The View from the East

Eleven floors above the heat and noise of Mumbai’s busy streets, Seturaman Mahalingam sits in the air-conditioned offices of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) sipping tea. He looks relaxed, sanguine even, as he discusses his role as CFO of the biggest IT-services firm in India. Before long, he says...

By Justin Wood • June 9, 2004

The $33 Billion Phone Bill

In one of the more memorable episodes of the “Brady Bunch” — and really, how often do we get to use that opening? — parents Mike and Carol are shocked when they see how big their monthly phone bill is getting. The solution? They install a pay phone in the family room, forcing the kids to deposit ...

By Karen Bannan • June 8, 2004

Explore the Trendline➔

The CFO Strategy for Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence’s impact on the office of the CFO continues to evolve, and finance chiefs must be aware of the opportunities it will create for growth. 

By CFO.com staff

Does a Low Profile Hurt Offshorers?

Cost savings, of course, are what often make the chief financial officer a company’s foremost proponent of offshoring. In fact, 42 percent of the CFOs in our survey whose companies outsource offshore reported net savings of more than 20 percent on offshored expense areas. While they report that t...

By Kris Frieswick • June 7, 2004

The Backlash

Not since the North American Free Trade Agreement debate, when Ross Perot evoked the “giant sucking sound” of U.S. jobs pouring into Mexico, has offshoring attracted so much angry attention. Today, the debate over the decision to outsource jobs to other nations has taken on the tenor of a crusade...

By Kris Frieswick • June 7, 2004

Spyware: A Hidden Menace

Viruses and spam get all the attention, but there is another, less visible, threat to internet users that may already be lurking on your computer without your knowledge. “Spyware”, as it is known, is software that sneaks on to your PC, tracks your online activities, and occasionally splashes pop-...

By Economist Staff • June 4, 2004

Measuring Offshoring Miscues

What’s the best way to make offshoring work? Performance measurement and on-site tracking, says Ravi Aron of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. Aron has studied the types of errors made, and which can be detected and “codified” easily. Work monitored in that manner may be the best f...

By Roy Harris • June 2, 2004

Making It Work

Shortly after they get the keys to their new home, customers of IndyMac Bancorp also get a “welcome call.” The friendly telephone reminder lets them know when their first mortgage payment is due and where to send it. Those details help harried homeowners avoid sending their first payment late — a...

By Roy Harris • June 2, 2004

Offshoring: Not Everybody’s Doing It

Offshoring isn’t quite as common as the hype would suggest. According to a new CFO survey of 275 finance executives at a broad range of companies, only 18 percent currently use offshore outsourcing. Those companies have moved an average of 6 percent of their workforce overseas during the past thr...

By CFO Editorial Staff • June 1, 2004

Reader Opinions on the Offshoring Backlash

In our exclusive CFO survey, 275 finance executives shared their offshoring plans, experiences, and opinions. When asked, “What is your opinion of the recent backlash against offshore outsourcing?” our readers provided a torrent of responses.We divided the responses below into two groups: Comment...

By CFO Editorial Staff • June 1, 2004

Offshoring by the Numbers

Pick a Number, Any Number…Just how many nonmanufacturing jobs are heading overseas? It depends who you ask. Goldman Sachs estimates U.S. companies have sent 400,000 service jobs overseas since 2000, and the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) says that 104,000 tech jobs moved abr...

By Kate O'Sullivan and Don Durfee • June 1, 2004

Off Shore

Nothing roils the American body politic like foreign competition for jobs. Today’s outcry over offshoring reflects a realization that there is no longer a clear limit to the level of job function that can be outsourced overseas — college degree or the color of one’s collar notwithstanding.Decades...

By CFO Editorial Staff • June 1, 2004

Keeping Receivables Rolling

At logistics and supply-chain company DSC Logistics, chief financial officer JoAnn Lilek recognizes that “one key to making money in logistics is business process automation.”Lilek’s affection for automation extends to the order-to-cash cycle, in which she includes order entry, invoicing, account...

