General Motors is planning to add around 500 jobs at its new information technology center in Austin, Texas. This is the first step that the automaker is taking to bring most of its IT work in-house for the next three years.
GM plans to employ software developers, database experts and other IT workers in Austin, which is said to be the first of four centers in the United States. GM is the largest automaker in the United States and is the pioneer in outsourcing jobs. It recently announced that it wants to bring IT work in-house to improve efficiency and productivity.
GM Chief Information Officer Randy Mott outlined his IT strategy to the company’s 1,500 IT workers in June. The new center will be the beginning of his plan. At present, GM outsources around 90 percent of its IT work, with just 10 percent done in-house. He added that he wants to drive innovation and development capability of IT within the company. The changes will support the transformation that’s happening to GM as a company.
Mott hopes that he can reverse the percentages within three years. He also plans to employ more people to focus on development and innovation in the information technology field. He told reporters during a conference call that he wouldn’t see the center as overhead. He added that he sees it as the other way and it will be an enabler of what people heard from the executive team.
GM has been talking with its IT suppliers but Mott declined to talk more about it. There are some elements of Mott’s plans that are still being finalized. It would take around five years to complete. The company plans to open four IT centers in total but this could still chance. At present, GM is looking for other sites where it can construct the other IT centers.
