Managing editor of UK's Press Association John Spencer on outsourcing

"In editorial outsourcing, trust is everything," he said.

The news agency has more than 220 clients worldwide, including daily newspapers, magazines and television, he said. Its Indian project began five years ago when they partnered with an Indian company which provides support for editorial purposes.

Outsourced employees provide infrastructure with management support, and administrative support, he said. However, the Press Association manages its own staff.

The publication's model has senior executives from UK on site at all times, managing operations including work flow and recruiting.

"Now it has become interesting because we're recruiting our own Indian homegrown editorial talent," he said. "That's where we want to go."

Every day, the publication provides pages of national and international news to newspapers in the UK and the deadline for these pages is 8 a.m., he said. The Indians start working on the pages 7:30 a.m. Indian time (GMT+5.5).

The Indian team chooses all the wire content, he said. They design the pages to style, write headlines, place items on the page and they have done all of this while their counterparts in the UK are still in bed.

"It's not a simple solution and I don't want to give the impression that it is," Spencer said. And if you would not be saving 30 to 40% of your current costs then "don't bother," he added. However, there's no question that outsourcing works and lets the business focus on what makes its product unique, such as local features and analysis, he said.

"This is not a discussion about replacing your own editorial teams. Outsourcing is never intended to replace your own editorial floor," he said. It is not the sole solution, but is part of the solution, he concluded.