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Accenture is adding 8,000 positions to its Indian operations, a move that will push the outsourcer's total headcount on the subcontinent to about 50,000. Many of the new employees will work on business analytics tools. Last week, IBM opened a biz analytics lab in the country. Smell a trend yet?

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Five copies of "Behind the Cloud" have arrived at my desk, two intended for fellow IW staffers and three for me, an embarrassment of riches. It's Marc Benioff's book on how Salesforce.com was created and built into a successful company. I am reading it avidly… but some disclosures will apparently have to wait for the sequel.

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Whether your company's data center is a couple of servers stashed in a closet or a gleaming, state-of-the-art climate-controlled facility, you're still facing the same set of challenges: how to keep the IT lights on while controlling costs, take advantage of new technologies to stay competitive, and position your company for an economic recovery in the midst of the toughest times for IT that many of us can remember.

On Wednesday, October 21, 2009, help is on the way.

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IBM has been investing in cloud computing for several years, although Willy Chiu, VP of IBM Cloud Labs, acknowledges it may be difficult for those outside IBM to develop a picture of what its cloud initiative will finally look like.

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Dell's $3.9 billion acquisition of Perot Systems will help fortify Dell's pursuit of new customers in the healthcare industry, a sector that's been getting a lot of attention from Dell--and its competitors--in recent months.

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The federal government's definition for "meaningful use" of health IT won't be finalized for several months. But that's not stopping EMR software and business services provider Athenahealth from guaranteeing clients that they'll be getting their health IT stimulus checks from the feds.

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Are hospital-sponsored e-medical records the best way to get lots of doctors using these systems in their offices quickly and affordably?

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The healthcare industry plans to increase IT hiring about 5% in the fourth quarter, according to a new report. The figure might not appear to be blockbuster, but it's above the national average. Overall, CIOs across many industries plan to add zero tech people to their staffs in the near term.

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Something that often gets lost in the discussion about cloud computing is what it means for traditional IT outsourcing. Many of the benefits are the same: Reduced costs, less internal development of software, reduced management of applications and hardware. So as cloud computing matures, it seems the IT outsourcing industry will have to evolve to adapt.

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For those who believe outsourcing represents a one-way passage to India for American jobs, here's an interesting tidbit: Authorities on the subcontinent have hired a big U.S. software company to help manage national elections.

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A Pennsylvania lawmaker is blasting JP Morgan Chase for accepting $25 Billion in TARP funds while planning to outsource thousands of U.S. tech jobs to India. And you thought AIG bonuses were a hot-button issue.

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When Microsoft announced plans in January to lay off 5,000 workers over 18 months, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, fired off a letter questioning Microsoft about who the company was planning to cut. Grassley wanted to know whether Microsoft -- which has been lobbying Congress for years to raise the cap on H-1B visas -- would cut foreign workers before Americans. Grassley finally got a reply from Microsoft yesterday.

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Gadget maker SanDisk is warning investors that the trouble at scandal-plagued outsourcer Satyam has put its business operations at risk.

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Are IT jobs defying gravity as overall U.S. employment figures continue to tank? Latest monthly employment figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and a recent IT pay trends study by research firm Foote Partners sheds some insight into what IT skills remain hot in an ice-cold jobs climate.

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If the global economy doesn't improve over the next six months, there's likely to be more industry consolidation, not only involving IT services providers, but especially among big outsourcing clients, predicts Girish Paranjpe, joint CEO of Wipro Technologies.

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In the past, IT services vendors often resisted terms clients tried to include in their offshoring contracts. But in the aftermath of Satyam's financial fraud mess, outsourcers will be more willing to bend on client demands, especially if they're anxious to pick up work from Satyam's ex-customers.

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Microsoft's plans to lay off 5,000 workers have ruffled the feathers of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a long-time critic of the U.S. H-1B visa program. Microsoft, a top 10 employer of H-1B visa holders, has been among the most vocal tech companies over the last several years urging Congress to raise the cap on H-1B visas. Now Grassley is urging Microsoft to furlough those temporary foreign workers first before handing out pink slips to Americans and permanent U.S. residents.

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First it was the Mumbai terror attacks. Now, India's outsourcing sector has been rocked with revelations of a massive, Enron-style accounting fraud. Can the industry, on which U.S. companies depend for everything from software development to call center operations, survive these twin shocks?

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Is your IT organization hiring? If so, you'll likely be getting a flood of resumés soon. A new report says that there's been a pretty recent sharp decline in hiring plans by IT organizations for the next six months.

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If you're thinking about consolidating your vendor and outsourcing relationships in an effort to save money, don't be hasty. Here are a few tips to consider first.

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These days, many companies are looking to slash their technology budgets any way they can. A new report from Info-Tech Research shows you how to do it the right way, without adversely affecting morale or operations. And the folks at bMighty.com -- InformationWeek's sister site for small and midsize companies -- have arranged to let you download this $2,000 report, FREE!

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Feel that? It's the economy quaking. With the House rejecting the $700 billion bailout bill, stocks seesawing, and loads of uncertainty looming, it's possible you'll have more candidates than you ever imagined applying for jobs at your company. Are you ready to handle that?

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People tend to think of lower-cost IT services -- and not "innovation" -- when Indian outsourcer Wipro Technologies' name is mentioned. So, it may come as a surprise that $1 billion, or about a quarter of Wipro's revenue last year, was generated through R&D services -- including designing semiconductors, automobile parts, and a variety of electronic devices. Looking ahead, Wipro says those R&D services will become an even bigger chunk of the company's business.

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It's been a long-running complaint that there aren't enough young people entering the IT field. But judging by the laundry list of experience and skills some employers demand from IT job candidates, you have to wonder if young people just starting out their careers even have a shot at being hired.

