October 31, 2011
When I wrote that we need better training if we are to roll back offshoring and create jobs, many took issue with the assertion that anything but pure cost could possibly drive jobs to H1-B visas. In Is nearshoring the new IT outsourcing? I outlined reasons companies might keep IT domestic despite upfront savings. However, these belie the point to my call for training, which is really about how the introduction to the enterprise of social media, mobile, cloud computing and other next generation technologies is rewriting how business works, best described in Gartner's recent call for "creative destruction" in IT. Many of the jobs I'm talking about are yet to be created and, if they're not filled by U.S. applicants, these won't go overseas, but rather will leave a talent gap that puts U.S. businesses at a competitive disadvantage. By training for these jobs, we're not rolling back offshoring of specific positions, but potentially of entire businesses.
