ITSinsider 2.0

I see I got a jump today on my blogstats. Visitors must be coming in from my friend Frank’s new outsourcing portal that he launched today. For all my homies coming here from the outsourcing community, I hope you’re not disappointed I’m not writing about EDS, IBMGS, and CSC. (I did leave a comment on EDS’ Next Big Thing blog on web 2.0., however.

The facts are that outsourcing has changed so dramatically in these past five years. I think it was all over for me when I heard George W. Bush use the “O” word sometime in the 2004 election year. When I came back into the business (and you can see some of this in the early postings on this blog), the offshoring phenomenon, the fractured BPO market, the pressure on margins for suppliers, and the sudden plethora of experts that have flooded the market… all drove me back to looking at the Internet again with longing eyes. I’m being cautiously optimistic and giving that Godzilla a second chance.

The good news is– there will be a heck of a lot of systems integration to be done in Enterprise 2.0 with web 2.0 tools. SI is outsourcing’s second cousin. It’s a respectable margin business, so you IT Services firms take heart. The really good news is you can hire or rent kids out of college to do the work (read: better margins).

I’m still finding my way in this new sector, but stay tuned. I’m on it. Please feel free to drop me a note. You know I’d love to hear from you.

A word on Frank’s portal. I think portal is a web 1.0 word, but in this case, it’s working for me. I’ve said this before, but Frank Casale at the Outsourcing Institute has always been a step ahead. He had the foresight to reserve outsourcing.com in the mid-90s before anyone was on the web, definitely in the outsourcing sector. He has ambitious and interesting plans for this site, and I’m pleased to be participating in his new venture. For now, I’ll be moderating forum panels on Marketing and The Next Net. More interesting opportunities are in the offing so stay tuned.

Author: Susan Scrupski

Longtime fan of technology to improve humanity.