Outsourcing is a hot topic in all our companies and represents a valid option in optimizing cost and knowledge concentration. But it is crucial to consider thoroughly all aspects when giving a part of our valuable business to a third party. This must not be limited to cost only but has to include “unsexy” issues instead like local knowledge, availability, the security of our customers´ data, long term locally available staff and even the social, political and environmental situation in the target country when offshoring. The associated risk has to be balanced with the expected gain.

I do not see this carefulness in the outsourcing deals of our companies. Our management acts remote controlled by consultants despite all warnings by prudent employees. If we do offshoring of development just to reduce the number of contract partners, if we outsource systems just because we are not able to consolidate and run them smoothly by ourselves for years, we should rather think about outplacing the responsible management!

With outsourcing we did import already Ukrainian troubles into the TAG footprint and we will import social and environmental challenges from India in near future. When it comes to trouble, local people with knowledge will not be available in our companies any more. We will have to pay even more money to other outsourcing companies to help us out of this mess. When the data of our customers has left to whoever´s benefit, we just can lick our wounds and invest in communication campaigns trying to restore our ruined image. The managers who finalized these outsourcing deals will have left at this point in time and the damage belongs to us.

Other European companies like Volkswagen and BMW reduced their outsourcing already and others like Swisscom decided to refrain totally from it. These companies are in heavy competition too but they decided to look at the whole picture of outsourcing. Do we really have to do every possible error by ourselves? And how trustworthy are we for our customers as a hosting and cloud computing partner, if we are not able to run our own systems by ourselves?

Your employee representative in TAG
Reinhard Grell