M.I.T. Professors Enumerate How Automation–Not Outsourcing–Is Killing U.S. Jobs…And What To Do About It

As the job situation in America stubbornly refuses to improve, people look for scapegoats. We in the outsourcing world have long been a prime suspect.

Now two professors at M.I.T have just published a book that serves as a beautiful rebuttal when people blame outsourcing for the lost jobs. In their eBook, “Race Against the Machine,” the professors predict more jobs for machines, not people. In other words, it’s automation, stupid!

Erik Brynjolfsson, an economist and director of the M.I.T. Center for Digital Business, and Andrew P. McAfee, associate director and principal research scientist at the center, are experts on… Read the rest

What to expect from your HR technology in 2015

What will the future bring in terms of HR technology? Jason Averbrook, co-founder and CEO of Knowledge Infusion, and Naomi Lee Bloom, managing partner, Bloom & Wallace, attempted to define that future during the second annual “Great Technology Debate” at the HR Technology Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas on October 4.

Here are some nuggets from the lively 90-minute discussion. N.B: Their sage insights are universal, applying to technology in general.

About HR data and analytics:

Bloom: “We have a bunch of sludge sitting at the bottom of our databases. HR has postponed the inevitable. But now is… Read the rest

Interview with Sand Hill Group’s M.R. Rangaswami on Cloud Computing’s Impact on Outsourcing

M.R. Rangaswami is a recognized software business expert. Prior to co-founding Sand Hill Group (known for its conferences and work in advising and uniting the software and services market) and founding the Corporate Eco-Forum, he held global VP marketing positions at Oracle Corporation, Baan Company, and Avalon Software. In 1997, he was named as one of the Top 25 Most Influential Technology Executives.

In this interview, M.R. shares his insights and opinions on the cloud’s upcoming impact on application development services.

What is driving adoption of cloud-based services?

M.R. Regardless of the hype, confusion, and complexity that seem to surround… Read the rest

Is the Cloud Changing the Notion of What Constitutes Outsourcing? – A Roundtable Blog with Marc Schwarz, Ken Stephens, Jim Stikeleather, and Tom Tunstall

Two words: cloud and SaaS. They’re a common thread in discussions for outsourcing plans these days because the advantages these technology-access models present to buyers are truly significant. Both are increasingly marketed as outsourced services. But are they really outsourcing? If so, are these models causing companies to overlook crucial aspects of outsourcing arrangements? Or is outsourcing morphing to simply “sourcing” – commoditized services that really don’t involve a relationship factor, governance frameworks, and other complexities?

In other words, is the notion of what constitutes “outsourcing” changing? To find the answer to this question, I invited four experts to a… Read the rest