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The main KPI for BA's IT function is the percentage of jobs they have moved "nearshore" (to Krakow). Not that I think this is the Krakow workers' fault, mind y
by markonen 9y ago
The main KPI for BA's IT function is the percentage of jobs they have moved "nearshore" (to Krakow).
Not that I think this is the Krakow workers' fault, mind you; rather this (and the string of similar IT incidents recently at BA) seems to fit the pattern of upper management focusing on driving down costs to the exclusion of everything else.
- crivabene 9y agoDo you happen to know if they outsourced or if they opened a subsidiary there and just moved the positions?
- markonen 9y agoIt's a group function of the International Airlines Group (BA's corporate parent). http://www.iaggbs.com http://www.iaggbs.com
- idlewords 9y agoKrakow is a big tech center, is in the EU, and it's not obvious why moving jobs there would have anything to do with a drop in quality.
- markonen 9y agoIt's not about Krakow per se. But when a company works towards specific targets like "90/10 supplier offshore ratio", rather than metrics based on quality or efficiency, I don't think quality comes first.
- idlewords 9y agoI agree with you on that. But I had to stick up for Krakow!
- prodmerc 9y agoRelax, it's better if everyone thinks Krakow (and Poland) is a "third world shithole". Nobody's worried about it until it's too late :D
- tajen 9y agoOn the one hand I've never seen a successful project with non-colocated teams, whether 300km away or 10.000km away. On the other hand, I'm surprised a airplane company is so much localized in UK.
- methyl 9y agoBasecamp
- brianwawok 9y agoAny distributed startup. There are thousands.
- blibble 9y agoif the offshored personnel work via a bodyshop then the incentives are completely different compared to direct employees, and the resulting work is considerably lower quality (at least in my experience) if offshored personnel are direct employees it's a completely different story given the main cost saving comes from being able to "ramp the size of the pool up and down to meet demand" most large companies opt for the bodyshop solution...
- mtkd 9y agoreplace a long established (expensive) team on a complex app who know all the bear-traps with an offshore team of rent-a-coders with a 6 month average turnover rate but at half the price - wcgw
- wetha 9y agoWhat makes Krakow inherently better than say, Bangalore? Not snark, just asking.
- taway_1212 9y agoMuch more friendly timezone (1 h from London, 6 h from East Coast). I'd also say the accent is easier on the ears, but I might be biased since I'm Polish ;) Also, it only takes 2-3 years on average in Polish civil courts to resolve a dispute (as opposed to supposedly decades in India) - in case you want to sue your services provider.
- matteo789 9y agoWork ethic and the ability to say 'No'. Have you ever worked with the Indians, dude ??
- dang 9y agoWe've banned this account for repeatedly violating the HN guidelines. National and racial slurs are not allowed here.
- robjan 9y agoThe system that's down was built, and is currently supported by, Tata Consultancy Services with support from BA IT staff. Once the system was built, BA made the majority of the IT department redundant.
- dghughes 9y agoI picture executives thinking of IT like rolling a big stone once it's moving get rid of the pushers.
- fpoling 9y agoThe biggest Norwegian bank also uses Tata. A friend of mine that worked on a project there talked few times with their programmers. The company treated them really badly including things like trying not to pay for accommodation while they were in Norway for few months. They also told that they actively searched for a new job.
- branchless 9y agoLand costs are too high in the UK. Everything except banking must leave.
- raesene9 9y agoLand costs in the South East of England may be too high, but that really doesn't apply to the whole of the UK...
- branchless 9y agoThey are very high in most urban areas where you are likely to have a dev centre.
- estel 9y agoWaterside is absolutely able to accommodate a dev team.
- raesene9 9y agoI'd say there are several locations in the UK with quite low costs (definitely massively lower than SE England). For example Glasgow. Average residential prices are 23% of London, that's a lot cheaper and there's a good level of skilled workforce there.
- pbhjpbhj 9y agoSouth Wales where the one of the BA service centres used to be, for example, is low cost and 2 hours train from London (there's Cardiff airport; and St.Athan's [ex-RAF?]).
- Doctor_Fegg 9y agoLand costs are really not high in Birmingham and the Black Country, the second biggest urban area in Britain. You could build within walking distance of (say) Sandwell & Dudley station, with mainline trains to London, for comparative peanuts.
- mirekrusin 9y agoNot Krakow, Poland but India, via Tata about a year ago they made a big move.
- matteo789 9y agoSo the Indians screwed it up, but the Polish are taking the blame? How wonderful of you brits !!!
- isostatic 9y agoUntil about 2 years ago I was gold guest list with BA - spending £30k+ a year with them, and sending lots of others on BA. Their high costs were fine, but then they started cost cutting more and more, and enough was enough. everyone I know has twigged that in Europe easyJet are far better, and longer haul virgin, the gulf carriers, and even USian carriers, are better.