

Dr. Alf Rehn
Professor, Author, and Speaker on Innovation Management
Åbo Akademi University
Finland

Joel Rubinson
CRO
The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF)
USA

Tom De Ruyck
President
BAQMaR

Fern Schapiro
Executive Vice President
Client Service & Marketing
InsightExpress
USA

Clients can show their support for FTO as well. Researchers from the following client side organizations currently support the FTO Initiative. (Partial List Below)

Åbo Akademi University
BBC
BBDO
BMW
Burger King Corporation
Campbell Soup Company
Costa Cruises
Helsinki University of Technology
Hewitt Associates
IBM
LinkedIn
L'Oreal
Microsoft
Miller Coors
Motorola
MySpace
NEC
New York University
Novartis
Office Depot
Oracle Corporation
Payless ShoeSource
SC Johnson
Sony Ericsson
Sprint
The Coca-Cola Company
The Hartford
University of Connecticut
UST
Volvo
Walmart
Wells Fargo Bank

Show your support by signing our petition and connecting to FTO on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook.