We'd be Nuts to Outsource
So says the recent cover of the most recent Information Week.

The quote is from Linda Dillman, CIO of Wal-Mart. I quickly skimmed the article while watching my son's soccer game tonight. While the headline grabbing title was more thrilling than the content, but there were a couple of interesting quotes.

As with 95% of Wal-Mart's IT projects, the Information Systems Division will manage...relying very little on commercial software and not at all on outsourcing.

Dillman, went on to say, "We can implment things faster than anyone could with a third party. We run the entire work out of the facilities in this area at a cost that no one can touch -- We'd be nuts to outsource."

While the article was slightly disappointing, it is refreshing to see an exec at a visible company saying that lowering your IT labor cost is no guarantee of a lower priced solution.

Outsourcing Site at Information Week.
While you are at information week, you may want to bookmark their tab devoted to outsourcing. There are quite a few interesting stories here, including the one mentioned above.

So is Somthing Going On?
You can decide for yourself, but as I said in my last post, I'm feeling less nervous and potentially one of the reasons is that outsourcing may be "on the outs"

The View From a Hunkered World

Recently I was told my boss the CEO of our company said we would need to “hunker down” for the next 12-18 months. My response was, “Haven’t we been ‘hunkered’ for the past 3 years?” While this has been true for my company, I could not disagree this is what the company needs to continue doing. However, I wasn’t sure that I feel that I am hunkered, or that I want to be hunkered. As I thought more about it, I decided to look up the definition of ‘hunker’. I was glad to see that it was not military in origin but rather Scandinavian. The visually imagery that popped into my mind was a Norwegian crouching down to avoid the winter wind chill wearing bearskin clothing 10 centuries ago – I know I don’t feel that way!

So what does this have to do with Outsourcing/Offshoring? Well, I do know that 12 months ago when I started this ‘blog, I did feel ‘hunkered down, and now I don’t. What has happened in the last 12 months to make me personally feel un-hunkered? I would attribute this to three things.

First, it has been 12 months, even in a long storm, you get used to the storm (or feel like it has somewhat mitigated. A friend of mine told me that I had 12-36 months to find a new career. Perhaps I will need to find a new job, but it would appear that the are some jobs out their. Second, did we all get too used to the go-go late 90’s? Is our profession more like other folks have been living with for sometime? Several years ago, I told a lawyer brother of mine that I ruled out a job based on geography—the commute would have been 25 miles. My brother’s response, “When you said geography, I thought you meant not in this state.” Will I have to reconsider how far I am willing to commute, or what I am willing to make? Perhaps, but it seems like 12 months have allowed me to get used to the idea. Third, my company’s Offshore initiative seems to be going slower and less effectively the senior execs thought it would – no surprise to regular readers here. Are the difficult realties of the offshoring beginning to be realized?

One other thought for today as I look back over the 12 months since I started this blog. I’ve received messages or been in contact with people I wouldn’t have otherwise. Those people generally seem to fall into one of the categories:

• Howard Beale– I made as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.

• I’m a programmer in a country that is benefiting from this, what’s your problem?

• This is all part of economic Darwinism.

Do you stand somewhere else? If so, please send me an e-mail.

As I Reported Earlier...
Offshoring is not limted to the Far East. In fact, since my home state borders the Great White North, one could say this is not "off" shore at all. Sympatico/MSN News - Science & Technology - theglobeandmail.com

Here are some numbers: Canada ranked a close second to India, attracting 56 new call centres in 2002 and 2003, the report found. India had 60 and Britain was third with 43.

No "Proof" Outsourcing affects Jobs?
I take my journalistic responsibilities very seriously. This seems to contradict my post from earlier today, so one could say I am providing "balance". No proof outsourcing affects US job market - SEPT 24, 2004 It does however support my claim that this issue is not just a IT/Software issue -- specifically citing radiology, architecture, editing, and tax preparation. Some of my longtime readers think that because I'm a computer geek, I only care about IT jobs. Nope, IT is the canary in this coalmine.

Study Confirms What Most Already Knew
A University of Illinois-Chicago study found that 403,300 IT jobs were lost between 3/2001 and 4/2003. Market still bleak for tech jobs, though state hopeful

Here are a couple of quotes I find humorous....

But he also attributes some of the job losses to corporations farming high-tech jobs out to overseas companies whose labor is cheaper.

And since I live in the Upper Midwest, I can feel better because our local economic guru-guy, Sung Won Sohn, is sounding upbeat in his prognostication:

he has seen evidence that the high-tech job market began improving in the months after this study was completed.

Overall, Sohn thinks the industry will rebound although the new jobs created might require different skills.

Yes--skills like learning to smile when you ask, "Would you like to supersize that?"

Not a Poster Child
The spokesperson for Maytag says they are not the Poster Child for Outsourcing. Maytag Ill. Plant to Be Phased Out As I read this and think about my own career survival, I remember the manufacturing industry has long been dealing with this issue.

Repeat the Mantra...The Economy is Improving, The Economy Is Improving.
The commerce secretary showed up in my home town this past weekend. "Naarmie", (our Senator) never one to miss getting on stage with a Washington "dignitary", was able to repeat the usual refrain. "Tax cuts good, lawyers bad". Yes, those blasted Trial Lawyers! Why read the link, every appearance by my junior senator can be reduced to about two sentences!
U.S. commerce chief gets earful from Minnesota manufacturers