Not just rate cuts - Banks IT going to India

[gadgetman]

Don't think this is anything new.

The bank I'm at offshores a lot of dev and testing but it is still mainly planned and managed onshore.

For instance in test the technical/system test and the donkey work of the other phases (test execution and results 'ticking off') is done offshore but integration test, UAT and overall test management is onshore. Which is nice as I'm a Test Manager.

This is a fairly sensible approach as the standard of offshore work is 'variable' at best.

The other problem with offshoring is that they ship people over from India, train them up and send them back, then these people realise what their new skills are worth and they leave the company...

My bank has a base in Manilla too (same bank?) but the standard of work from there that I've encountered is worse than India.

ClientCo has a base in Manilla - it's basically a well paid (for Manilla) programming/error fixing sweat shop.

[Moscow Mule]

My bank has a base in Manilla too (same bank?) but the standard of work from there that I've encountered is worse than India.

Nah, I've gone back to the dark-side of IB - software vendor. Arrrrrggggghhhh.

What we're seeing is the standard of work from Manilla is very high, compared to what India is producing (they have a "Partnership" with an Indian firm). I think this is probably a function of how long the respective areas have been working on the project. Manilla is about 15-20 years. India is about 3.

[Dow Jones]

Shore off!

There has always been offshoring and outsourcing by clients to various parts in the project lifecycle, be it certain areas of development or testing, however-if we read this carefully-we are talking here about wholesale offshoring by Banga-lloyds.
According to agency sources, there are currently about 250 contractors in the whole of the group, so reducing it by 200 this will leave about 50 spread throughout the WHOLE group along with 150 permanent staff, ie 200 UK-based IT people vs 800 based in India. This is a complete and irreversible change, not a temporary cost-cutting one!
Coupled with Barclays, who have decided to drastically reduce the size of their mainframe site in Poole from 2000 to less than half of that, could spell the beginning of the end for mainstream financial IT jobs/contracts in the UK.
Never thought I'd say that - Doomed!

[DimPrawn]

Don't think this is anything new.

The bank I'm at offshores a lot of dev and testing but it is still mainly planned and managed onshore.

.

It is different in this case.

80% of the technical jobs are going, never to return. Only a skeleton IT function remains in the whole of the UK. Any growth in IT will be accommodated in India.

Doomed. It's the future.

[Churchill]

It is different in this case.

80% of the technical jobs are going, never to return. Only a skeleton IT function remains in the whole of the UK. Any growth in IT will be accommodated in India.

Doomed. It's the future.

Yet another instance of UK Plc being deskilled.

Ah well.

[realityhack]

Agency sources are incorrect. It is ridiculous to state that there are only 250 contractors in the whole group, and only 150 permies.


This offshoring exercise affects only a small part of the bank.

[Sausage Surprise]

Not the disaster you might imagine - they will need lots more testers to make sure everything that comes back from India actually works.

Exactly! They'll then realise what a waste of money it is getting the work done twice

[Francko]

Exactly! They'll then realise what a waste of money it is getting the work done twice

If they can't figure this out at the beginning how do you think they can realise later and admit that they made a big mistake?

[Moscow Mule]

If they can't figure this out at the beginning how do you think they can realise later and admit that they made a big mistake?

Because they believe SLAs with Indian companies. Or never mention software quality in the original contract.

[BlasterBates]

Doomed. It's the future.

Doom ....love it