By Marie Leone • May 25, 2004

Small Is Big

“Small is big here.” That catchphrase, for Beech-Nut baby food, applies to more than tiny taste buds and strained peas, according to Alain Souligny, chief financial officer of Beech-Nut parent Milnot Holding Corp.“As a small company, we try very hard to stay ahead of changes in the marketplace, s...

By Marie Leone • May 18, 2004

Spiders in the Web

The tech folk in Silicon Valley knew something was up last year when another web spider appeared. Web spiders are powerful software programs that crawl around the world wide web, automatically analysing words, following links and collecting vast amounts of data. The catalogues they assemble are u...

By Economist Staff • May 17, 2004

Unlimited Opportunities?

There has never been a better time to start a business, especially an e-business. The internet has dramatically reduced the cost of setting up, and especially of reaching customers. For about $1,000, you can buy a personal computer. A high-speed internet connection with enough space for a good we...

By Economist Staff • May 14, 2004

Third Canadian Tech Executive Fired

For the third week in a row week in a row, an executive has been fired from a Canadian technology company during an earnings revision.This time it occurred at video-game maker Hip Interactive Corp. The company announced that the senior vice president of finance of its video-game-distribution divi...

By Stephen Taub • May 12, 2004

The Secret Life of Copiers

Last fall, reports began circulating that a large university in the Northeast had uncovered an illegal music-file-swapping service on campus. Generally, when such a story hits, it turns out that the swappers were hosting their service on a friend’s notebook. Or a portable hard drive. Or even on a...

By Karen Bannan • May 12, 2004

Healing Ways

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Inc. is a survivor. In 1999, the Wellesley, Massachusetts-based nonprofit — which operates managed health-care plans and Medicaid/Medicare programs — found itself in state receivership after spending the previous 11 of its 30 years on an acquisition spree.A Massachuset...

By Marie Leone • May 11, 2004

Outsourcing the Handyman

Jerry Whitaker, a vice president in Eaton Corp.’s $2.3 billion electrical-products division, had reservations about outsourcing his equipment maintenance. At the time, Eaton employed on-site mechanics to tackle emergency repairs. “Our initial concern,” he recalls, “was whether [the outsourcer] wo...

By Ilan Mochari • May 6, 2004

Will IM Pay?

When Virgin Atlantic Airways needed to get a key part to a disabled plane in Barbados in September 2002, the carrier called on delivery specialist Sterling Courier Services. Under normal circumstances, Sterling (a division of Quick International Courier Inc.) would have no problem executing the r...

By Esther Shein • May 4, 2004

Down on the Server Farm

BM’s Universal Server Farm (USF) in Shatin, Hong Kong, looks more like a control tower poised for heavy traffic than a place designed for cultivation. TVs in its spartan control room scroll bewildering screens of data. Cavernous rows of server racks groan with metal boxes, each with blinking ligh...

By Arthur Clennam • April 28, 2004

Get Rich Quick Fighting Spam?

At faucet maker Moen Inc., a trickle had grown into a torrent, and security manager Rob Buchwald didn’t like the sound of it. Every day, he heard complaints from employees at the North Olmsted, Ohio-based company — the largest manufacturer of faucets and plumbing accessories in North America — on...

By Esther Shein • April 27, 2004

Outsourcing Finance Not Catching On

Companies with mature shared service centers have found little or no occasion to outsource key finance areas, and most companies are unlikely to increase their outsourcing in the next three years, according to a survey by the Hackett Group.The reasons, said Hackett, include concerns over cost, qu...

By Stephen Taub • April 21, 2004

More Balls Through Windows

For years, hope has ebbed and flowed among many in the computer business that Linux, a freely available computer operating system which uses a penguin as its symbol, would become a viable alternative to Microsoft’s Windows, the near universal standard for the world’s personal computers. The indus...

By Economist Staff • April 20, 2004

What’s the Deal?

Lease or buy? Finance executives grapple with this decision constantly, whether it’s for office space, furniture, vehicles, maintenance equipment, or scores of other products. Now, thanks to mostly flat sales in many types of computer hardware, the IT market is full of special finance deals. CFOs...

By Bob Violino • April 14, 2004