Here's something amusing

[mnmoderatedem]

and encouraging for those of us who make our living in the IT world.

Of course I've tried to tell people this all along, but what do I know?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060413/tc_nm/outsourcing_dc

[cynatnite]

1. Are they saying it's the American worker's fault?

"Cost reduction remains the primary motivation behind current outsourcing contracts, but an increasing number of companies are outsourcing primarily to improve quality, at 21 percent now versus 11 percent in 2004."

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. An increasing number are SAYING they are outsourcing to improve

quality. It's more PC than saying they are doing it to make more profits.

[Telly Savalas]

8. No. Because outsourcing doesn't necessarily mean

outsourcing to a foreign firm.

With regards to the quality issue, my guess is the line of thinking is that for a business with a diverse range of IT needs, instead of hiring a jack-of-all-trades/master-of-none IT guy, it might make more sense to give IBM a call whereby the business would have access to a team of specialists who focus on different things (somebody to set up a network, someone else to implement an e-commerce strategy, somebody else to design custom software, etc.)

[darkmaestro019]

3. Improve quality. (snort) Excuse me while I have a fit of laughter....

Back when we were still trapped in AOHELL and they'd sent ALL tech support type stuff to (India, I believe) it sure improved quality. And by improved I mean destroyed.

The reps we'd get were very nice, but very difficult to understand (not their fault, I know, but I'm sayin) and once we deciphered what we were being told to do it was invariably "Reboot" (Which clearly, we had tried repeatedly before succumbing to desperation and sitting on hold for twenty minutes to be told to Reboot)

We'd patiently explain that we'd done that a million times and would get told to turn it off and LEAVE IT FOR THIRTY SECONDS and then boot it again. Which is a cute fancy way of saying "Reboot for real this time." :argh:

If that didn't fix it, they generally had no earthly idea what to do about it. They would read us a very nice scripted apology and ask if we'd tried the online tech help (NO, OF COURSE NOT--if we could GET ONLINE we wouldn't be calling YOU) Or they'd tell you to reinstall AOL entirely--which we were not willing to do, since it was the newer, even more utterly bloated version or nothing and we were firmly sticking with a few versions back that sucked slightly less than the new ones did.

We'd wind up finding something around here we could barter to have one of two or three friends more computer-able than we are to come over and fix the dang thing. So we're losing CDs, books, alcohol, etc, to pay for technical support that our AOL bill was supposed to pay for.

I worked at AOL eons ago in billing and often did minor technical support to keep from having to send a customer back to being on hold (and possibly getting lost) After a very short while you KNOW what this is they're describing and how to fix it. I don't know if it's a language barrier difficulty, a shitty-training difficulty, or the fact that very few people are at their best on a fourteen-hour day, but I DO know that quality went subterranean, and that we are NOT subscribers now and never will be again.

[soup]

9. Good rant-

been there, done that, too.
(Except I couldn't have said it without including a few @*#!$%?# #?^&*#$!! *&&%! thrown in.)

[rock]

4. Outsourcing also lowers the quality of the services

This is rarely mentioned.

[hootinholler]

5. Yep it doesn't work because the only real development methodology

You can implement by outsourcing is waterfall, which guarantees you never get it right.

Don't get me started.

-Hoot

[Triana]

6. Ha. The 'DUH" article of the week.

Of course the corpRATS SAY it's for 'better quality' because they CAN'T SAY they just want CHEAP LABOR - even though that's the real reason they outsource.

And for their cheap labor cost, they get crap products, software, tech support, whatever. Pure junk. Useless. The software often has to be re-engineered and/or done over. How 'cost effective' is that? Called a 'tech support' line lately?

Well. Don't bother. If you're in IT, you'd be better off to just fix it yourself.

[maine_raptor]

7. Hmmm........IT

Must be one of those jobs Bush says "American don't want to do".

Asshat (him and them in that article)

Oh, yea............I'm an "outsourced IT worker".......did I mention that?

I'm a real F'in happy camper when it comes to this sh!T. (do I really need to post that scarasm smilie?)