"So you are going to count he CEO of IBM as an "extra layer" of management for outsourcing."

Yup, obviously that's the only other layer of management between your PC outsource techs and outsourced natwork admins.

And it's cost, not price. I made that distinction multiple times.

Outsource companies of course, have no agenda at all that will affect their recommendations (Windows only, NO mainframe, midrange. Or maybe all IBM solutions. or whatever. THEIR goals are not YOUR goals.

And of course they are just as flexible as having your own people. Users are added instantly, there is NEVER any 'lag time' or it is ALWAYS as fast or faster than having your own people, eh? Not in my experience. CERTAINLY not in my personal experience, and NEVER in my experience in consulting/contracting shops. The customer always wants their own people trained after they get sick of it. Even if there are on-site people, the problem remains - which gets to another point.

Incentive. When you are employed by an outside agency there is always less respect for what the customer wants - until the 'extra' layer of management steps in, after the customer is already annoyed. And that's not always 'negative' incentive, either. My current boss gave me extra vacation time as a reward for my recent upgrade.

Further - more work for the outsourcer is a GOOD thing - though the cost in $$ and time increases for the victim -err- customer.

And forget about easily switching to 'punish' the outsourcer. It's bad when an employee walks and takes knowledge with them - get rid of your outsourcer and it's like having an entire department walk. Documentation - no matter how good it is - is not good enough. You have to know the people you are working with - who can be relied upon, who is all BS, who actually knows what's what in the company AS WELL as all the processes, etc. It will take time, precious time, to get your 'new department' up to speed.

As I said, outsourcing might be good on a permanent basis for a 'sick' company; it might make sense for small company, and in a medium to large company during periods of great demand - but as a 'normal' thing, healthy? Not really.

Reaching, Bill?

Hardly.