• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Ken Behrendt had already had his fill of the hidden costs of offshoring, but the Eagle Creek Software Services chief executive was having trouble finding enough qualified consultants to expand the company's development and technical support business in the Dakotas.
• So the Minnesota-based firm turned to the University of South Dakota to help home-grow new tech talent through a customized four-course certificate.
• "If we have a jumping off point from the university system, then that allows us to bring that consultant even faster to the market," Behrendt said.
• As tech giants such as Google and Microsoft lobby Congress for more H-1B visas to bring skilled workers from overseas, a small but growing number of public-private endeavors are trying to spark an IT reshoring trend by developing the nation's next generation of tech experts.
• IT consulting and development firm PlanetMagpie made "The Argument for ReShoring American IT" in a white paper published late last year.
• Doreyne Douglas, vice president of the Fremont, Calif.-based company, said wants the concept to spread throughout information technology as it is in manufacturing.
• "It's really just a baby, and we need to get it out there and we need to really start spreading the idea," Douglas said.
• Douglas and Behrendt say the true cost of hiring programmers in India far exceeds the promised $15 per hour advertised by many overseas firms.
• In addition to avoiding language, cultural and time-zone issues that arise with overseas support teams, U.S.-based project centers work better when a company wants better interaction with its customers, especially through mobile apps and social networking, Behrendt said.
• Douglas said U.S.-based project centers improve data security, increase worker productivity and encourage teamwork, brainstorming and creativity. Companies who continue to offshore need to start connecting the dots to see the effect on the U.S. tech industry, she said.
• "What it has gotten us is dependent on other countries for labor in IT, which is crazy," Douglas said. "We had the best technology of any country in the world."

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