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More and more we read about companies firing their American employees and moving jobs overseas in an effort to save a few bucks an hour. Early on, offshore outsourcing was focused largely in the manufacturing sector. However, it has since been embraced by the growing Information Technology industry. PBS’s Frontline World reported last year that over half of Fortune 500 companies have moved jobs offshore, including famous names from many industries: Oracle, Dell, HSBC, Delta Air Lines, Novartis, J.P. Morgan Chase, Hewlett-Packard, American Express, and British Airways*. General Electric, IBM and MCI are examples of companies who have just recently...

A lack of control over data, compliance monitoring and auditing are key issues FEBRUARY 20, 2004 ( COMPUTERWORLD ) - WASHINGTON -- Outsourcing jobs to offshore destinations can sharply increase data privacy risks and the complexity of managing that risk, several experts at the Fourth Annual Privacy and Data Security Summit here warned this week. As a result, companies need to ensure that overseas vendors are contractually tied to specific conditions regarding how data is transmitted, accessed, used, stored and shared, they said. Those challenges include regulatory compliance, data protection and access issues, as well as monitoring and auditing issues....

Mon Dec 15,12:14 AM ET In one of the largest moves to "offshore" highly paid U.S. software jobs, International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - News) has told its managers to plan on moving the work of as many as 4,730 programmers to India, China and elsewhere, Monday's Wall Street Journal reported. delayed 20 mins - disclaimer Quote Data provided by Reuters The unannounced plan, outlined in company documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal, would replace thousands of workers at IBM facilities in Southbury, Conn., Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Raleigh, N.C., Dallas, Boulder, Colo., and elsewhere in the U.S.Already, the managers have...

The 4th Volume of Jeff Head's Dragon's Fury Series, The Long March, is now released and available in both major eBook formats...Adobe Reader and Microsoft Reader. The Printed version has been through final proof and has been released to distribution. It should be available online at sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble within the next two weeks. THE DRAGON'S FURY SERIES A Techno-thriller series about the next World War

WASHINGTON – Factory orders in June increased by the largest amount in three months, offering the latest evidence that the struggling manufacturing sector may be on the mend. Factory orders jumped 1.7% to $325.98 billion, the Commerce Department said Monday, following a revised 0.3% gain in May. Economists had expected a 1.6% rise, according to a survey by Dow Jones and CNBC. "It's evidence of improvement for the manufacturing sector. This is encouraging news," said John Lonski, economist with Moody's Investors Service. Orders for durable goods such as cars and appliances, data that were first reported June 25, were revised...

The worldwide IT services industry is in the midst of its biggest slump in memory. Whereas in previous IT-wide slowdowns IT services was relatively immune to macroeconomic and broader IT issues, the IT services industry's fortunes are now inextricably linked to forces outside of its own immediate control. As such, IT services suppliers are having to grapple with an uncomfortable situation in which they are forced to wait for the following: The emergence of better macroeconomic conditions The abatement of geopolitical instability A new and compelling overarching business catalyst A new and compelling overarching technological catalyst Most importantly, for memories...

LOS ANGELES -- Offshore outsourcing is so mainstream that by next year, more than 80% of U.S. companies will have had high-level discussions about the topic. And 40% will have completed some kind of pilot program or will be using near-shore or offshore services. Despite that assessment, made by Gartner Inc. at an outsourcing conference here last week, offshore outsourcing remains a difficult issue for executives to talk about. In fact, many attendees were skittish about responding to questions for this article, except in the most general terms. Corporate officials did, however, acknowledge trends related to the politically charged issue....