IT Sourcing

The focus of information technology outsourcing has shifted from just efficiency improvements to more comprehensive value creation. Companies are looking to their outsourcers for access to talent they could not otherwise afford or attract. They want outsourcers to help them create business innovations with IT. Therefore, as deals move from transactional to transformational, the market trend is to move from supplier relationships to partnerships with vendors whose pricing mechanisms are more innovative.

CIOs and other executives face a number of critical questions:

• What should our overall sourcing strategy be? What should we do in-house, and what should we give to external providers? How many providers should we use? To what extent do we need resources onshore, “near shore,” and offshore?

• How do we ensure that in-house IT can act as a world-class orchestrator and maximize the company's value from outsourcing (for example, by leveraging innovative IT-delivery models such as cloud-based solutions)?

• How should we structure deals when we expect the outsourcers to bring innovation and transformation to our company?