Strategies and Trends for Information Technology Leaders
Cloud computing is the most significant development for IT since the invention of the PC. It’s impact on IT will be similar to the paradigm shift Apple’s iTunes caused in the music industry, namely selling music by the song instead by the album. (In IT’s vernacular: the ever-elusive consumption of services by-the-drink or utility computing…
A majority of executives polled by Deloitte (61%) believe Cloud computing will be a transformative technology in the industry and can drive financial benefits, or at least be useful for certain kinds of enterprise services. The executives were polled recently during the Deloitte webcast, “Cloud Computing in the Enterprise: Not If, But When and How?”…
Lower costs, better results. There’s the four word outsourcers’ mantra and, inevitably, what this means in tough times is companies are on the prowl for more, for less money, from their outsourcing partners. And that just may mean new geographies emerging as prime locations. One reality: India remains the hub for most U.S. outsourcing initiatives,…
When you start on your journey to outsourcing, you have expectations that you will never have to worry about your technology infrastructure again. That’s not strictly true, because now you worry about the technology on a different level. You now worry more about how you can use the application of the technology to provide your…
Once you have decided to outsource your infrastructure support and have done your due diligence selecting a service provider, it is time to implement the plan. There are several steps that you will go through with your vendor to ensure that you get what you expected when you signed the outsourcing contract. 1. Establish and implement…
Now that you’ve decided that outsourcing is an option that you want to pursue, you’ll need to find a service provider that will meet your companies needs. There a number of factors that need to be considered when choosing a service provider. First and foremost, the question needs to be asked: Do you want a…
When you put a crucial portion of your company’s service into the hands of a third party service provider, you lose some control over the operational aspects. You are relying on the partner to meet your expectations for quality of service. In order to protect yourself from some of that risk, there are two service…
Outsourcing is a business decision that weighs the strategic plans for the company against the resources required to accomplish those goals. Determining the appropriate resource allotment for any particular goal involves considering both tangible and intangible costs to achieve the goal. For example, if your goal is to increase market share in a particular market…
In addition to the infrastructure outsourcing we’ve been discussing in this series, there is now opportunity to outsource selected applications that are important to the company but not strategic. Let’s consider all the business functions that are common to many businesses, for example, your email server. Modern business relies on email to do business every…
Now that you’ve decided outsourcing is an option you want to pursue, you’ll need to find a service provider to meet your company’s needs. A number of factors need to be considered when choosing a service provider. Are they a true partner? First and foremost, you must determine whether you want a partner or a…