IT Outsourcing: Strategic Implications

Abstract

There is a strong belief that by washing our hands of IT issues and turning them over to outside experts, effective IT systems will painlessly appear.  This is the myth of outsourcing which believes that a company can simply hire an outside firm with the appropriate expertise that will manage our information technology cheaper and better.  Then we won’t have the management headaches.  The reality is that outsourcing affects lots of aspects in an organization.  Even when a company decides to go for a total outsourcing for IT requirements, it still has to manage everything, including the IT component.  This study analyzes when the right time to outsource is, and what are the good reasons to do outsourcing.  The research also analyzes why some outsourcing doesn’t work.  The question actually is how outsourcing IT can return strategic value to the company.