Over the past few weeks we have had a recurrence of deplorable violent activity in Northern Ireland. A policeman and two soldiers have been murdered by the Real IRA and many are concerned that this will restart the ‘troubles’ Irish people have long fought to end. Public feeling against renewed violence was palpable as more than 2000 people took to the streets in Northern Ireland holding ‘No going back!’ placards and making a stand for peace.

However, despite the uproar from the general public, potential investors may be concerned that the near-shoring hub has trouble bubbling under the surface and this could deter organisations from taking advantage of the outsourcing opportunities Northern Ireland has to offer. These opportunities have led to a significant surge in investment, something that Northern Ireland has been relishing over recent years. As recently as the beginning of the month gem, a contact centre provider based in Belfast, announced a £19.5m expansion plan which will see another 900 seats made available for an ever increasing client list. Geraldine Fusciardi, Sales and Marketing Director of gem, further promoted the image of Northern Ireland and commented, “We are extremely busy right now as businesses are looking to use contact centres with similar cultural touchpoints.”

This is all welcoming news, especially as the global economy is experiencing a period of financial instability. The last thing Northern Ireland needed was an obstacle in its progress to becoming one of the most attractive destinations for near shore outsourcing. The recent ‘Black Book of Outsourcing’ produced by Brown and Wilson had a section devoted to establishing the riskiest and safest locations to outsource to. This outsourcing handbook had Belfast in the safest 25 destinations to outsource to. This is certainly an acknowledgement of the benefit that peace has brought to the country and in turn highlights how Northern Ireland has become an attractive business area. However the Black Book was published before the recent activity and as we all know, bad news has the potential to severely knock confidence in a location, you only have to look to India for an example of how quickly confidence can be rocked within the outsourcing world.

The Mumbai attacks and the resignation of the CEO of Satyam over a £1bn fraud may have contributed to Mumbai being placed in the 25 riskiest destinations to outsource to. We have certainly heard mumblings of a slowing down in the Indian BPO market and many people are wondering whether emerging destinations such as South Africa and Eastern Europe are going to chip away at the Indian stronghold as a result of a confidence downturn. Does Northern Ireland risk having its end users lose confidence and consider other destinations first?

Speaking to Sourcingfocus.com Bill Montgomery, Director for International Investment at Invest Northern Ireland, commented on the impact the recent events will have on Northern Irish businesses, ‘These are utterly terrible events that have occurred, however in relation to business we are not seeing any adverse effect. Of course questions have been asked however there have been no investment cancellations or potential investment trips halted. Mr Montgomery goes on to say that the events have been ‘isolated and targeted incidents that everyone is against’.

Indeed it appears that it has been pretty much back to business as usual. After putting their U.S. tour on hold briefly, to deal with the events, Martin McGuiness and Peter Robinson met Barack Obama this week in Washington and will presumably continue to promote Northern Ireland as a foreign investment destination.

So concern of a possible reduction in business interest in Northern Ireland may be premature. As Bill Montgomery highlighted, Northern Ireland has done extremely well and the proposition they offer is too strong to ignore. Potential investors should, like with any investment, carry out a thorough risk analysis of the potential locations they are considering. However, they should not be overly concerned about a sudden turn for the worse in Northern Irish violence. The country is united against falling back into the awful times that characterised the late 60’s and continued for nearly 30 years. The area has evolved and despite the awful actions of a few extremists, Northern Ireland looks set for continued growth continue to grow as the country continues offer one of the most competitive near-shore outsourcing models in the industry.