Outsourcing your information? Think about this

Kicking off proceedings at his organisation’s fifth annual conference, Greg Simidian, CEO of Perfect Information, reminded us what a surprising 12 months it has been. Who would have predicted the Thomson Reuters merger would happen or the dramatic collapse of the Bear Stearns bank? With the ongoing credit crunch, ‘these are uncertain times,’ he said.

This was all the more appropriate, given the first presentation examined the tricky topic of outsourcing. As UK information professionals are all too aware, a range of information research roles are now being outsourced, it’s a fact of life. Recruits will tend to be based in India, but can also hail from the Philippines and China as well as Eastern block countries, but what does that mean for the information profession as a whole?

The idea of the presentation was to advise delegates considering the options of outsourcing and guide them around the pitfalls as well as the impacts it has on the profession.

Rishi Khosla, co-founder and CEO of Copal Partners (a financial analytics outsourcing firm) ran an informal (and rather courageous) presentation, deciding to ditch his pre-prepared slides for a more conversational presentation with the audience. You don’t normally see events opened this way, but it worked well enough as attendees were grateful to have a platform to voice their concerns.

How do you deal with the problems of staff retention asked one? Khosla admitted this was a problem, with banks offering big-bucks to researchers, the poaching of staff after a year or so of service, meant that the company actively recruits from the second and third tier universities. Not ideal really, but the information industry isn’t awash with cash.

An audience member was quick to point out a glaring problem facing information outsourcing right now. What concerned her, she said, is that there is no commitment to information research, ‘we are being replaced with people who don’t care. We have been replaced with cheap labour and this will erode innovation and expertise in the information industry.’ Murmurs of consent could be heard around the room.

Of the other voices, it was suggested that because the idea of an information researcher in India didn’t exist 5 or 6 years ago, it will take 10 to15 years to build up a cadre who care and will be experts. ‘I think we will see people who want to do it, and will build up expertise’ a more positive voice ventured.

Of areas with potential outsourcing growth, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa were all touted. Researchers from there will tend to be highly educated, relatively cheap with the country providing a good exchange rate. They also may well have experienced UK processes. The downside would be a much, much smaller population to draw from.

Closing comments from the chair suggested that if you are considering outsourcing then don’t do it as a cost saving exercise, rather think of it as a way of scaling information, getting more for your money.