Just reading an article where one of the key messages was 'A bad process automated is still a bad process' - something everyone in the IT industry would surely agree with.

I argue that the same rule applies to outsourcing. If something is causing you a problem you need to fix the issues before you outsource - or you will still have issues!

You cannot rely on an outsourcing organisation to fix bad processes, miraculously ensure poor performance turns into high performance,...

Some years ago I was sitting in the accountancy module B212 'window dressing and off balance sheet techniques' during my Masters course when the lecturer at the time piped up that one of the biggest fears in finance was the fact that mortgages were lent long whilst money was saved or acquired from the market short. In principle short money can be called for very quickly whilst paying back a mortgage on demand is impossible. A interesting discussion took place as we considered the possibilities of...

Brown solves world hunger and financial markets in a day.

I am becoming used to seeing Gordon Brown in his many guises or relaunches (currently around number seven) giving out the impression that he is more or less single handedly running every ministry in this country. From facilitating mergers between banks, solving Clostridium difficile in hospitals, greeting our hero Para Olympians back home to lagging. It is the latter theme I would like to dwell on as I was astonished to see...