The Outsourcing Dilemma
CIS Strategic Planning Introduction
To outsource or not to outsource, that is the question. It is indeed a question that a CIO, CEO, or IT manager is likely to encounter. It is not a simple question, nor is the answer simple, and there is not a one size fits all solution. As with any decision, it is good to face it with facts and without prejudice. This work shall discuss factors that help determine the answer, risks, benefits, cost analysis, and implications to the business.
Prevalence of outsourcing
How prevalent is outsourcing of IT function? Is it true that outsourcing in US companies primarily sends work to foreign countries? According to a Culpepper Compensation and Benefit Survey of 68 science and
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The traditional relationship would suit the client that knows exactly what the solution will look like and do, whereas the partnership relationship would suit the client that only knows the functionality that is needed but does not know how the solution would look. The options being offered are constantly changing as outsourcing providers attempt to predict the needs of future clients and respond to needs of present clients. Outsourcing is a broad topic and this work will address it in a general rather than a specific manner, differentiating only where the options are completely distinct.
Strategic implications
At the surface, it may appear that outsourcing would limit the control that the company would have over the IT function and resources, but is that really so? This question begs another one. Does the company have control now, or is the IT function already out of control? Can the company devote the kind of resource necessary to manage its own IT resources? Is it strategically a sound decision to have a department in the company that specializes in IT support, or would it be better to obtain service from a company that specializes in IT support? One thing is clear, a company must focus on its strategic mission. It cannot be fragmented from that mission by other areas of focus. This type of focus can happen with internal IT support if the IT department can perceive ownership of the company strategic
Because many businesses in the US have more often began outsourcing different business products instead of doing them in-house, it is important to understand why outsourcing may be the best option. Although many tie outsourcing to foreign markets, outsourcing can include both foreign and domestic markets. By entering into a contractual agreement, outsourcing allows organizations to pay for services they need. This gives the option for a business to get professionals to perform services for them that the business may not have the staff for. Outsourcing provides a cost saving-strategy that is usually more affordable. Ultimately,
Approach of outsourcing should be followed when there is a lack of expertise required for the development of that project. Outsourcing comes with huge number of
Today most of the companies wants cost cutting in their business. Nowadays outsourcing helps to achieve such goals. According to the internet, (www.flatworldsolutions.com), outsourcing can be to as the allocation of specific business processes to a specialist external service provider. Outsourcing is an arrangement in which one company provide services for another company that missing or don't have a specialist in the certain area of expertise. Most of the times, an organization cannot handle all aspects of a business process internally. Additionally some processes are temporary and the organization does not intend to hire in-house professionals to perform the tasks.
The most cited official projection outsourcing is by Forrester. It is estimated that outsourced US jobs will grow from about 400,000 in 2004 to 3.3 million (recenty revised to 3.4 million) by 2015 which seems quite significant. But on a yearly basis this accounts for about 250,000 jobs but in perspective the number is small compared to the total US employment of 137 million. It actually only constituate less than 2 per cent of 15 million Americans who lose their jobs each year . Goldman Sachs estimates that offshoring has accounted for 500,000 million lay offs in the past three years. A study by Ashok Deo Bardhan and Cynthia A. Kroll at the University of California, Berkeley indicates that up to 14 million Americans now work in occupations that are at risk of being outsourced . Forrester also estimated that 300,000 US jobs have been outsourced. While the Commerce Department 400,000 new jobs, which leaves a net result of 100,000 new US jobs . In addition, an Economic Policy Institute in New York announced that 144,000 new jobs were created in August 2004 . Summarizing the numbers, it seems that outsourcing will have a positive effect on the overall US economy.
