Introduction to the trends in outsourcing of information systems minitrack (original) (raw)
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Preliminary Study to Investigation the Determinants that Effect IS/IT Outsourcing
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Information systems outsourcing: A literature analysis
Information & Management, 2006
Outsourcing has become one of the strategies adopted by businesses to manage their IS. During the last few years, the use of outsourcing has resulted in an increase in the volume of literature devoted to it. We decided therefore to analyse the literature with the aim of identifying the main topics, the methodologies most often applied and the authors and countries that have contributed most to the area of IS Outsourcing. We also intended to offer suggestions on improving research in this field. The paper thus provides a review of articles about IS Outsourcing published in the most prestigious journals of the IS area and journals of Management or Business.
Information Systems Outsourcing in Large Companies
International Journal of Information Technology Project Management, 2011
Information systems outsourcing is an indispensable tool in the management of information systems. The set of services contracted to outside suppliers, originally more limited to services of an operational nature, has expanded over the past two decades, and today there is a wide range of services subject to outsourcing. Among them are: the hiring of software development; maintenance of applications; services and communications networks; security of information systems; and many others. Depending on the nature of the services contracted and on the range that the contracting of services has on departments of information systems, the issues involved in project management vary considerably. This article presents the results of a survey conducted among large companies in the Republic of Ireland to characterize, among other things, the range of services that are most often outsourced. The results are relevant in the sense that not only do they enable a better understanding of the reality ...
Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications, 2010
This chapter provides both practitioner and academic insights into outsourcing. It begins with a review of the literature and practice of outsourcing, followed by a retrospect of its developments since the 1960s, up to present-day emergent trends such as best/smart-sourcing, rural-sourcing and business application grids. Recent legal developments are highlighted, along with their corresponding impacts. Outsourcing decisions tend to focus solely on the short-term benefits of cost reduction and service level improvement and, hence, often lack strategic direction, thus indicating the need for strategic management frameworks in the decision process. This chapter introduces a generic framework for such decision-making and highlights other strategic frameworks developed by researchers. The chapter then concludes by summarizing suggested action points that enable both clients and service providers to best exploit the recent developments in outsourcing, in order to maintain the strategic ed...
Information technology outsourcing
ABSTRACT Information technology outsourcing is a trend that is receiving a great deal of attention. Today, a large number of firms delegate their tasks to third parties in order to reduce costs, increase profitability, expand their horizon, and increase their competitive capacity. They can contract with external venders for almost any kind of data processing service. Often, external contractors can offer services at less cost than a company will spend managing its data center internally. As such, information technology outsourcing creates value for the company so that not only all shareholders benefit from that, but also it enables a firm to allocate its management activities to areas where it will have the most enormous impact. KEY WORDS: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT), OUTSOURCING, STOCK MARKET.
IT/IS Outsourcing in Large Companies – Motivations and Risks
Procedia Computer Science, 2017
Companies can outsource Information Technologies (IT) /Information Systems (IS) at various scales, from a small percentage of services to the entire range of services that they need. Outsourcing is associated to a set of motivations related to perceived benefits, but it also has inherent risks. This paper discusses the main results of a survey carried out to determine several aspects of outsourcing practice in large companies. It presents the most frequently contracted services (application development and application maintenance), the most prevailing motivations (financial motives and access to world-class capabilities) and the main risks (loss of control, loss of intellectual capital, and unexpected costs), as perceived by companies.
A decision model for IS outsourcing
International Journal of Information Management, 2000
Information systems outsourcing has been one of the critical issues facing IS management recently, but it still stays in the stage of conceptual discussion about how to outsource the IS activities. The determinants used so far, for instance, transaction costs and`strategica or`commoditiesa characteristics, are too narrow to help the end users determine if their system should be outsourced. This paper argues that "ve factors, including management, strategy, economics, technology and quality, should be considered for outsourcing decisions. Furthermore, the paper proposes a decision model, which uses the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method to help users in structuring the outsourcing problems. The decision model generates numeric values for users to decide whether they should adopt the outsourcing strategy for each IS systems under consideration.
Financial and strategic motivations behind IS outsourcing
Journal of Information Technology, 1995
Information Systems (IS) functions and whole IS departments are being outsourced in industries where the IS functions have been considered 'core' to the success of that business. Why and how senior management came to make these decisions is the focus of this article. It explains the motivations behind Information Technology (IT) outsourcing when popular alliance theories, such as transaction cost theories, game theory and joint-venture alliance theory suggested firms would not outsource an entity if core competency would be lost. Seven case studies were used to investigate the IT outsourcing phenomenon in the observed 'alliance-like' relationships emerging in the banking industry in the early 1990s. Inductive theory generating research was undertaken in this work following Yin's (1984, 1989) guidelines of multiple case replications to ensure rigorous and systematic data collection procedures. Before the case studies were conducted, 40 preliminary interviews were undertaken with managers of companies that were and were not involved in IT outsourcing contracts to explore the theorized factors of interest drawn from the literature, to develop the propositions, and to refine a structured interview guide. These preparatory steps led into the initial case study, and the literal replications of the proposed factors to confirm the patterns found. A theoretical replication based on conflict resolution was then undertaken to expose greater variation in conflict with the outsourcing relationships to contrast the initial patterns found. The results suggest that financial motivations underlie many IT outsourcing decisions, and unresponsive IS departments are accelerating the pace of the outsourcing process. Within this research, IT outsourcing was found to have profound effects on the expenses for the banks. However, contrary to conventional wisdom, IT outsourcing is taking place within firms and industries which utilize IS activities that are considered core competencies. Several strategic motivations were presented that may explain this management decision. Firms were undertaking IT outsourcing to change the organizational boundaries, to restructure, to mitigate technological risk and uncertainty, to access emerging technology, to manage the IS department better, and to link business and IT strategy.