Circuit City's IT odyssey

Circuit City CIO Bill McCorey detailed how he decided to outsource his IT operations to IBM in an effort to cut costs and to allow internal staff to focus on better supporting workers in the company's retail stores during his keynote address at the ERIeXchange retail show. The consumer electronics retailer is still in the process of transitioning its IT operation to IBM under the $775 million outsourcing deal that is expected cut IT costs by 15 percent over seven years. He decided to outsource the company's data center because it was the IT unit's biggest and most expendable commodity. While the company had managed and monitored its data center adequately, he concluded that IBM had the core expertise to do a better job at a lower overall cost. Circuit City executives approved the plan in October. Some 50 of the company's IT workers then moved to IBM. "I tried to outsource myself, but IBM didn't want me," McCorey said.

For more:
- read this article from ComputerWorld