Think Tank

Computerworld - Even IT Legal Work Is Headed Offshore

Legal services for IT contracting may be the next function to move offshore, according to an attorney whose boutique technology law firm is engaged in setting up a service in India.

"IT contracts are integrally related to IT, and I have found that I am preaching to the choir when I discuss this cost-saving initiative with CIOs who have experienced the benefits of offshoring," says Larry Thomas, a partner at Thomas & Opp PA in Minneapolis.

Services would include a majority of the work involved in drawing up contracts for the purchase of software and hardware, as well as agreements for consulting, application service providers, software development and, yes, even outsourcing.

Thomas plans to train Indian MBAs and technical workers in all aspects of IT contracting and have them do the bulk of the work at a fraction of the cost of a well-trained U.S. paralegal, with high-priced attorneys merely reviewing and fine-tuning the work. Quality and turnaround time will improve, and costs can be cut by at least 50%, compared with internal contracting operations, he says.

The concept is already being tested at General Electric Co., where a captive company in India has been handling various procurement functions, including, most recently, IT contracting. But GE spokesman Peter Stack says the process of offshoring IT legal work is still in the experimental stage, and he wouldn't comment on the success of the effort.

—Kathleen Melymuka

Best Bits

The most useful parts of recent IT management and business books.

THE BOOK: Heads Up: How to Anticipate Business Surprises and Seize Opportunities First, by Kenneth G. McGee (Harvard Business School Press, 2004).

Given that the author is a Gartner Inc. analyst, there was a danger that this book would just be a marketing vehicle for Gartner's well-worn spiel about "the real-time enterprise." Fortunately, the book is deeper than that. McGee's premise is that business surprises (such as serious revenue shortfalls) really shouldn't be surprises at all, because there are always warning signs: information nuggets that either arrived too late or were ignored. McGee—appalled that companies still make strategic plans based on last year's market-share numbers—envisions a world in which sales executives see revenue the moment it's recorded and managers see daily profit-and-loss statements.

Managers may rightfully worry that this pitch for real-time information will only make the current infoglut worse. But the book provides a methodology for selecting only those high-value information streams that are truly worth monitoring. McGee also suggests a new position of "chief monitoring officer," but maybe today's high-price CEOs ought to do that work themselves. —Mitch Betts