Outsourcing has become an integral part of many organizations today. Outsourcing has its advantages and disadvantages that organizations will have to weigh to decide whether or not outsourcing is the best possible solution to their current problems and business operations. Outsourcing refers to the process of hiring external provider to operate on a business or organization function (Venture Outsource, 2012). In this case, two organizations or businesses enter a contract where there will be an exchange of services and payments. This paper will discuss the possible risks an organization may encounter in outsourcing in relation to the use of an external service
There are many benefits of outsourcing that companies and countries seize to take advantage of. The biggest benefit is reduced costs of infrastructure and labor. According to the OneNeck IT Solutions, “The attraction to overseas outsourcing has traditionally been reduced costs. By moving support services to India or China, for
(Pearlson,2001). Cost is the most important factor when the enterprise make a decision of insourcing or outsourcing. If the company produce the products or service on its own, there are costs more than producing, which can include investments of researching, training, and equipment.The investment of insourcing can be a lot more than the outsourcing because of economies of scale.Outsourcing providers can gain significant savings from economies of scale, which client companies usually can’t get on its own(Pearlson,2001). This benefit could be magnified in IT outsourcing.In the case of Project Harmony, as a food company, Campbell soup was a lack of sufficient scale within their own IS departments and IT technical expertise, so the saving between outsourcing and insourcing was significant.To conclude, cost reducing is the first of core benefits of outsourcing due to economies of
Outsourcing can be a means to perform the core functions of an organization effectively by having more time focused on the activities critical to the delivery of services to customer. The non-core activities are performed by the leaders in that area which will help to achieve better efficiencies. Outsourcing can substantially lower costs, help to access better technology and use innovative ideas etc.(Robert,2001). The advantages of outsourcing are: Cost savings:
The only means for the IT companies to maintain business and to have minimal losses was to transfer their services overseas to India. Nonetheless, many of the people who had lost their IT jobs saw this as a disadvantage since they were the ones who had to either find another job that matched their skills or had to obtain new skills. Along with this, they, along with the majority of the workforce, saw outsourcing as something harmful to the American economy and that it caused increase in cost (Easterls, 166). These outlooks are not necessarily true, however.
The vendors are investing in their employees by various training programs on different technologies. This gives a chance for the vendor to provide the outsourcing services to a company with the help of the well trained employees who are ready to work on the projects. Before outsourcing some of its products and services to a third part vendor, the company has to analyze all the factors that might result from the outsourcing decision, the advantages and disadvantages of the company both in short term and long term due to outsourcing. According to Aubuchon, outsourcing some of its products can be a good thing for a company and the judgment to outsource the services must not only based on the cost factor, but the company has to take all other significant factors into consideration (Aubuchon, 2014).
There are various benefits for CIO outsourcing. While you are operating a business, it is a necessity for you to make wise decisions that will save you stress and money. If you lack the knowledge to manage your technology you can take the easy route by relying on the proficiency of a professional to provide you with the right solution. Using a seasoned professional increases the efficiency of decision making and will help you to save time and cost. With CIO outsourcing, you will have a better time focusing on running your business rather than being involved with the stress of trying to solve technological issues. This is a solution that gives a business access to a dependable team of professionals with a depth of experience.
Outsourcing according to Vonderembse (2013) is defined in the text as obtaining goods and services from outside suppliers. These goods and services are manufactured in different countries and then delivered to the country in question. For the United States, these goods and services can often be created in countries such as India, China, and Vietnam and then shipped at a less costly price than creating them by the businesses which purchase them. The goal of every business is to make as much profit as it possibly can and to do this, they must keep costs low. When this happens, they are able to create a higher profit margin and
Outsourcing would allow the OSI to focus only on its core business and would be more cost effective for it to reduce capital infrastructure costs. Also improving employee satisfaction with higher value addition jobs and making the best use of competitive resources available worldwide. Using an outsourced company (TIS) would give it the same standard hardware and software platform. And should be high speed and have a lower cost of Telecommunications.
Because of the important relationship between insourcing/outsourcing and competitiveness, organizations must consider many variables when considering an insourcing/outsourcing decision. This may include a detailed examination of a firm’s competency and costs, along with quality, delivery, technology, responsiveness, and continuous improvement requirements. Because of
Another benefit that a company could gain from outsourcing would be that they could save a large amount of set-up or investment money. If a company wanted to open and employ their own call center or help desk, they would have to come up with and spend a ton of money and resources. First, they would have to invest into buying a building, or even just land and then the cost of building a building. They would then have to invest in all of the furniture and computer systems that it would take to run such a function. Let alone the cost of employing enough people to staff the entire function of the company which would be a lot of people to employ right