Offshoring to India fails for some firms because they do not fully incorporate this activity into their other operations.

That is the view of Matthew Fernandez, director at new media and IT specialist Acuro, whose firm uses the CV-sifting skills of Indian staff to find candidates.

"Where some recruitment firms are struggling to make offshoring successful is that they do not integrate it fully into their business," says Fernandez, whose company has done work for Sky and T-Mobile. "We're in constant contact with India, giving us an 18-hour working day. They email us information as we sleep because of the time difference."

Acuro uses three offshore researchers from Pune-based firm OS2i, in addition to four staff at its own office in Hampshire.