A new center of excellence

We plan to announce soon the creation of a new center of excellence in Papua to better serve our worldwide customers.

Trust me when I say this, this wasn't easy. Every IT firm has been outsourcing in India for the past 20 years, so the competitive edge is not there anymore. Sure, they are educated, they dance well and they can develop applications for one fifth of the price of a team in Montreal. But if all your competitors are doing the same scheme to shave on cost, what else can you do to boost your earnings?

So we went boldly where no IT firm has gone before, and we recruited 100 or so native folks in Papua who lived pretty much in the wild. My plan is to open a backup center there to serve our existing operations in Phoenix, Montreal and Lebanon. You wouldn't be believe how cheap these guys are, I think their profit-sharing bonus will be a small plastic mirror.

Training has proved to be difficult, Brother Bru-Bru (center, on picture) had never seen a computer, or any electric device for that matter. He thought the circular backup tape was some kind of religious object used to worship the sun. Bru-Bru was wary of using e-mail too, as he thought this strange device was used to communicate with people in the afterlife. And I'm not talking about forcing these guys to do their PSA time sheet on Fridays, they don't even know what "Friday" is...

Anyhow, CGI is investing a lot in training, don't ever say we don't okay?