It looks like a large number of IT jobs in Manchester might be under threat at high street bank Lloyds TSB. The company has announced that 250 jobs are to be cut from an IT division employing around 470 people. Expectations are that a software testing unit in Wythenshawe employing 132 people might be cut altogether taking the brunt of the cuts, though a large number of contract staff would also be released.

The unions expect that the testing work is going to be transferred to the facilities the bank has in India. Typical union statements such as ‘kick in the teeth’ pepper some of their statements about the intended move.

Though there is an emotional reaction to this news, there has to be some pragmatism too. Software testing is becoming a largely automated process. Even where it requires human intervention, the largest pool of testing experts is now on the subcontinent. It makes good business sense to do the work there for the expertise, let alone any reduction in cost.

The high street financial service companies have shown that there does not need to be a flight of all services to some remote offshore destination. Most consumers hate having their customer services call answered in a remote country. Regardless of the quality of service, they just don’t like it. Most of the banks have taken this on board and so we have seen some of the more reckless offshoring of voice-based services coming back home. Companies have even used their local call centres as a form of competitive advantage.

But software testing? However much the union protests, it’s not something that the man on the street is really aware of. And this ignorance is something that the banks are very aware of. So long as the people answering the calls are local, almost any other service can be sourced from any location. Software testing in India is just one example of this. Take any of those companies that trumpets their local British call centre and I can guarantee that significant sections of their business are performed using offshoring or offshore outsourcing – just it’s not the bit the customer sees.