Offshoring debate rages on

InfoWorld readers are a passionate lot. I’ve come to this conclusion while wading through the piles of thoughtful responses to our March 8 offshoring special issue. As anticipated, this controversial subject generated enthusiastic and emotional responses, ranging from high praise to accusations of downright treason. One writer canceled his subscription; others offered gotchas that we hadn’t noted; several told me they were making the issue required reading at their offices.

The most thought-provoking e-mails I received, though, attempted to put offshoring into a historical perspective. If offshoring is indeed a monster — gobbling up jobs and depleting paychecks — it appears to be a monster of our own making. Andrew H. Olson, managing director at Team International Group, pointed out that during the ’80s, “American companies made a great deal of money from foreign organizations.” During that time, he noted, his company derived 80 percent of its revenues from overseas clients. “Offshore companies are just following the example we set.”

Reader Todd Anderson, an IT manager at J. Rubin & Co., took the history lesson even further. Advances in technology, he observed, have rendered many old-line IT jobs obsolete, from keypunch operators and operations managers to assembler programmers. Even IT managers are an endangered species given that “most small shops just don’t have IT departments anymore.” His realistic if rueful perspective: “Outsourcing isn’t some shocking new event in the IT world. It’s just the latest way that technology is eliminating jobs by making the entire business world more productive and more reactive. Funny thing is, few of us ‘in’ the business ever thought that all of these great new systems we were creating would not only eliminate other people’s jobs but would also eliminate IT jobs at the same time.”

Point well taken. Yet in this week’s cover story, “ERP springs eternal,” Editor at Large Eric Knorr identifies an IT function that seems impervious to outsourcing. It turns out that Enterprise Resource Planning implementations are best handled in-house. Indeed, evidence from our in-depth survey suggests that even as the rest of IT accelerates the process of outsourcing and offshoring, managers are bringing ERP oversight back into the organization. Who knows? Maybe ERP — despite be reviled by many IT managers for its bulk, inflexibility, and high cost — could provide some job security for its stateside detractors.

On another note, we’ve begun combing the known universe for nominees for our annual InfoWorld Innovators awards. We’re looking for 10 brainy men and women whose good works have changed the face of IT, plus a handful of movers and shakers for our list of ones to watch. If you know of someone who fits this description, please fill out a nomination form. Deadline for entries is April 16. Winners will be announced in late May.