back to article CONFIRMED: Sophos shifting threat response work to India

Sophos has confirmed it is moving the "majority of its [computer security] threat response work" to India. The Register got wind of the change from an anonymous tipster who told us SophosLabs is shifting away all of its frontline operations to India after it acquired Cyberoam there in February this year. In a statement, …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. MattS

    No more Sophos for me

    That's it for them in my work/home space then. I don't even trust Indian employment inquiries anymore because of the scams and sold data issues which crop up frequently there, let alone trust them as "front line operations" for something as critical as security. When are companies going to learn that cheaper is not always better, and may in fact end up a good deal worse?

    1. Mpeler
      Unhappy

      Re: No more Sophos for me

      But will they do the needful?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    There may not be any immediate job losses from this move but if the bulk of the everyday work is being off-shored where will future staff in the existing centres cut their teeth?

    If the more interesting work, the most advanced virus issues, are dissected in the UK/ US how are the Indian staffers expected to progress?

    Its a lose - lose situation. Better to keep both skillsets in all locations, including India and take advantage of the best talent wherever it is found.

    1. P. Lee
      Facepalm

      You've ignored the talent for making this quarter's figures look surprisingly good.

  3. keithpeter Silver badge
    Windows

    Routine?

    "...Threat Response work – including responding to email spam outbreaks and adding detection for malicious files reported by customers – and will operate in a 24/7 capacity"

    @Matts

    Sounds to me like fairly routine response to phone enquiries with scripted actions &c and ability to escalate. Company that has been bought has been doing similar work already, presume Sophos checked out record before plonking the money down. Outright purchase of company sounds different to usual 'outsource work to lowest bidder governed by a contract' scenario.

    Moultoneer's point might be important in the longer term.

    Given all the party games internationally, do we think countries might start passing laws about what can be outsourced?

    1. John Miles

      re: countries might start passing laws about what can be outsourced?

      I am sure first on list will be CEOs and Lawyers.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "I am sure first on list will be CEOs and Lawyers."

        Wish I had thousands of upvotes for this comment.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "I am sure first on list will be CEOs and Lawyers."

          Lawyers actually are getting outsourced in the U.S. Legal research activites, tax law and other not-very-customer-facing legal work is being shipped off to licensed lawyers in Mumbai and Dehli.

          The CEOs on the other hand get to figure out who else gets outsourced, and remarkably their own jobs never get on the list.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: "I am sure first on list will be CEOs and Lawyers."

            I seem to remember that the USA had laws that prevent US tax data being out-sourced to other countries, alos other legal work.

            1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

              Re: "I am sure first on list will be CEOs and Lawyers."

              Thanks to VDI, the data can never leave the US while still taking advantage of cheap offshore labour.

  4. William Hinshaw

    When they say that there will be no reduction in employees what they mean is that in one year they are going to close the offices in the UK and "offer" equivalent jobs in India. That is what is going to happen. This is exactly what is done for every single merger when they state there will be no office closings or reduction in staff. Then they will "remove redundancies" then shifting work to other offices then closing offices and offering a few select people (required people) great moving options and the rest are just left to find new jobs.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The boy who cried wolf

    It just came true

    'Hello, we are calling from technical, we have report your computer is infected with virus'

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Much expertise - poor phone links

    Without doubt there are many highly qualified experts there. Quite regularly I get calls from nice gentlemen who offer help me clear all manner of nasties from my computer. There's an awful problem with the 'phone lines though. Every time I start to explain that I'm still using Windows 98 the line goes dead.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Excellent news

    I've always wanted to visit India and on my salary I'll live like a Maharaja over there. Thanks, Sophos!

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Where's the Graham Cluley quote?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      >Where's the Graham Cluley quote?

      Sophos outsourced him a while a go.

    2. Graham Cluley

      Right here.

  9. CrosscutSaw

    unintelligible

    Getting routed to support in India is awful. I cannot understand a word. Many times I've had to tell the person that they are being professional and polite, but I need to end the call because it all sounds like gibberish to me. I've tried having them spell things for me. Oh boy. It's the worst.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: unintelligible

      Call centre work, because the average call will be routine, normal stuff... Except I never call for routine stuff so 90% of the time with an international call centre I have to speak to a supervisor...

      Coders though, I would not trust them to work on anything security minded, it is a lot harder to manage a team that is not UK/US/EU based than you think, so many times I've seen indian outsourcing go haywire costing the company a fortune to fix...

  10. Eradicate all BB entrants

    I like the .....

    ..... follow the sun 24/7 statement. Was the shift allowance for night and weekend workers having an affect on senior management bonuses?

    I know of many companies that require 24/7 cover that use the 4 on/4 off 12 hour shift system and they have no issues with service at all, and all from one site in one country.

  11. Wirehedd

    As with so many other posters here who have had to deal with the utter mindlessness of Indian tech support and it's utterly useless drones I can only say Good Bye to Sonos and wish them luck but they will no longer be used in my home, office or anywhere else. If they can't provide proper support and trustworthy threat response I will NOT use their product any further.

    When a company decides to take the "lowest price in the pub" approach you know they couldn't care less about customers and only about making bank even at the expense of customers.

    Good bye Sonos, don't let the door hit you on the way out, cheapskates.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like