It has been said that one should delegate everything but one’s genius, and the economic law of comparative advantage suggests that if it can be done cheaper elsewhere then do it elsewhere. QED IT offshore outsourcing is a good move.

These assertions make good sense, but their application to IT is misguided. Let’s start with genius, which we can interpret as competitive advantage. We need to believe that IT is a commodity or a service akin to your buildings maintenance function. This argument was promoted last year with the controversial Harvard Business Review article by Nicholas Carr, “Does IT matter?” which concluded that it doesn’t.