Outsource Magazine Issue 34 - (Page 114)
THE BACK END THE LAST WORD
OPINION
Trip of a Lifetime
As background: I work in
the business press (though
not for this magazine nor
any of its competitors)
(competitors? Where? Battle
stations! - Ed.) and have
spent much of my career
in the finance technology
arena.
Having recounted the
following anecdote to your editor
(hello again - Ed.) he suggested
I write it up for his "rant" section;
discretion being by far the better
part of valour I'm not going to
"name and shame" anybody at
this stage though I will probably
be far less circumspect in
casual conversation, networking
sessions, my covers-off expose
of the tech industry which I'm
writing...
Earlier this year I, along with
a few other journalists and
advisory folk - "influencers" as
we're so grandiosely termed by
sycophants - were invited on a
press junket to India by one of
the leading IT organisations in
the country, keen to demonstrate
all manner of new kit to their
adoring fans. I accepted this
invitation for several reasons, not
least that I had never actually
visited Bangalore before despite
my years in the trade - and
also, I will be frank, because
the extremely personable PR
with whom I'd been speaking
had assured me that the
itinerary contained a suitable
quantity of schmoozing time (I
am an inveterate, incorrigible
schmoozer). We were, on a more
professional stratum, guaranteed
face-time with several very
senior execs who would speak
"with great candour" about some
of the organisation's rather wellpublicised recent travails.
The difference between
promise and reality became
apparent only once our party had
arrived and been whisked off to
a mediocre hotel some distance
(many miles) from Bangalore
proper, where, we realised
with a sense of foreboding, we
were effectively held hostage as
none of us knew the area and
we were not supplied with any
"tourist information" by our hosts.
Furthermore, the itinerary had as
if by magic transformed during
our flight to now include evening
meals, in the hotel, each of the
three nights of our stay.
Over the next few days we
were then subjected to what one
of my companions described
as "an onslaught of tedium":
a succession of presentations
each apparently designed to
contain nothing of any interest
whatsoever yet somehow drawn
out across several lifetimes,
interspersed with stilted and
uncomfortable briefings with
employees several rungs further
down the ladder than we'd been
promised - none of whom were
willing to discuss anything even
slightly contentious. A better
way to ensure disengagement
amongst a visiting party, I have
never seen.
On the last evening two of
my companions and I made
a bid for freedom, ditching
the prison compound for an
evening in wild Bangalore...
Upon our return we were
accosted by our hosts and pretty
much told we had incurred a
series of financial penalties,
none of which of course we
were prepared to countenance
(and indeed the dispute is
still raging). We flew out the
following day with an enormous
communal sense of relief.
Needless to say the trip has
utterly soured my perception of
this company. And the reason is
simple: it wasn't the experience
itself that was terrible per se:
it was the disconnect between
what was promised and
what was delivered. And as a
journalist that worries me: if
this company will mislead its
"influencers" in such a way, how
bad is the disconnect between
pitch and practice for the buyers
of its services once they're
looked in. Bad PR, chaps, very
bad PR...
Mister E. Shopper
Would you like to
contribute an interesting,
provocative - and, if you
wish, anonymous - piece
to The Last Word? Or would
you like to respond to this
particular column? Why
not drop a line to the
editor at jamie.liddell@
outsourcemagazine.co.uk
to discuss your thoughts?
"Man should forget his anger before he lies down to sleep." - Mahatma Gandhi
114
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Outsource Magazine Issue 34
Challenges and Champions
Outsourcing in a Troubled Economic Environment
Richard Jones
High Stakes
In Transition
The Bigger Picture
Numbers, Numbers Everywhere...
NOA Round-Up
Struggling To Get Through?
International Commercial Disputes In Outsourcing Agreements
Is Infrastructure Necessary?
Global Freelance Platforms Grow Up
Trumping Price – Only with Best value
Kerry Hallard
Technology Investment in 2014
Water Will Always Find A Way
The Right Time Is Now
You, Robot?
The Legal View
Top Ten
NelsonHall Round-Up
Online Round-Up
The Deal Doctor
Inside Source
The Last Word
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