Then there was the process of bringing outsourced staff aboard at Farmers. Those employees effectively had been boomeranged. Originally Foremost employees, they lost their job when the IT work was outsourced. Then they had to be convinced to join up with the outsourcer. Now they were being asked to come back as Farmers employees. Claudio knew that having their knowledge of the company and its systems would be critical, particularly during the transition. So she had to "make it appealing not only on a professional level but on an emotional level." Although she could not offer them the variety of tasks and access to new technologies that the outsourcer provided, she could promise stable positions at a company that cared for its employees. Ultimately she was able to bring back 90 percent of the original IT staff.

The entire re-insourcing process took six months and was completed in September 2000. Claudio says the move paid off. "Within the first year, we began saving about $6 million a year."

The key has been running in-house IT like an outsourcer. "[We're] a very lean organization capable of achieving the best value for our money," Claudio explains. In fact, some say Claudio's IT shop is even more efficient than that of most outsourcers, with information technology costs coming in at 1.9 percent of revenue. William N. Pieroni, general manager of IBM's global insurance industry group, can attest to that fact: "Farmers' IT spending levels are less than half that of the major competitors, and that is nothing less than incredible given the scale and scope of the enterprise."

"It all starts with pride of ownership," Claudio says. "I believe I can do as good a job if not better in the major aspects of running an IT shop than an outsourcer."