Outsource Magazine Issue 28 - (Page 113)

THE BACK END INSIDE SOURCE I spy, with my little eye… outsourcing mischief! The red mist… Regular readers of this column might be forgiven for assuming that my life is one long whirl of high-class events, boozy tetes-a-tetes and salacious gossip – and, it’s true, I try to live that lifestyle as fully as possible. But every now and then (OK then, all the time) I get dragged down to earth by an unfathomable amount of work, and the cocktail parties and premieres get transformed into long nights and early mornings in front of the laptop. And when this happens, like everyone else, the very last thing I want is for my workload to be increased by the incompetence of others. Unfortunately this does occasionally take place, and my wrath knows no bounds. And today is one of those times. Earlier today I got off the phone from one of our offshore delivery centres having shouted myself hoarse at someone who bears no responsibility whatsoever for a gigantic SNAFU which will cost us several thousand – perhaps tens of thousands – of pounds to put right. The problem is totally at our end: someone who should have known very much better has made a very very obvious mistake scoping out a piece of work, and somehow concealed it inadvertently in such a way as it has been missed by most of the people it’s touched up to now. The poor kid at the end of the phone took the brunt of my anger – which was thoroughly unprofessional of me and I will be sure to make amends very shortly. But as for the idiot whose mistake it’s been… As John Travolta says in Pulp Fiction: “It’d almost be worth him doing it just so I could catch him…” If this column doesn’t appear in the next issue, it may be because I’ve been detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure after losing it completely. In which case: can someone bring me a cake with a file in it? I’ve got a situation that needs fixing. And more… Good to know, though, that my company’s not the only one making balls-ups at the moment. How’s this from an anonymous contributor: “Dear Inside Source, I thought you might like this anecdote. Today I attended a meeting with a software development company who is – was? – hoping to get a tasty little piece of business from us. We weren’t calling it a pitch but that’s what it was. They had put together a presentation with some nifty video content that must have cost them a few bob. They actually seemed quite interesting – some good case studies as well – but halfway through the meeting one of them said something that another one disagreed with and before our eyes a full-on stand-up row developed which got so ferocious that they had to be pulled apart and the meeting was quickly wound up. As they were ushered out the front door they were still squabbling and apparently fisticuffs broke out before they were out of sight. I am trying to persuade our security team to put the video up on YouTube and will send it to you if they ever do!” I can’t wait! Remember, you can send me your scurrilous stories at insidesource. outsource@gmail.com “However I dress it up, I was a spy and I am not proud of it.” – Christine Keeler www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk 113 ●●● ● http://www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Outsource Magazine Issue 28

News
Deep Thought
John Seddon
At Your Service?
Plenty To Chew On
The Power of Two
Big Data
Invested Outsourcing
Tim Cummins
NOA Round-Up
LPO
Managing Knowledge in a Partnership
A Long Way Still To Go
Recruitment Process Technology
Let’s Talk About Our Relationships
Welcome
Great Expectations
Transformative Technology
The Future of Rightshoring
Top Ten
The Legal View
HfS Round-Up
Offshoring
Online Round-Up
Inside Source
The Last Word

Outsource Magazine Issue 28