Final answer:
Outsourcing involves contracting with external firms to perform tasks traditionally done internally, often in countries with lower labor costs, while consulting is about hiring experts for advice and assistance in specific business areas without outsourcing of internal operations.
Step-by-step explanation:
The terms outsourcing and consulting refer to different practices used by companies to access systems development resources. Outsourcing is the practice of hiring an outside firm to perform tasks or services that were traditionally completed internally. This can often include sending jobs to another country, where labor costs might be lower, to perform functions like accounting, payroll, or customer service. Consulting, on the other hand, involves hiring experts to provide advice or to assist in specific areas of a business, without necessarily taking over any internal operations. Consultants typically analyze, advise, and strategize to help a company improve or optimize a certain aspect of their business.
These practices have become particularly prevalent in the era of globalization, with companies striving to reduce operational costs and increase efficiencies. For example, many technical support call centers have been outsourced to countries like India and Canada. However, even highly skilled jobs, such as those in the computer programming sector, have been affected by outsourcing. In contrast, consulting services are often utilized to leverage external expertise and knowledge to drive business improvements and are not directly associated with relocating jobs overseas.