outsource

India tech firms relocate to U.S.

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:59:59 -0400

India's IT service providers are trying out a new strategy in their growing technology businesses. They are hiring more U.S. talent and opening up branches in the United States. And this new trend may ease the debate among IT executives about whether or not to outsource in order to save costs. Indian firm Tata Consultancy Services said recently that it has opened a development center in Cincinnati, OH. The company plans to use the facility, a former paper plant, to show off its industrial engineering and services. They also plan to hire Midwest tech talent for the facility. Not long ago, Wipro Technologies from India acquired U.S. infrastructure management vendor InfoCrossing. It is recruiting about 500 people for a new Atlanta development center and plans to set up a center outside of Detroit. "Globalization of our delivery model is something we're doing at a very aggressive pace," says N.S. Bala, Wipro's senior VP of manufacturing solutions.

For more on India in the U.S.:
- See this InformationWeek article

The CIO's job is about change

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 06:59:56 -0500

If you have too much work and wish to lose some of it, remember that old saying: be careful what you wish for. There are plenty of efforts underway to decentralize the CIO's operation, outsource the work and shrink the scope of the position. Or your CEO may decide to push IT work into other business units. And that may not be the best way for you to operate effectively or for the CIO operation to be successful. If the decision is already made by your CEO, the best advice may be to say, "How can I help?" It may be that you aren't fired, but your job duties shrink. In any event, flexibility is the name of the game. The CIO's job is a moving target. How to save money is the first order of business at any level.

Also remember that someone who is successful in a centralized management structure may not be a good fit with a decentralized one. And no matter how the operation is revised, decentralization might be a good way for you to learn a new experience so you are a win-win employee regardless where the chips fall.

For more about the changing CIO job:
- See this Computerworld Article

ITAA makes case for U.S. onshoring

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 06:59:58 -0400

The Information Technology Association of America believes that a growing number of organizations are recognizing the benefits of unloading non-core IT operations to domestic (U.S.-based) outsourcing operations rather than shipping those jobs to India or China. According to a recent report, lower cost domestic (LCD) sourcing, or "onshoring" involves establishing data centers or other IT operations in rural or less-urban areas to keep costs down. In addition to alleviating, process control, data privacy and other security concerns, onshoring helps companies tap specialized IT talents within the United States. Municipalities that work with local businesses and educational institutions to train and attract a technically savvy workforce can establish "cities of excellence" in certain areas such as software development or call centers. This strategy may be particularly attractive to government agencies that need to outsource specialized IT talent, but cannot for a variety of security reasons offshore the functions out of the country.

For all the details on the onshoring report:
- see the article in Network World

IT staff, budgets and effectiveness up this year

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 20:01:39 -0400

If you're in IT these days, life is looking pretty good, at least according to the latest IT Spending, Staffing and Technology Survey from Computer Economics. The survey finds that just about everything is going up for IT execs, including staffing, budgets, and IT effectiveness (as measured in spend-per-user). Surprising to many is the fact that IT budgets are up across the board--by five percent and felt in almost every industry in every sector. In terms of where the money is being spent, the fastest growing areas are personnel, application software and outsourcing; spending per desktop is currently falling. Outsourcing continues to garner mush of the money. Some 62 percent of companies outsource at least some of their application development work. Experienced staff are still are still in high demand at most companies and in most industries (which may explain why salaries are also on the rise). Fifty-two percent of the 200 companies surveyed said they were adding staff, while only 16 percent anticipated layoffs.

For more on the most recent trends:
- read the details in CIOUpdate. Article
- also, see ComputerWorld's piece on the 12 most
important security skills. Article

High-tech immigration debate keeps rolling in Washington

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 20:01:40 -0400

For those of you who are as sick and tired of the sycophantic coverage of Apple's iPhone, I have good news: There is only one such mention in today's missive and it's at the end. I would, however, like to say a thing or two about the high-tech immigration debate in Washington.

The unemployment in this country continues to rattle below 5 percent according to the most recent Department of Labor statistics. While those numbers may not account for the under-employment numbers that are hitting the low end of the job-seeking market, the fact is that corporate America is headed for the same type of shortage in technical resources that seriously hampered the development of many small companies during the peak of the dot-com era.

It seems to me that we have two choices: we can either import the talent that we need to keep our high-tech businesses running, or corporate America will simply accelerate the rate at which they outsource technical and management jobs to offshore facilities. In the latter scenario, we lose in more than one way. Not only do we shift opportunities abroad, we transfer an entire ecosystem of knowledge and expertise. Aren't we better off letting the technical expertise flow into this country rather than the other way around? I'm open to suggestions.

Let me know what you think. In the meantime, if you're heading out to the Apple Store this evening, save me a spot! - Patty Brown

Circuit City's IT odyssey

Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:01:39 -0400

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

Survey: Does hosted IT benefit small businesses?

Tue, 15 May 2007 20:01:38 -0400

A new survey of small business decision-makers from BizTechReports.com found that small businesses that use a hosted IT infrastructure are more likely to spend a smaller percentage of their annual revenue on technology than are their counterparts who manage IT internally. The report found that SMBs that outsource also are twice as likely to use new technologies such as software as a service (SaaS) applications. The study also found that businesses that rely on hosted IT don't have as many security issues or technical failures. Also noted was the fact that the rapidly shrinking shelf life of hardware makes investing in the technology a lot less appealing for SMBs. Outsourcing SMBs also added e-commerce applications to those business twice as often as companies that manage their own infrastructures, the study found.

Read more survey results:
- read the article at Small Business Computing

ALSO: read this on why hosted infrastructures are a cost-saver for small businesses

Making the most of outsourcing

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:01:36 -0400

Most companies put little time or effort into outsourcing relationships, but they take work. Treat the relationship formally, assigning specific point personnel to handle it. Focus on the future; most long-term sourcing transactions go through at least one major contract renegotiation midstream. When you outsource a business process, do it cleanly. Make up your mind that your objectives are indeed trust and commitment. A failure to commit shows up as a lack of success.

Read more about successful outsourcing:
- read the column at ComputerWorld

ALSO:
- read this on why global outsourcing deals fail
- this on why alignment is the key to outsourcing success
- and this on how outsourcing changes the CIO's role

Lawyers are a fact of life for CIOs

Mon, 26 Feb 2007 19:01:38 -0500

The recent rash of legislation governing data retention, electronic discovery, privacy, data use and abuse has created a goldmine for lawyers well-versed in IT issues. More than ever before, CIOs must interact with attorneys just to protect themselves and their companies. It's not always a pleasant experience, but it's a fact of corporate life today. There are ways to reduce your exposure to lawyers, though. One option is to outsource the management of data and compliance to an outside service provider and another is to cue up new types of software to classify data at creation, apply policies to it and to enforce it--all in one fell swoop. Yet another is to employ an internal search technology to help companies locate difficult-to-find data.

Learn more about how to avoid lawyers:
- read the column at ComputerWorld

Managed security services a top priority

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 19:01:38 -0500

Security tops virtually all corporate agendas these days, and many businesses are considering turning to a managed services model. That means that many companies plan to outsource the management, monitoring and maintenance of all networks, software, hardware and services related to security. According to a recent survey from the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), one-third of organizations plan to spend a significant amount of money on managed security services this year, followed by storage, backup and disaster recovery, Web and email hosting, networking monitoring and administration, and application subscriptions.

Read more about the popularity of managed security services:
- read the article at ComputerWorld