In recent years, the outsourcing of jobs has been a hot topic around many a water cooler, and rightfully so. Workers are afraid, because outsourcing jobs has a major impact on society, and not everyone is pleased with the results.

Outsourcing is practiced in many industries, but seems to most affect the Information Technology (IT) industry – the study, design, planning, development, execution, support and management of information systems. Many functions in this business can be performed from anywhere in the world, giving employers the option to recruit employees in geographical areas with lower wage rates.

Depending on whom you ask, the reactions to IT outsourcing can be positive, negative or both. For example, if you ask a software engineer making a fair salary what he thinks of IT outsourcing, you will most likely be confronted with fear, while a consultation with his employer may show you a different perspective: higher profits.

We live in turbulent economic times and many companies struggle to survive. Cutting costs is one way of keeping their heads above water, but is outsourcing your IT department, really the answer? In many cases, it will backfire because:

• The infrastructure of the host nation may not be compatible with yours – emergency situations may not be handled properly;

• The local and outsourced teams are unable to work together because of problems, e.g. language, poorly defined management structure, and mistrust;

• The fear of a job loss will often decrease the productivity of an employee;

• Bad publicity will hurt the company’s reputation;

• A higher unemployment rate may eventually lead to higher taxes;

• Customers may switch to competitors who continue to support the local economy;

• The implementation team may lack the level of enthusiasm that your original sales and marketing team had. As a result, your sales can suffer.

• You will suffer a loss of managerial control, which can lead to confidence breaches and security violations.

There are, of course, many other reasons why IT outsourcing may not be such a good idea, especially when companies can find cost-savings solutions right here at home. Sure, these specific resolutions may not lower your overhead, or help out when you need temporary staff assistance, but they can certainly be profitable in many other ways.

Businesses interested in giving their profits an extra boost, speeding up their growth, or who are simply trying to survive should consider hiring the services of firms specialized in these matters. Companies dedicated to emergency client business needs can help their clients with issues, such as managing their IT infrastructure, network monitoring, network security, disaster recovery designs and their implementation, setting up high performance LANs and WANs, and organizing a cost-effective VoIP call center system.

With a number of effective, in-home improvements, updated technical systems, and the proper assistance, any company can generate enough revenue to keep locally-based staff and pay for their wages, benefits and training. There would be no need for IT outsourcing, or offshore job placement of any kind. Everyone would benefit, including your local economy!