potential backlash. Outsourcing “might
save money, but you might lose cultural affinity or loyalty,” warns CCRC’s
Bailey.
Not surprisingly, many whose jobs
have been or might be affected by
outsourcing are unimpressed with
the practice. Yavapai College (YC) in
Prescott, Ariz., is considering outsourcing many of its marketing functions,
including marketing consultations,
print design and printing, production
of the college newspaper, marketing
photography and videos, media training, Web site communications management, and social media design and
management.
Top administrators at YC see the
potential for saving money by
outsourcing, says Susan Sammarco,
director of the college’s office of public
information (OPI). But Sammarco,
who says her own position might
eventually be outsourced, doesn’t
think using outside service providers
for marketing functions is a good idea.
“We knew that our own IT department was overextended and we would have to add in-house staff or outsource. We felt this was our best route.
“When one considers the value of
maintaining an in-house design and
communications team, there are so
many positive points to make,”
Sammarco says. “Having staff members
in house for OPI provides support to
the entire college after hours, on
specialized committees, for events and
performances and for quick-turnaround
projects. The OPI team is inculcated
into the Yavapai College culture, and
this helps us as the gatekeepers for
information of all types going out from
the college.”
Outsourcing might provide the
college a useful service on big projects,
“but the many, many small projects that
take place within the academic environ-
ment—those that are produced under
the radar until a department has to
defend their existence—are the threads
that keep an institution together, the
threads that would be lost in outsourc-
ing,” Sammarco says.
After spending nearly five years
pulling together its OPI organization,
Sammarco asks, “How can management
consider breaking up what is working so
well and parcel out the work? How long
would it take for an outside company to
learn the culture, the basic branding that
has been in place and working for YC?
“The big jobs might get done,” she
says, “but the heart of the college would
be lost.”
”
BOB VIOLINO is a business and education
writer based in Massapequa, N. Y.
