DailyPost 943
BODY SHOPPING
The famed Indian software industry has barely any product to its name and no serious research and development initiative has happened in recent years. With automation on the wings and MNCs spreading like never before, the IT behemoths control seems to most comprehensive, than ever history. They have already taken control of the world’s data, what would follow can be worse. Indian software had become famous as a service industry, back office of the world and the like. Body Shopping becoming the backbone in the process is the real tragedy.
From the engineers moving to the bench even in top companies to outsourcing tonnes of their work, a worrying trend made a small beginning and over a period of has gained gigantic proportions. This is known as Body Shopping, providing IT Human Resource for a price. Instead of making software or providing world class service, this brought down the quality to levels unimaginable and the customer ends up struggling for life. If any one of you have tried getting a biggish software developed or even a major upgradation, you can well understand the pains behind it.
Outsourcing is a well kept secret in lots of cases, where the resources are provided in the name of bigger company, leading to two intermediaries in the body shopping. Outsourced company provides Human Resource for a price and the subsequent company adds its price and moves it further to the client. The beauty of body shopping is complete dilution of responsibility. It’s a struggle between the customer and Project Manager. Where is standard formula of a company taking a work and delivering it through its own resources, that was the wealth of the company, now the commission is. The enmeshed formula of effort / cost / resources / deliverables.
When this became the model non IT guys also got into the field in name of HR companies and like and are having a field day. In such a messy IT ecosystem, where does propriety come from? Where is chance of professional technical climate emerging? What value has genuine expertise? Is it not for sustaining low end jobs mainly? Does it not sustain low quality college output out of our engineering colleges? Digital coolies cannot be our future, we have to make our place in the Sun.
IN THE BODY SHOPPING ERA WHERE DOES THE PRODUCT COME FROM?
Sanjay Sahay