THE ADVENT OF "DIGITAL LABOR" Thomas Young was a partner at sourcing advisor ISG when he began noticing something. In certain cases, bids from IT service providers were coming in below the range indicated by ISG's mark-to-market pricing process. Initially, he thought that his firm had made a mistake in estimating what the bids would be. But on closer examination, he realized that what they were seeing was the emergence of a new kind of service model. The traditional IT outsourcing model of labor arbitrage, the "lift and shift" of work to places where labor costs were relatively low, was being replaced by one that relied less on labor - high-cost or lowcost - and more on software and platforms. In 2013, he started his own firm, RUMJog Enterprises, to help companies understand and take advantage of this trend. His 20 years of consulting experience in the IT services industry include 12 years as a partner and managing director at both ISG and TPI. He holds a Master's degree in Systems Engineering from Rutgers University. These days, he speaks frequently at conferences on the topic of digital labor. The following is an edited version of a conversation with CIO Straight Talk Editor-inChief Paul Hemp. 69