Colin Taylor, the head of the Toronto-area consultancy Taylor Reach wrote a rejoinder to our Outsourcing: Canada vs. India post, reminding us of all the call center repatriation going on. Some companies that turned over some call center operations to Indian firms have been bringing them back, citing poor customer service. (This has been happening in elsewhere, too: We reported on US Airways repatriation from the Philippines in February. Rumor had it Delta was going to follow.)

Taylor liked the radio series, but thought it left a few other things out, too. He also mentioned high turnover in Indian centers. The BBC reported turnover rates as high as 50% in India in 2004. A recent Research and Markets report hints at a 40% turnover rate, but it's phrased vaguely, and might refer to outsourcers in general. Taylor points out that India's turnover is at least as high, probably higher than Canada's.

Taylor also thought Canadian centers were more technologically reliable: "North American telephony infrastructure in based upon what is known as 5 9's which is 99.999% uptime. In India the standard delivered by BPO and outsource companies is 99.9%, while this variance doesn't seem like much over the course of a year it is the difference between 20 minutes of downtime and three days!"

So Canada is generally more reliable and more predictable than India, if not cheaper in the short term. What are we to make of all the news about Canada's "maturity"? Are all the reports going to hasten Canada's fall in the outsourcing market?

One of the biggest problems isn't Canada; it's America. Computer Business Review Online pointed to "the sliding U.S. dollar" as the culprit.

But there are other problems, too: high rent in Canada, compared to U.S. cities, and Canada's lack of Spanish skills make it sound like America, not India, is Canada's more threatening rival.

Computer Business Review isn't ready to write off Canada though: "Canada as a contact center market is mature, but has a tremendous amount to offer investors. While rising costs and higher currency costs are an irritant for US-based firms, the close proximity and common commercial culture are sure winners."

When I read that, my first impulse was to see if Computer Business Review was published in Canada. Nope -- England. But I think they're right. "Maturity" can be a good thing. What do you think? Which is Canada's bigger outsourcing competition, India or America? Is the growth of the outsourcing market in Canada over? Does it matter? What are Canada's advantages over India as you them? Let us know.