The Gulf region may be attracting more and more outsourcing services to the region, but they should differentiate their offers and prove their strengths to taste success in the surging global outsourcing market and compete  with the likes of India and China, according to a Yankee Group report, a report said.

'Of all the countries in the Middle East, Egypt has the strongest position in the outsourcing market. Some other countries including Abu Dhabi and Oman are coming on strong in the outsourcing space but others such as Jordan and Dubai face longer odds in competing for a piece of the outsourcing pie,' Zeus Kerravala, enterprise research senior vice-president, Yankee Group, was quoted as saying in the Gulf News report.

The region has some clear advantages over players like India which is clearly the market leader, it added. But India was becoming costlier, the report said.

Egypt is clearly the winner in terms of the outsourcing industry due to its skilled and comparatively cheaper workforce with abundant foreign language skills.

While Oman and Bahrain recently made strong efforts to bring in outsourcing to their countries,  Abu Dhabi is already in the fray through its joint venture with EDS.

Saudi Arabia stands a good chance to emerge as an outsourcing hub for the Middle East, due to its strong IT infrastructure.

Kerravala opined that the strongest plus for the Gulf region was its excellent internet penetration compared to India, which could work in its favour, in the outsouring sector.