Outsourcing?

There are only 3 scenarios in which outsourcing may make sense:

[a] where economies of scale can be achieved - unlikely if 1,400 staff are involved;

[b] where the 'sale and leaseback' of staff can be used to provide a cash injection that can keep the annual bonuses rolling long enough for your golden parachute to kick in - not applicable in a non-profit like the Beeb; and

[c] where IT management is FUBAR - but then the obvious course of action is to sack the clueless bastards and employ someone competent.

The Beeb have obviously discovered:

[d] leaping onto a bandwagon whose 'sell by' date is long past.

Why are office systems so bad?

What really angers me is that the BBC office systems are so hard to use. (There are other Siemens-related frustrations, but that's another story.)

For example, the Web Kiosk system at the BBC for adding leave days is ridiculously difficult to use -- likewise the internal wikis and travel booking systems (i.e. not just Siemens).

This kind of bad software affects the daily lives of virtually every employee -- it's a huge source of frustration and drain on productivity, and makes the corporation look stupid.

Same as every other company I ever worked for. There's nothing wrong with individual Siemens employees -- in my experience, they're generally friendly and helpful.

At the BBC, like in most companies, making office systems easy to use is never seen as a priority.