No one can deny that outsourcing is an effective way to save money. It can cut a company’s operational costs down to a significant degree thus allowing them to appropriate saved capital to another aspect of their operations. It is just funny nay strange to think that there are people who use outsourcing simply for their personal advantage. Case in point? Bob.
January of this year, Newser published an article about a software engineer in the United States that outsourced his entire work to a software consultancy in China. Bob, the software engineer, had an entire Chinese subcontractor in Shenyang manage his daily programming responsibilities. While his Chinese subcontractor was doing all the heavy lifting, he immerses himself in Facebook, Reddit and a bunch of cat videos. He received a lot of commendation for the clean codes he submits before the day ends. He gives a fifth of his 6-figure salary to his Chinese subcontractor.
Work was going smoothly not until the HR department where Bob works noticed that someone located in Shenyang was logged in the company’s system using his credentials. They had to hire investigators from Verizon to look into the matter closely. And no, the company was not being infiltrated.
In this scenario, brilliance may not be an appropriate word. However, with the technology and the channels laid out in front of you, wouldn’t you act like Bob to make things life a little easy for you? However, since Bob is working for a software company, contract breaches on confidentiality and proprietary issues all come to the fore. It is understood that being part of a company means fostering value-laden ideas and keeping it within the walls of the office. If Bob has his own company, outsourcing his company’s work is a business strategy that he can legally (and morally!) get into. Since he is paying someone to do his job, that is definitely another story.
How does this impact those in the outsourcing industry? While the whole brouhaha was ingeniously creative, outsourcing becomes critical especially when systems and infrastructures that took years to build are at stake. Security is at risk just as it can be an issue when operations are done under clandestine conditions. Second, laziness and brilliance can never be synonymous especially when it is not foolproof and you get caught. Outsourcing in China, outsourcing in the Philippines and even in India are popular today, but the legalities of conducing business offshore definitely do not fly out the window.
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