GM 'insources,' set to hire 10,000 IT pros

Computerworld - General Motors plans to discontinue outsourcing arrangements and pull most of its IT work back in-house -- a move the automaker said will result in the hiring of 10,000 IT professionals worldwide over the next three to five years.

As part of its "insourcing" plan, GM will open several "innovation centers" around the country, including one in Austin that will employ 500 people. The company said it chose Austin as a site for one of the facilities because the Texas capital is home to people with relevant skills. A spokesman said GM won't specify the number of innovation centers it hopes to open.

The IT reorganization is being led by Randy Mott, who was named GM's CIO in February. A former CIO at Hewlett-Packard and Dell, Mott also spent more than two decades at Wal-Mart in a number of IT roles, including CIO.

"We plan to rebalance the employment model over the next three years so the majority of our IT work is done by GM employees focused on extending new capabilities," Mott said in a statement.

The company is seeking software engineers, business analysts, messaging engineers, analysts, developers, testers, planners, infrastructure architects and other IT professionals. Also wanted: People with expertise in specific platforms, including Maximo asset management tools, Tableau analytics software and PeopleSoft.

GM has relied heavily on outsourcers to run its global IT. In 2006, for instance, the company announced it had signed outsourcing contracts valued at around $7 billion.

This version of this story was originally published in Computerworld's print edition. It was adapted from an article that appeared earlier on Computerworld.com.

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