Data security and offshore outsourcing
Chris Deuchar, School of Biosciences, Nottingham
University
I have long been intrigued by the promotion by some of
outsourcing as a solution to staffing problems ranging from low
numbers to high salary costs.
Occasionally one hears muttered concerns about security among IT
professionals, but these rarely involve the public at large. In my
opinion this is a gross underestimate of the distrust by the public
of the whole process. I see two major problems of perception for
outsourcing and offshoring.
Even within the UK, we hear almost daily of increasing
fraudulent use of personal data and identity theft. This is in a
country with a complex and thorough legal system through which one
could, at least theoretically, chase wrongdoers through the courts
and see them punished. As a last resort one could also "send the
boys round".
For information that is processed abroad (and for that read
verification, customer services, telesales or whatever) then,
because of differing approaches to legal systems, or because of the
sheer distance, none of the usual remedies are possible -
especially the last! The public are aware of this.
Also, a company that outsources work is telling the public not
only that they do not have the resources or expertise to do the
job, but that they are also so desperate that they will allow
another company to make profits off their back. A company that
outsources therefore appears "inadequate".
In terms of offshore outsourcing, it will only take one major
scandal for the whole concept to come crashing down and take many
away in the dust. It is only a question of time. The rot has
already started with the recent case of large-scale credit card
information being sold in India from a banking site.
Technically, of course, there is nothing wrong with outsourcing
within the UK or offshore, but the public don't trust it because
ultimately the responsibility for it going wrong does not rest on
the shoulders of anyone they can get their hands on.
Staffing costs and profit margins
Dave Overall,Redvers Consulting
I totally agree with the point Chris Tiernan made in his article
(Computer Weekly, 6 December) when he said that economies of scale
achieved by IT outsourcing contracts no longer exist in the 21st
century (especially when hardware is taken out of the equation).
However, competition between suppliers means that the profit
derived from the mark-up of staff labour costs may be a little more
sinister than just utilising cheap labour markets.
My wife works in human resources and they have always seen the
first years of an IT outsourcing contract as a loss leader.
According to several articles in HR magazines, profit is only
generated after the transfer of undertakings obligations have been
satisfied.
At this point outsourcing suppliers are entitled to "asset
strip" the outsourced project teams, replacing the most able
performers with far cheaper, inexperienced staff who are then
trained by the middle-ranking ability resources on site. The high
performers can then be used as consultants in the quest for the
next client.
I suspect that some of the disillusionment from some of the more
mature outsourcing contracts could be a result of the contracts
reaching the asset stripping phase.
Software testing is more than just ticking
boxes
Graham Smith, IS Integration
In response to your article on the human element of software
testing (Computer Weekly, 22 November), Nick Langley is completely
right when he says that an organisation's testing strategy and
methods are only as important as the people who work on the
testing.
The past few years have seen some monumental disasters that have
come about as a result of failings in the testing strategies of
some huge integration and outsourcing projects.
One of the key reasons why testing failures can have
catastrophic consequences is that testing managers and the team
responsible for testing do not get support from the wider
organisation and the testing strategy is not flavoured with the
right strategic and business influences. All too often, testing
managers are seen as standalone entities in implementation projects
- the rest of the business fails to realise that testing really can
make or break a company.
This is a wake-up call to organisations. Testing is not just a
tick-box operational function. You must have the right people in
place, and these people must also get the right support from other
areas of the business.
The problem is not technology, but culture
Nakis Papadopoulos,IMGroup
I was interested to read Arif Mohamed's article "Taking business
intelligence to the masses" (Computer Weekly, 8 November).
Technologies like Microsoft's business intelligence platform are
making business intelligence more accessible to more people. People
want access to relevant information to maximise business
performance, however, the issue is not with the technology itself,
but with business culture.
I believe the technology is available, and part of what
Microsoft is doing is using this predefined culture to push
business intelligence capabilities into products that are already
used by many people. It takes time for people to adapt to a new
technology, but as long as businesses are flexible with cost and
are prepared to change some of their business processes, they will
be able to encourage a smoother transition.
The question companies should be asking is, to what extent is
this technology relevant to my business? Allowing everyone in the
company to have access to business intelligence tools might not be
the answer, and businesses need to decide what is appropriate for
them.
Making business intelligence accessible to more people will
undoubtedly help to support an "added-value-centric" world, and now
more than ever, access to more information is vital in supporting
this.
Abbreviation is just a three-letter word
Gerard Adams
I noted in Cliff Saran's reply to Chetan Bhatt (Computer Weekly,
29 November) that he wonders how many people recall what IBM stands
for. That esteemed organisation did, I recall, have a TLA
(three-letter acronym) dictionary application which held many
thousands of acronyms, obviously mostly pertaining to their own for
which they are so famous. It contained FLAs too and an explanation
of that TLA...