Please spy on the CIO
By Techgirl

Mark Kobayashi-Hillary is one of the key players in the world of tech journalism and outsourcing.  Mark is so highly regarded that he has been invited as one of the judges for Computing Magazine Awards, NOA Outsourcing Awards as well as CNET Tech awards.  He has been invited to speak by a number of prestigious organizations like NASSCOM and London School of Economics

Mark has written for powerful newspapers like Financial Times, Times of India and Silicon.com. Mark is a man who knows what he talking about.

In May, 2009,  Mark had blogged about his disgust for an Indian outsourcing company that had tried to bribe him by offering a ‘cut’ of any contract received through his contacts.

It seems that it takes more than a blog post by one of the most powerful British tech journalists to warn the outsourcing companies to stay within legal and moral boundaries.

On June 29,  Mark blogged that: “A supplier asked me recently if I could provide them with information about which CIOs are ‘thinking’ about outsourcing, so they might have some advance warning and they can pitch for business earlier.”

What will July bring?  Perhaps a Tehelka like sting operation exposing how the Indian IT and BPO companies win new business.

(Techgoss had run the following story on May 12, 2009)

Indian bribe offer to British Journalist
By Techgirl

Mark Kobayashi-Hillary is one of the key players in the world of tech journalism and outsourcing.  Mark is so highly regarded that he has been invited as one of the judges for Computing Magazine Awards, NOA Outsourcing Awards as well as CNET Tech awards.  He has been invited to speak by a number of prestigious organizations like NASSCOM and London School of Economics

Mark has written for powerful newspapers like Financial Times, Times of India and Silicon.com.

Mark is a man who knows what he talking about.

In his latest post dated May 11, 2009, Mark has described how he refused to compromise his high standards when an Indian company offered him a bribe to swing British deals in their favour.

“
A matter of trust
On the subject of trust in outsourcing, how many more times do I need to receive emails from suppliers in far-flung corners of the world promising me a percentage of any projects I can find for them in the UK?

If a supplier wants to work with me then I’d be only too happy to advise them on how to improve their presentation for the European market, how to talk to the media and analyst community, how to create a great online presence. I can do all this stuff, because that’s what I do, when I’m not writing.

One thing I certainly don’t do is take percentage cuts on ‘deals’ because here I am commenting about companies in the media. I couldn’t claim much integrity if I was earning bonuses from companies that I talk up in the press. When I mentioned this ‘problem’ to one supplier from India in the past they offered to make payments to my parents. I don’t think they quite understood my concern. Or maybe that’s how others behave and I’m missing out on the goods in the trough?

But are any of these suppliers that are offering shady salespeople a percentage cut really doing any business worth talking about? And who would outsource a project to a salesperson that has only a vague connection to the company that might actually end up delivering the service?
“