In a world gone crazy, crazy things happen. In an effort to streamline their cost, previously Holland-based stock photo agency The Cover Story is moving their offices to….Bangalore, India.
Among the many reasons that TCS offers for moving half way across the world, the company sites the ability to ” ..communicating effectively with the market and each other” ???. Not sure how India is closer to the market and “each other“. Could this be a community they are creating in India: a photo ashram ? Ummmmmmmm….
How so 70’s of them. They continue their announcement by saying that : ” Our team is highly motivated and the majority of the TCS crew is making the move to Bangalore. Once there, we will hire and train even more dedicated sales and production staff. We will also maintain an Amsterdam administrative office and European presence for clients and contributors.”
The staff had the choice : loose their job or move to India. Guess some where really motivated enough to leave Holland and relocate. But, if TCS take their staff with them, how does that make them save money ? Isn’t the idea of moving to India supposed to give them a way to hire local people for less money ? Or is everyone not only moving to India but also taking a pay cut ? Especially since they announce that once in Bangalore, they will hire local sales and production staff, meaning that who ever flew from Holland with them will probably be canned in a month or two.
Finally, they will still keep offices in Amsterdam and throughout Europe, making this move even more utterly and completely irrelevant.What is the point, I ask, to move the whole office to India, if it is to keep offices in Amsterdam and Europe ? what kind of cost saving is that ?
In a industry that seems to have lost its bearing and is confused by its own purpose, this goes right up there with the other company that asks clients to price their images. While it would make sense to hire a technology company based in India to redesign their website and work flow, it makes no sense to move the whole sales staff to Bongalor. Unless if there is something there that they smoke a lot and is much much cheaper than in Amsterdam..
You can read the full annoucement here:
Dear all,
As our esteemed business partners, it is our mission to keep you continually informed and up to date not just with industry news but also with what is going on behind the doors of TCS. Therefore, we want you to be among the first to know that from November 1st TCS sales and operations office will be based in Bangalore, India.
For some it may seem like a dramatic move, but others will see the wisdom and clear benefits for our business. We all know that the media market is changing, bringing with it new challenges and higher costs. To take advantage of the new opportunities and conditions that these circumstances present, we want to move ahead quickly in developing the best podium to improve service and sales for our contributors.
Our vision for the future of the TCS creative community requires extensive software development; to improve our site but also to offer a unique platform for exposing work, communicating effectively with the market and each other, and opening up new avenues to place stories and increase revenues. Bangalore is a well known hub of technological advancement and we have found an innovative, local partner there who works with clients like World Press Photo, Canon and Sony to assist us in the execution of our ambitious plans.
Our team is highly motivated and the majority of the TCS crew is making the move to Bangalore. Once there, we will hire and train even more dedicated sales and production staff. We will also maintain an Amsterdam administrative office and European presence for clients and contributors.
We anticipate that the transition will be smooth, but please give us a bit of time to settle and get back to business as usual in terms of processing stories and responding to emails.
We hope that with your encouragement and support, this move will be positive for all of us in building a solid business model that will be instrumental in securing the continuity of our business in the changing media landscape.
If you have any questions at all please dont hesitate to contact us.
Best regards,
[ Deleted for privacy reasons]
