The Baby Boomer retirement crisis has been like a guillotine poised over the heads of IT executives for a couple of years now. I’ve seen reams and reams of research papers, white papers, press releases and vendor pitches on how to deal with this crisis. We’re all waiting for the so-called brain drain to strike. Analysts and vendors are offering up oodles of good advice on how to prepare for it.

First, there is the advice on how to identify which parts of your organizations are at risk. Then there is the advice on how to make sure you retain the business knowledge and legacy technology skills that these retirees will take with them. Then there is the research on how to find replacement labor in a world where universities are producing fewer and fewer technologists.

But is the brain drain happening yet?

I’ve also read that many Baby Boomers are planning to work past retirement age. I’ve talked to several former CIOs who retired in their early sixties, yet they continue to work part time or full time as consultants. One fellow I talked to recently retired in his mid-sixties from his position as CIO of a government agency, and he planned to start a small consultancy to keep himself busy with part-time work. Before he knew it, another government agency in crisis came calling and he was working as an interim CIO for half a year.

The first Boomers are turning 62 this year. Fifty years ago, 62 was considered pretty old. These days, 62-year-olds are starting third careers.

So my question is this: Are any of you starting to lose Baby Boomers to retirement? What sort of business knowledge and legacy skills are they taking with them? And how are you dealing with it?

I’d love to hear from you. Write me at smcgillicuddy@techtarget.com.

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) often lack the resources and staff to meet the daily demands of running their IT operations. You don’t need me to tell you that. But what’s the solution? One option is to outsource IT support and, as of today, there’s another player you can add to that group.

IBM and Lenovo this morning launched a joint IT consulting service for SMBs called Lenovo Experts Live. According to a press release, the new service provides 24-hour IT support — via phone or online chat — for help desk services including network connectivity issues, Internet security setup and software application support.

In addition to Lenovo- and IBM-based applications and services, Lenovo Experts Live supports outside vendors’ technologies, too — “not every application, but a wide range of them,” Lenovo’s Kristy Fair told me in an email.

In a statement, Lenova senior VP Chris Askew said of the service, which is also aimed at consumers, “Lenovo Experts Live provides anytime access to experts who can help customers do everything from protecting their PC from viruses and using software applications more effectively to setting up filters for their children’s Internet use.”

The new joint service comes two years after Lenovo, a Hong Kong-based PC maker with reported 2006 revenues of $14.6 billion, acquired IBM’s Personal Computing Division in May 2005.

Immigration remains a hot topic in general, with Congress in the midst of a long-awaited overhaul of U.S. immigration policy. But the bill being debated in Congress, which could have profound effects on the IT industry, is a complicated one. 

So I was happy to come across this article by Marianne Kolbasuk McGee on InformationWeek.com. McGee does a good job of summarizing the current debate and its implications for IT outsourcing. If you want to get up to speed on IT-related immigration issues, definitely check it out.

If your IT organization uses the services of an international technology outsourcer –  i.e., Infosys, Wipro, Tata -– then you’ll probably find this report by Network World of interest.

According to the magazine’s Michael Cooney, earlier this month two U.S. senators mailed letters to nine international outsourcing companies “demanding that they explain their use of the H-1B program.”

The senators, Republican Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois, are concerned about alleged fraud and abuse of the H-1B visa program and are seeking information from the nine companies regarding their use of it, according to Network World.

The H-1B visa allows companies in the U.S. to hire and employ skilled foreign workers, including IT pros, for a period of up to six years. The maximum number of H-1B visas issued per year currently stands at 65,000, but exact figures are difficult to determine thanks to various requirement exemptions.

Besides Infosys, Wipro and Tata, the other companies that received letters are Patni, Satyam, Larsen & Toubro, Mphasis, Tech Mahindra Americas and I-flex, according to Network World. The inquiry by the two senators comes as congress and President Bush are attempting wider reforms to U.S. immigration policy.

Check out the full article here, which includes an excerpt of the letter sent to Infosys by the senators.

2006 closed on a high note for India’s biggest outsourcing providers, aka The Big 3. Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro and Infosys Technologies all reported major profit growth in Q4.  

In a trio of stories, Forbes.com reports Tata posted a 47.3% rise in profits and revenue was a record $1.1 billion, up 40.7% from 2005; Wipro, whose quarterly profit rose 40% and beat expectations, saw an almost seven-year high of its shares; and Infosys reported a 52% rise in profits and a net income of $218 million for Q4 of 2006, up from $143 million in Q4 of 2005. 

But does this matter to SMBs? In our last readership survey, we asked SearchSMB.com readers if their organization outsourced in 2006 and if they planned to in 2007. The responses didn’t shed any new light on the topic — 49% did outsource in 2006, 46% didn’t; 40% plan to this year, 39% don’t — except to say that there doesn’t seem to be a gray area with outsourcing: You’re either for it or you’re not.