Recently, it appears that some major players in the IT industry are looking to cut down on costs. They believe that by outsourcing their jobs overseas, they can save several millions each year. An example of one of these companies is the financial services group Prudential. Prudential owns an IT UK branch company called Prutech.

Prudential has revealed that they plan to review the organizational structure of Prutech. Many experts have suggested that this review will inevitably lead to a shake-up of their human capital. At this junction, it is worth mentioning that rising costs is one of the major challenges the IT industry is currently facing.

Therefore, it is little wonder that companies like Prudential are considering offshore IT employment in order to save money. We at Quanta and other industry experts do not share the view that outsourcing IT work will always lead to a reduction of operational costs. We have argued that any IT work outsourcing will not lead to a significant reduction in aggregate costs, but rather it could lead to the development of inefficiencies within the organization.

The shake-up would also mean that many IT jobs will be lost in the UK. This is because Prudential currently employs 500 IT staff who work in Prutech. There is also news that IT companies are beginning to explore the possibilities of IT metrics. It has been deduced that the IT industry does not really have any standard measurement of departmental performance and effectiveness.

Having IT metrics is very useful because it enables IT companies to also assess how satisfied their clients actually are with the service they receive. Metrics are also useful for ensuring compliance within the IT industry. It does appear that many firms are beginning to recognize the usefulness of IT metrics and as such, they are reluctantly agreeing to incorporate it into their organizational structure. Another major IT story currently in the news is to do with the Hummingbird takeover. Enterprise management software firm Open Text has announced that it is set to axe over 500 jobs as a result of its acquisition by Hummingbird.

Open text has somewhat re-branded its image and has also restructured the services it provides. They claim that the redundancies were unavoidable because they are a direct consequence of the merging of Hummingbird and Open Text. The company is also set to partner with companies like Microsoft and Oracle.

Stephen Trigg is the CEO of Quanta Consultancy Services, the leader provider of Staffing company.