Lockdown in India is forcing the corporate world to rethink outsourced jobs

[AtW]

“ When India’s prime minister ordered a lockdown, a nation of 1.3 billion was plunged into chaos. At just four hours’ notice, Asia’s third-largest economy came to a shuddering halt.

The shock waves were felt thousands of miles away in some of the world’s biggest companies, which heavily rely on outsourced staff in India to provide back-office operations.

Major Western institutions including RBS and HSBC, as well as Wells Fargo, are now facing productivity issues as a result of the 21-day lockdown. Bank of America this weekend denied its Indian operations face similar challenges, insisting its team has switched smoothly to working from home.

Retail banks, in particular, have seen a large volume of customer mortgage enquiries go unanswered by once-packed call centres in India. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment....

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Lockdown in India is forcing the corporate world to rethink outsourced jobs

[ladymuck]

I don't think outsourcing will stop, it will just be spread about more.

[vetran]

sad cause but


boo fecking hoo!

[BrilloPad]

Outsourcing of services and manufacturing has been great for the rich. Bad for the poor and the planet.

I hope this crisis will change things. I expect to be disappointed.

[NotAllThere]

Can't help but feel a bit of schadenfreude. Rather like when Satyam collapsed and senior managers were flapping around asking "who owns our data?". Happy days.

[DaveB]

Client Co. work with a couple of the big players out there. Their DR plans (move to another building) are in disarray, they can't get staff online because they all use desktops and they can't open the offices to get them move to employees homes. They were scraping together about 50% capacity but that is likely to deteriorate.

[vetran]

Client Co. work with a couple of the big players out there. Their DR plans (move to another building) are in disarray, they can't get staff online because they all use desktops and they can't open the offices to get them move to employees homes. They were scraping together about 50% capacity but that is likely to deteriorate.

yep your suppliers need a DR plan as well!

[Benny]

Client Co. they can't open the offices to get them move to employees homes.

I understand business areas are OK but did wonder what the outlying broadband capacity and reliability was like in Bobland to allow people to wfh & maintain continuity - is it comparable?

[reddog]

I doubt it will go away, but it could go down noticeably (The Indian Offshoring industry was already facing challenges, due to cost and automation trends)

Personally if an offshore solution is insisted on, I have found central Europe (Poland, Slovakia etc.) better - but not ideal.

Incidentally a tip for you budding interim CIO's/Programme Managers.

If Accenture et al. start insisting that you project is better off done out of India, rather than a nearshore location like Slovakia, it is not because the Indian solution will be better for your company, it is because the profit margin will be much higher out of India, so that is what they are told to push India HARD!!!

[eek]

I doubt it will go away, but it could go down noticeably (The Indian Offshoring industry was already facing challenges, due to cost and automation trends)

Personally if an offshore solution is insisted on, I have found central Europe (Poland, Slovakia etc.) better - but not ideal.

Incidentally a tip for you budding interim CIO's/Programme Managers.

If Accenture et al. start insisting that you project is better off done out of India, rather than a nearshore location like Slovakia, it is not because the Indian solution will be better for your company, it is because the profit margin will be much higher out of India, so that is what they are told to push India HARD!!!

Yep - these are figures I saw recently

• Permanent £493
• Offshore IT (India) £161
• Onshore IT £517
• UK contractor £561

Offshore IT in Europe is usually about double the Indian rate.