Here are some Middle Eastern companies or regional cases where outsourcing—mainly IT or tech services—experienced notable problems, including delays, quality issues, or outright failures. Details include:
Saudi Tech Firm Outsourcing to Pakistan
- Company: Unnamed Saudi firm
- Outsourced to: Pakistan-based tech provider
- When begun: Not specified, but within recent years (Reddit discussion in early 2024)
- Problems became clear: Internet shutdowns during Pakistani elections caused delivery failure; risk team lost confidence, leading them to stop outsourcing to Pakistan .
- What they did: Ended outsourcing relationship due to perceived unreliability—even though the issues stemmed more from infrastructure than vendor competence.
Dubai Real Estate Company Intent to Outsource to India
- Company: Real estate firm in Dubai (anonymous)
- Outsourced to: Indian IT provider (unsuccessfully implemented yet)
- Planning phase: Late 2023 post-COVID hiring surge .
- Concerns raised: Reddit users reported that outsourcing previously led to poor quality that critically impacted business—commenting “worst mistake of his life” due to horrific output, even though cost was low .
- What happened: Company was reconsidering the outsourcing plan after negative internal feedback; outcome appears to have been halted or reevaluated.
Wider Patterns in Gulf/Iran/Egypt-based Outsourcing
While specific large corporations with dramatic long-term failure stories are less documented publicly in the Middle East, several recurring risk patterns emerge across sectors:
🇪🇬 Egypt Outsourcing
- Many Gulf firms outsourced development to Egypt due to low labor cost and an English-speaking talent pool.
- Over time, political instability, weak IP enforcement, and time-zone misalignments caused project unpredictability and risk of leakage or delay .
🏦 Kuwait Private Sector (Exploratory Study)
- A 2001 empirical investigation found that although outsourcing is growing in Kuwaiti private companies, risks were often underestimated, especially around governance and strategic alignment—suggesting potential long-term rework or quality loss when issues arose .
🔍 Real-World Feedback from Developers (Middle East Context)
Developers working with Middle Eastern companies and offshore teams frequently pointed out:
- Day‑to‑day disruption from time-zone mismatches and unaligned work rituals, even when vendors were competent.
- One Reddit commenter highlighted remote offshore teams working India hours so poorly aligned that local staff were often blocked until late hours for leadership input—a clear productivity bottleneck .
🧠 Lessons & Outcomes (Common Patterns)
- Project disruption due to unreliable local infrastructure (e.g., internet shutdowns) or regional political triggers.
- Quality degradation despite cost savings—time‑zone challenges, cultural misalignment, and poor planning frequently cited.
- Many companies retract or renegotiate outsourcing plans after negative pilot phases or repeated delivery failures.
- Some risk teams proactively cease working with certain countries (e.g., Saudi firm stopping outsourcing to Pakistan) based on repeated failure signals—even if few public large-scale case studies exist.
✅ In Summary
- Saudi firm + Pakistan: Cancelled outsourcing after delivery breakdown during election-related internet shutdowns.
- Dubai real estate company + India: Internal backlash halted outsourcing plan due to poor-quality trials.
- Regional Gulf‑Egypt outsourcing: Even with skilled labor and low cost, political and IP risks pose long-term quality concerns.
- Kuwaiti study: Private sector outsourcing increasing—but risk awareness remains low, hinting at failures down the line.
Here are deeper insights into Etisalat, Etihad Airways, KBR, and Halliburton—focusing on cases with outsourcing-related failures or severe long-term issues. While not all stem from outsourced IT specifically, they reflect broader operational risks and aftermath:
Etisalat (UAE Telecom)
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- Problem context: Significant customer-service failures and poor service quality.
- Outsourced aspects: Likely third‑party call centers or support services, including shared systems across the Gulf.
- When issues surfaced: Throughout 2023–2024, especially among business clients and consumer complaints.
- For example, Reddit users report hours of service calls with no resolution, broken online portals, activation issues, and overcharging, all exacerbated by poor vendor performance .
- Outcome: Public pressure and government criticism (e.g., Federal National Council), though no clear reversal documented. Use complaints suggest users switching providers and leaders calling for industry regulation .
Etihad Airways (UAE National Airline)
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- Outsourced functions: Shared service centre in India for revenue accounting and consideration of wider outsourcing initiatives around 2007 .
- Emergent issues: While not explicitly linked to outsourcing, recent customer-service breakdowns hint at vendor mismanagement. Multiple Reddit posts report long phone wait times, canceled flights without notice, broken chat systems, and overall steep declines in responsiveness since around 2024–2025 .
- What happened: Etihad hasn’t publicly reversed outsourcing, but complaints suggest deep service degradation, likely prompting internal reviews. The airline is also pursuing digital transformation and analytics consolidation as of 2022 to regain quality .
KBR & Halliburton (US-based contractor operating in the Middle East)
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- Outsourced structure: KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, managed extensive logistics, dining, laundry, and support services in Iraq and Kuwait via layers of subcontractors—including firms from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Egypt, etc. .
- Problems uncovered: Massive overbilling and cost-plus profiteering emerged in early to mid‑2000s. Examples include paying $75 per laundry bag delivered by subcontractors paid only $5/day, or inflated markup on guard services and soda deliveries .
- When issues came to light: From 2003 to 2008, internal audits, whistleblower testimony, and Congressional oversight uncovered systemic waste, fraud, lack of competitive bidding, and conflicts of interest .
- What they had to do: Halliburton/KBR faced regulatory investigations, billions in fines, fee reversals, and legal settlements. Some managers were dismissed; whistleblowers testified; U.S. authorities withheld hundreds of millions in billings. Public outcry led to Congressional scrutiny and reforms in contracting oversight .
🧠 Summary Highlights
🚨 Key Takeaways for Middle East Context
- Outsourcing—even to trusted vendors in the region or in low-cost offshore locations—can introduce systemic risk when oversight, audit mechanisms, or aligned incentives are weak.
- In telecom and airlines, poor service quality often emerges slowly via breakdown of customer support or operations.
- In large contracts (e.g. KBR in Iraq), a lack of transparency and aggressive cost-plus models enabled inflated billing and poor outcome quality.