american companies

Offshore outsourcing may not be so cheap

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:59:59 -0500

CIOs are facing a fork in the road over offshore outsourcing because a domestic company owning a company in India may not be such a good deal. As CIOs look for ways to save money, owning an outsourcing operation in India seemed like a good plan. But now companies are facing the prospect that it may not be efficient.

It was reported last week that Citigroup Global Services, with offices in Mumbai and Chennai, India, decided to sell the operation to outsourcer Genpact for nearly $700 million. It's already looking like 2008 could be a lean year, and CIOs are looking for ways to cut costs. So this seems an odd choice in the wake of all the cost-savings that offshore outsourcing does provide. Apparently, American companies had unrealistic expectations, according to IT experts. Faced with the reality of rising costs from labor to real estate, companies have been unprepared to tackle the ownership problems they faced. But Cliff Justice, head of globalization for Houston-based outsourcing consultancy EquaTerra, says that most captive centers can be fixed by partnering with local providers and resetting expectations. And that means more hands-on management from the CIOs in the States. Let us know what your experience with offshore outsourcing has been? Is it cheaper, and do you trust it to deliver?

For more on the perils of outsourcing:
- see this CIO.com article

ITIL v3: Ready for release this week

Mon, 28 May 2007 20:01:39 -0400

The latest version of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, a framework for IT best practices, gets released tomorrow. The framework, developed by the U.K. government, is taking hold with American companies that are implementing Services Oriented Architectures, hoping to reap the benefits of greater efficiency, cost savings and increased customer satisfaction. According to the experts, the latest version will focus on facilitating and measuring business outcomes. The new ITIL release provides in-depth guidance on business issues like asset lifecycle management and return on investment analysis, Sharon Taylor, chief architect of ITIL v3, told Baseline magazine. And don't fret if you're already an expert on version 2: according to analysts, version 3 is a natural progression from the previous version.

For all the details on ITIL version 3:
- see this article from Baseline Magazine

IT intelligence slowly hitting China's business front

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 20:01:35 -0400

Just 10 years ago, you would have been hard pressed to find anyone working as a CIO in China, as the tech role just didn't exist at the time. Today, however, a great deal has changed, both in terms of IT organizational structure as well as how IT plays into business operations in the Asian marketplace. As one major tech vendor leader explains, China appears to be catching on to what American companies learned quite a few years ago--that IT is a business enabler. There are still quite a few obstacles that will need to be cleared, however, before China drives technology throughout the enterprise.

For more on IT in China:
-check out this Computerworld article

ALSO NOTED: Group alleges hiring discrimination by US companies; Microsoft's next gen IM arriving next Tuesday; and much more..

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 20:01:33 -0400

> Engineering group alleges hiring discrimination by American companies. Article

> Next gen instant messaging from Microsoft arriving next Tuesday. Article

> Trojan laying in wait within Google Pages. Article

> New leader at the helm of IT lobbyist association. Article

> Financial rules boosting security, data protection. Article

> Just 10 countries boast a national CIO. Article

> Scottish university adds ethical hacking course to class offerings. Article

And Finally... Cranking neighborhood watch up a digital notch. Article