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When a state auditor's report blasts the project, and politicians start playing football. Oregon's data center consolidation project is a cautionary tale about either a lack of careful project management or carefully managing expectations -- probably both.

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A new report forecasting the top 10 workplace trends of the future says video and Web conferencing will make business travel extinct while social networking sites and other Web 2.0 technologies emerge as the primary tools for job recruiting. Is your organization ready to support these and other workplace trends? Or maybe you're already making these shifts.

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With gasoline prices rising above $4 a gallon, a recent survey found that 40% of tech workers would willingly take a pay cut to telecommute. Meanwhile, more employers are apparently offering IT pros the choice to work remotely as a perk to attract hard-to-find skills. Is telecommuting an option you offer your staff?

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Last week, SAP announced new university alliances to prepare future professionals with business, tech, and soft skills needed in the rollout of NetWeaver, ERP 6.0, and other popular SAP products. This week, the company talked to me about the work under way with other third parties to help fill the talent gap now.

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Having a hard time finding professionals to staff your SAP software rollouts? That's apparently the case for many organizations implementing NetWeaver, ERP 6.0, and other SAP technologies, as well as the third-party companies assisting in the deployments.

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Ken Abendshien is CIO of Midwest Health Systems Data Center, a tech support organization that provides outsourced data center services to 27 small county hospitals and long-term care facilities in Kansas, and two in Nebraska. Some of those sites are really tiny -- treating one or two patients a day. And with those hospitals having even tinier IT budgets, Abendshien needs to stretch his resources very carefully.

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When was the last time you got a call from a headhunter? Have those calls cooled down lately? Think it's due to the weak economy, or do you think it's possible that you're just not that "hot" anymore?

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Got a lot on your plate? How would you like to be the IT shop? While the common belief is that one-person IT departments are typically the stuff of start-ups and mom-and-pop businesses, that's not always the case.

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Money is always quick and easy bait to keep valued staff from leaving. But how do you retain -- or even attract -- key talent when budgets are tight?

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The Air Force is getting lots of ack-ack for its decision to award a $35 billion airborne tanker contract to Europe's Airbus instead of Chicago-based Boeing. National defense shouldn't be outsourced, the critics say. There's just one problem with that argument -- Boeing itself sends key military work offshore.

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Some folks predict the volume of H-1B visas petitions employers file starting April 1 will be lighter than last year. But that's not because demand is waning for foreign tech talent. Rather, companies are being more selective in the kind of talent they're seeking, given the odds aren't good they'll have their visa applications approved.

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IT budgets and tech staffs were clobbered during the recession of the early 2000s. But how would they survive this time around? Hasn't most of the "fat" already been slashed, or has much of it returned?

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Nasscom, which just wrapped up an annual conference that drew thousands of people worldwide to Mumbai, has been hit with a nasty blow. Its president faces prosecution for allegedly failing to ensure the safety of a Hewlett-Packard nighttime call-center employee prior to her murder.

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Even before the first wave of baby boomers began reaching retirement age, predictions of an impending brain drain looked pretty dire. About 50% of the federal government's workforce was expected to retire over the next few years. Now, it looks like many of those people will be staying put longer.

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Do you expect your paycheck to grow much fatter this year? Maybe you're just glad you get a paycheck, especially with all the gloom and doom about the economy. If that's the case, then maybe other job traits or perks -- besides money -- are moving higher up on your priority list right now when it comes to work.

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The morning after the Iowa caucus results, I shared with you what Mike Huckabee and Barack Obama are saying about technology and globalization. The focus has shifted over to Hillary Clinton and John McCain after the results in New Hampshire's primary. Here's what those presidential candidates have to say about those topics.

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Who has pickier job expectations, young people entering the tech field, or the employers who hire them? A new report released today says tech executives think millennials -- people between the ages of 18 and 31 -- are too fussy about pay and perks, and are the most difficult to manage.

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There were almost 300,000 new IT jobs last year, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And that doesn’t surprise Bob Keefe, new president of the Society for Information Management. He says talent issues are the top challenge these days for his fellow CIOs.

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First off, Huck-a-who? I had to do some research this morning to learn more about the winning Republican candidate at the Iowa caucus. So Mike Huckabee is an ultraconservative and former Baptist preacher. Ohh-kay. But I'll resist the urge to spout out my personal views here and share with you what Huckabee and Democratic winner Barack Obama have to say on the issues of globalization and technology at their Web sites.

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Bad economic news is making techies glum about jobs, even though managers supposedly remain fairly upbeat about IT hiring and spending plans, according to a new report. What does your gut tell you about tech jobs in 2008?

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Plenty of change lies ahead in the area of offshore outsourcing, which has evolved from a little-used practice to a mature industry in less than 10 years. Here are five predictions for offshore outsourcing in 2008:

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There are reports coming from India that IT outsourcing vendor Wipro is preparing a $7 billion bid for Capgemini. The companies aren't commenting directly on these reports, but a Wipro exec did say something that underscores this fact: Indian companies are under the gun to move beyond their Indian workforces.

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Nothing gets that holiday season name calling flowing more fluidly than mentioning H-1B visas.

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Restrictions on visas for foreign IT pros to work in the United States will drive more tech jobs and creativity offshore, says a new study released today. While that argument isn't new, the report has a collection of government and other stats to help back it up.

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Uncertainty about the economy is giving some tech professionals jitters about their jobs and wallets. Are the fears warranted or not?

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If you're looking to hire IT staff next year, what kind of talent are you hunting for? On the flip side, if you're searching for a new tech job, what skills do you offer prospective employers?

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