There’s a considerable rant in today’s edition of Lockergnome about outsourcing call centers and IT functions. Outsourcing jobs from America to far flung lands has created quite a firestorm of late. I’ve blogged about the subject of outsourcing a couple of times in recent weeks and no doubt will blog about it again in the future.

My reading list has a number of books about outsourcing, which I hope will help me understand both sides of the topic. I’m most interested in gaining a perspective from the management side, as in why would a company outsource IT functions? And what are the ultimate benefits of call center outsourcing?

It’s easy to understand from the other perspective. Employees rarely see the value of outsourcing. The practice of shipping jobs overseas is hardly seen as a positive thing by those who are displaced.

Should outsourcing be outlawed? Should penalties be put in place? Or should there be incentives for those companies wise enough to put an end to their call center and IT outsourcing plans?