Whirlpool outsourcing IT to IBM

Courtesy: http://www.heraldpalladium.com/

IBM is less than two months from assuming a significant footprint in the Twin Cities area.

Whirlpool Corp. is in the process of outsourcing its 120-person information technology department to the Armonk, NY-based company, Whirlpool spokesperson Jill Saletta said.

At least 100 of the workers in the department will be hired by IBM, though the transition might result in 10 to 20 jobs being eliminated, she said.

Saletta said the IBM deal, for the most part, will not change the locations where Whirlpool's IT employees work. Some of the department's employees do not work in Southwest Michigan, but the majority are based in the Twin Cities area.

"The new agreement will help the company's IT environment become more efficient, secure, reliable and simply easier to manage," said John Goode, IBM's vice president of electronics and manufacturing industries, in a news release.

A Whirlpool IT worker, who did not want to be named, said employees in the department had to go through an application process before being hired by IBM. The changeover is scheduled to take effect June 1, he said.

He said Whirlpool executives told IT workers the decision was made to strengthen the department's processes and procedures and make it better able to scale up or down in response to changes in business.

"They stressed it wasn't just a money thing," he said.

He said his salary at IBM will be the same as it was at Whirlpool, and added that most people in the department are happy about the transition.

"I think some of the older people are a little hurt, but other people think it'll be a good opportunity," he said. "They'll be working for a technology company, a company where technology is its core focus, rather than the technology department of a manufacturer."