Editorial: Can they cut it?

I like mowing the lawn and feel it defines me to some degree. Unfortunately the grass continues to grow, despite my efforts to put it on furlough during the lockdown.

My legacy lawnmower, a Honda HRX537, is on its last legs and unable to keep up with its growing requirements. And there are the storage issues, not just with the hardware, but all the cuttings it produces. I have considered outsourcing the task to a third party but am unsure. My father-in-law did it once in 2008 and I was horrified at the results as well as the lack of control.

But drone technology has revolutionised the task, cutting down on the outsourcing costs, removing storage issues, improving the quality and also reducing environmental concerns like petrol consumption. So, what should I do?

In theory, a similar question faces many fund managers, but as our cover feature shows (pages 20-23), this is no longer the case for many COOs. Their role is now focused on more strategic tasks and working closely with portfolio managers, and they would willingly outsource all the lawnmowing-equivalent tasks, provided that the outsourcers with their ever-more comprehensive offerings prove they can cut it.

Nicholas Pratt, Technology & Operations Editor