The Naked CIO: The skills drain needs fixing

Shipping IT work overseas is not just bad for those who lose their jobs here. The firms that make these offshoring decisions will ultimately make us all pay a heavy price, says the Naked CIO.

Lloyds TSB deserves to be condemned. The news that the bank will offshore most IT operations and retain only 20 per cent of its IT resources in the UK is extremely disappointing.

This decision will increase the fears of UK IT workers who - as demonstrated by the reaction to previous articles on employment skills and loyalty - clearly already feel that outsourcing and offshoring have turned them into second-class citizens.

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The Lloyds TSB move also shows organisations are still using the skills drain to address domestic deficiencies.

A prominent company such as Lloyds TSB has a social responsibility to continue to develop UK workers to maintain competitive skilled standards.

In reducing opportunities we also diminish the attractiveness of the IT sector to new blood, further shrinking the national talent pool.

This downward spiral will create a permanent dependency on offshore locations, regardless of cost or service level, because we shall have lost the capability to provide for ourselves.

There is a difference between offshoring as part of a comprehensive IT approach and choosing to offshore the bulk of your IT operations.

The report on silicon.com quoted a Lloyds TSB representative saying the organisation has not taken the decision for cost reasons but because it wants an IT enterprise that is second to none.

To build a value-driven, innovative enterprise takes people. Good, talented and loyal people. Lloyds TSB is depreciating the value of its people and I have serious doubts about how its strategy could possibly lead to the organisation becoming a leading-edge technical force in its field.

As a pragmatic CIO I will never refuse to look at the benefits of offshoring as an option to improve overall IT delivery. But it will never be the backbone of my IT approach.

Good people deliver success. I will never alienate or isolate myself from the very people who can determine the organisation's success.

To all the workers out there, Lloyds TSB's decision does not mirror the views of this and many other CIOs who still want to see the talents of good UK staff developed so that the country can continue to be a bedrock of IT innovation.

To all the CIOs out there, remember that people drive the future of your organisation. You would be unwise to discount the value of local, passion-driven, loyal and genuine employees in your company.

And to Lloyds TSB - how could you?