Will offshoring result in yesterday’s answer tomorrow?
As someone who has had to deal with offshore service providers, Outsider is very interested in the suggestion that paraplanning services can be satisfactorily provided by people sitting offshore, probably on the Indian sub-continent.
Now Outsider totally understands the attractions of offshoring the provision of services, not least the lower cost-base but he hopes that those who are proposing such arrangements are conscious of pros and cons.
Outsider acknowledges that Money Management's owner, FE fundinfo has a reasonably global footprint and that his frequent IT problems are often resolved by colleagues based in India.
Indeed, Outsider can think of occasions on which IT problems experienced at the throbbing heart of the Money Management newsroom were dealt with via both in the United Kingdom and India – a truly international approach to a very domestic problem.
But he points out that one of frustrations of such a situation is that when Money Management is approaching its morning newsletter deadline, it is just 3am in Chennai and 1 am in London.
Which reminds Outsider of the southern belle he met years ago in New York who said to Outsider, “Honey, is it always tomorrow where you come from?”.
She was right, you know.
AUTHOR
The Outsider
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