Whether you rightshore, multishore, or just plain offshore your operations, you’re part of a trend that’s accelerating despite — or perhaps because of — the heated political and media debate surrounding it. In a recent survey of over 1,800 North American business and IT leaders, Forrester Research Inc. found support for its controversial statement 18 months ago that 3.3 million U.S. jobs would move overseas by 2015. Forrester cites four reasons for this: (1) The increased visibility of the issue has led more conservative companies to experiment with offshoring; (2) foreign vendors now offer more sophisticated technical services and infrastructure; (3) U.S. firms are setting up their own offshore centers for business process outsourcing; and (4) vendors and users are turning to emerging markets such as Vietnam and North Africa for low-cost labor. As for the political fallout, expect curbs but not an outright ban on offshoring; companies will probably have to do little more than give 90 days’ notice to affected employees and report the number of jobs sent offshore.