In a turnabout from the recent practice of outsourcing jobs to Asia, a P.E.I. company has won a multi-million dollar contract over international competition, and imported the workers to fulfil it.

Michael Rogers believes companies are now looking at more than just cost when outsourcing. (CBC)

Shiva Kumar Vishwanathan and Ramesh Ramachandran are two of 35 workers who are now working for CGI in Stratford, just east of Charlottetown. They had already made the move from India to Connecticut, but the company they were working for there had financial trouble and CGI scooped up both the multimillion-dollar contract it was holding and many of the employees who were doing the work.

"Initially there were a lot of questions before we moved to P.E.I. because it's the first time we've heard [of it,]" Ramachandran told CBC News Tuesday.

"Then we put in on Google it said, OK, it was one of the 10 best islands in the world, so we said OK we are going to a good place."

CGI split up the 70 workers from Connecticut, with half of them going to the Halifax office and half to Stratford.

A reversing trend?

Michael Rogers, director of CGI in Stratford, said the move is part of a trend where large companies are starting to consider how the benefits of having work done in North America can outweigh the lower costs of outsourcing to India.

Shiva Kumar Vishwanathan says he is ready to settle down on P.E.I. (CBC)

"A lot of industries have focused on going to India to save a few dollars," said Rogers.

"I think there's a lot to say about the service we can provide in a near-shore model. We're in the same time zone; we can react quicker to problems during the day for the client."

Rogers is hopeful awarding contracts closer to home will become more common, and lead to more money and more jobs for places like CGI.

CGI will still face the challenge of keeping the workers on P.E.I. Salaries at CGI range from $35,000 to $80,000 a year. That's good for P.E.I., but perhaps not as good as some larger centres might offer. The workers that have come with this latest contract are already accustomed to being on the move.

"IT industry always involves a lot of travelling," said Ramachandran.

"We are on the services side, providing services, so it depends what the customer needs."

But Vishwanathan said his travelling days are behind him. His daughter is in school and he's ready to plant roots.

"I'm looking to settle down at this stage of my life," he said.

"P.E.I., after the eight months that I've spent here, seems to be the right place."