Buzzwords - Back-sourcing

‘Focusing on core values’ has always been the mantra of companies in trouble. When times are tough, and all those brilliant ideas by the more ‘creative’ executives haven’t come to roost, businesses scale back. The other way of putting it is ‘getting rid of a lot of people’. Jobs that were previously done by reliable in-house staff are ‘outsourced’ to other companies as a way to cut costs.

Unfortunately, it’s far more difficult to stamp your authority on a call centre in India run by someone else. When the tight ship you were used to running suddenly spirals out of control it’s time to rein it back in.

Back-sourcing solves the problem initially created by the company by moving these functions back in house. It’s just a shame that such a cost-cutting exercise seems to cost so much.

Baffled by business buzzwords? Send them to [email protected] and we’ll attempt to deconstruct them.