What to do when your job is outsourced

It was 1994 and the 32-year-old IT professional had been a senior desktop specialist with the company for three years. The company brought in an outsourcer whose team replaced the desktop department. The TechRepublic member didn't lose his job, however, and actually was moved into the role of desktop project leader.

His company went down the outsourcing route to try and reduce costs, he said. One of his first tasks in his new role was to research the actual financial savings the outsourcing would provide.

"It was important not to outsource anything that was not well defined and documented, and in case of unforeseen costs or problems, we also wanted to outsource something we could bring back in fairly easily. Desktop and help desk were considered good candidates, "he explained.

Once the new outside team was in place, however, it became clear that the outsourcing effort wasn't getting high marks with customers. The TechRepublic member was then given the responsibility of improving the customer service levels and customer satisfaction for the desktop server group that had taken over his previous job.

"I conducted focus groups with customers, sat in on hiring decisions on new staff for the group, and conducted reviews of high impact problems," he recalled, adding that all those efforts raised the customer satisfaction level.

Make a plan before it happens
As there are various outcomes of an outsourcing effort, it's imperative for IT professionals to be proactive and prepared long before the word 'outsourcing' is uttered in the boardroom.

Peter Woolford, manager, IT and Engineering Staffing at Kforce Professional Staffing, points out that IT professionals actually have many more career options besides the layoff scenario.

"There might be the opportunity to manage the outsourced work," he said, illustrated by the TechRepublic member's experience noted in this article. "Someone who understands the outsourced work will be needed to be the liaison with the offshore team," Woolford explained.

The career change may also offer a transition for an IT professional to move into a more business-oriented role within the company.

"The chief executive of a small firm recently related that with his outsourcing effort that the business-oriented roles will stay, and the straightforward technical roles will go overseas," he noted.

Woolford agrees with Mochal and Kaluzny that there really isn't any way for IT professionals to stop an outsourcing effort.

"The economics are just too compelling. The best tactic is to get management to be sure they have really looked at all the costs involved in moving work offshore," he said.