This is all so true. I work for a multi-billion dollar organization in an IT role, but I'm fortunate enough to work for one of the better companies.
^^Absolutely! Front line support is an entry level position, and it is not usually a fun job so the good ones don't stay there very long.
Outsourcing is going to happen in the modern economy. Not always, but a lot of the time. It's our job, as workers in the US (and Canada, in my case) to do your job with such a high level of quality that it makes the executives think twice about the idea. And if your department gets partially outsourced, that's when you really need to crank up the awesomeness. Companies do sometimes un-outsource, when the service from offshore is bad enough compared to what they're getting locally. My company is doing it right now in the Finance department for Accounts Payables. We sent it offshore and it was a disaster, so just over a year later it's coming back.
^^ So true. When times are tough or when growth targets aren't met, the executives will be looking at the costs first. If you are working in a cost centre, try to add value however you can.
Hopefully the OP can find something else, because if things are really that bad, it would take years for things to get significantly better. But the executives first have to recognize a problem and decide to fix it, and if they don't see the situation as a problem then things won't change.
