Even the paper business likes outsourcing
It has been well documented that outsourcing is a great opportunity for firms to take advantage of lower wages and improved experience of staff but many decry this because it sees jobs moving out of the country. The traditional view of outsourcing is one where whatever job is taking place is removed from people in the West and shipped over to a place like India where they have the ability to pay lower wages and take advantage of developing technology to offer their services. With the credit crunch hitting many people the opportunities to save money are becoming increasingly important but equally, the promotional aspect of remaining in your own country and providing jobs can do a lot of good for a company.
This is one of the reasons why Associated Newspapers, the newspaper publishers who are responsible for publishing the Daily Mail and the Metro range of newspapers in the United Kingdom have taken a bold move. The company has reshuffled its IT sections and staff across all of the newspaper groups they own, including the major national newspapers and have developed a service that will independently provide IT functions to all of their divisions and external clients. There are obviously many advantages that can arise from bulk buying and sharing a larger knowledge pool which Associated Newspapers hope to reap the benefits from. Economies of scale is not a new concept in business and there have been many organizations who have taken advantage of the increased buying power and strength that comes from taking a mass approach to their working activities.
IT is an interesting aspect in the outsourcing world because not all aspects of it are so readily able to be shipped abroad and serviced by an offshore outsourcing firm. If the IT helpdesk is mainly a phone service providing information to staff then yes, there is an argument that offshore outsourcing can be used effectively but when it comes to having a live IT department who will come and fix issues and move equipment, having an offshore outsourcing contract is of no benefit at all to anyone.
By keeping the IT facility within the country and centralized between their different organizations, Associated Press have taken a bold move to ensure they are providing jobs for people in their own home market. This is obviously of benefit to their local market and will no doubt be cheered and praised in the local community and outlying and affected areas. There are still elements of the new system that require explaining and developing and this is why the company has set up a number of workshops in order to allow the staff to fully embrace the new system when it starts properly. Anything which can ease the transition from one process to another is of great value and the firm should be praised for the way they have set about creating this change. If the move is a success, it may well be that Associated Newspapers are not the first company to take this step and we may see a greater number of firms re-organizing their departments in order to create a stronger IT unit for themselves and their competitors to use. With the importance of outsourcing growing rapidly, this move should be welcomed by those who have concerns about losing jobs to offshore outsourcing firms.
