That’s right.  Get your feet on the ground and visit your outsourcing vendors.  Before you make the determination to move operations of any size or sort offshore, do yourself, your business and your customers a material favor, and get over to wherever it is that your work is headed, and take a look.  Kick the tires, and certainly, meet the people.  And, most importantly, the local talent that will truly be managing your operations on a daily and intimate basis.

Generally speaking, an engagement of any size will result in almost fleets of Western management headed to the far flung locales you’re considering, ready to usher you through operations centers coupled with lovely dinners in lovely hotels.  However, powerpoint presentations and great steaks do not a great result make.  One of the most valuable business decisions that any company can make, in terms of outsourcing relationships, is to recognize the importance of the local talent that your vendors employ.  Further consider:

•  Percentage of local talent versus talent “parachuted in” during crisis mode.  If the folks that are truly making the decisions about your business are not there locally in country to make the hard decisions, or not basically trusted by the global corporations you’ve entrusted your business to, you are in trouble.  Strong local talent elsewhere is no different than strong local talent at home - lower attrition, better performance, and the rise of future management. 
• Strong local management will often, despite the best intentions of the global behemoths, be better able to reach out to local country officials and regulations.  Again, provincial governments have local power, and those companies with strong local representation will often have the upper hand, particularly where provincial tax incentives translate to lower rates to bring in volume business and provide local jobs.
• Facilities.  You may very well be amazed at the top notch facilities that you visit elsewhere.  Facilities that include sleeping quarters, showers, complete food services at all hours, and many transportation options make these jobs ever more valuable to the associates that provide your services.  Valuable jobs make for lower attrition and better quality - in a manner that is intangible yet highly valuable to your business.  In this dawn of labor arbitrage in many parts of the globe, these intangible (only to you) benefits are key. 

The cost of travel, although occasionally daunting, is well worth the expense.  Meet your local talent, and recognize the value that they will import to your business.