outsourcing Archives

Grid View
List View

SUBSCRIPTION
PLANS

Help Desk Outsourcing Activity, Trends, and Cost Experience
Help desk outsourcing is poised for growth, despite the bad reputation that offshoring of call centers has received in recent years. This study examines current help desk outsourcing activity. We report on the three-year trend in the percentage of organizations outsourcing the help desk (frequency) and average percentage of work outsourced (level). Next we examine outsourcing activity by organization size, reporting on frequency, level, change in amount of work outsourced (current trend), and actual cost vs. expectations (cost experience). Concerning offshore outsourcing, we report on the frequency and trend in the use of offshore service providers. Finally, we consider how outsourcing frequency varies by sector. (17 pp., 12 figs.)[Research Byte]
October, 2009
IT Outsourcing Statistics 2009/2010
This major study reports current levels of outsourcing for 11 IT functions: data center operations, help desk, desktop support, application development, application maintenance, database administration, website/e-commerce systems, data network operations, voice network operations, disaster recovery services, and IT security. For each function, we report the percentage of organizations that outsource the function (frequency), the average percentage of work outsourced (level), the change in level of outsourcing over the past year (trend), and the ability of organizations to accurately predict the cost of outsourcing (cost experience). Offshore outsourcing trends are also reported. (66 pp., 53 figs.)[Full Report Description]
September, 2009
IT Outsourcing Statistics 2008/2009
Each year, Computer Economics surveys more than 200 IT decision makers regarding their current plans for outsourcing IT functions, including outsourcing of data center operations, help desk, desktop support, application development, application maintenance, database administration, website/e-commerce systems, data network operations, voice network operations, disaster recovery services, and IT security. This Research Byte provides a description of the full report and a link to download sample pages from the study.
August, 2008
IT Spending and Staffing 2008/2009: Chapter 6, IT Outsourcing Trends
This report provides detailed analysis for 11 categories of outsourcing: data center operations, help desk, desktop support, application development, application maintenance, database administration, website or e-commerce systems, data network operations, voice network operations, disaster recovery services, and IT security. Metrics include the percentage of organizations that use outside service providers, the percentage of work outsourced, outsourcing costs as a percentage of the total IT operational budget, change this year in the level of outsourcing, and customer satisfaction. Analysis of offshoring share of the outsourced work is also included. (53 pp., 55 figs.)[Detailed Description of This Chapter][Full Description of IT Spending Study]
July, 2008
Current Trends in Use of IT Contract Workers (2008)
Managing a contract workforce has become an increasingly important task for IT organizations. In this study, we examine the use of contractors and temps by organization size and sector. We also examine the four-year trend between 2004 and 2007 to discover how the use of contract labor has changed over time. Furthermore, we examine how the aggressive use of temporary employees relates to staff growth and turnover rates. The report concludes with our view on current and future trends in the IT contingency workforce. (5 pp., 7 figs.)[Executive Summary]
April, 2008
The State of IT Outsourcing and Guidelines for Success
This article investigates the prevalence of IT outsourcing for nine IT functions, the percentage of organizations reporting a change this year in their levels of outsourcing for each IT function, and the relative priority that these firms give to outsourcing versus "back-sourcing" (bringing outsourced functions back in-house). We also explore the concept of "partial outsourcing," where some work is outsourced while the rest is retained in-house, using application development and help desk outsourcing as examples. We conclude by proposing important principles for organizations to consider when outsourcing IT functions. (4 pp., 4 figs.)[Executive Summary]
August, 2007
Managing Challenges in IT Staffing: 2007 Survey Results
Recruiting and retaining IT talent is a key success factor for any IT organization. This special study investigates current trends and challenges that IT managers are facing in recruiting and staffing, based on a survey of approximately 160 U.S. IT hiring managers. Statistics include IT staff growth rates, use of contractors and temporary employees, growth of outsourcing and offshoring, turnover rates, trends in recruiting difficulty, adequacy of the candidate supply, ability to offer competitive compensation, attractiveness to candidates of four major U.S. regions and 14 industry sectors, manager satisfaction with recruiting methods, use of outside recruiters, and the relative difficulty of recruiting for eight IT positions. (10 pp., 16 figs.)[Executive Summary]
March, 2007
Growth of IT Outsourcing: No End in Sight
This article provides an executive summary of our recently published report on IT outsourcing statistics and trends. According to the report, IT outsourcing has become pervasive in North American companies. Furthermore, there are no signs of a slowdown in the use of outside service providers, with plans to outsource IT functions increasing in every one of the eight major outsourcing categories and 10 industries studied.
August, 2006
Leveraging ITIL to Better Manage Outsourcing Relationships
ITIL is not only an effective tool for managing internal IT processes. It can also serve as a framework for managing the relationship with an outsourcing service provider. This article shows specifically how ITIL Incident Management and Problem Management can be used to optimize an outsourcing relationship, such as help desk outsourcing, to properly define roles and responsibilities and continually reduce the overall level of incidents and improve service levels. (6 pp., 2 figs.) [Executive Summary]
December, 2005
Trend Toward Offshore Outsourcing Not Yet Peaked
A recent survey of visitors to the Computer Economics website asked respondents regarding the offshore outsourcing plans of their organizations. For IS professionals hoping for a reversal of the trend toward offshoring, the results aren't good.
August, 2005
Outsourcing Can Help Control Website Costs
Corporate websites generally provide excellent ROI, but IS managers need to better control the total cost of ownership of websites. Our research indicates that outsourcing website maintenance may be an effective strategy to control website TCO.
August, 2005
Outsourcing as a Strategy for Controlling Website Costs
Corporate websites have become essential for doing business in most industries. However, our latest research indicates that the total cost of maintaining websites can often exceed expectations. This article examines the factors driving website maintenance costs and the use of outsourcing as a strategy for controlling the costs of website maintenance.
August, 2005
Website Economic Returns Depend on Implementation
The satisfaction that Website owners receive from their investments is heavily dependent on the method selected for developing and supporting the sites. Results from the Computer Economics Information Systems Spending and Technology Trends survey provides clear indications of the methods that provide optimum economic performance and those that just increase costs. Results from this survey show that in-house support of the site often makes the difference between being a drain on organizational finances or an improved source of revenues. Click here to purchase. - $125
January, 2005
Outsourcing That Makes Dollars and Sense
The world and economic events of 2000 through 2003 have changed the way most companies do business. The direction today is to do more with less and the surviving companies are doing just that. Companies have been managing their costs, shrinking payrolls and looking for more ways to increase productivity . . . and the process is bringing them back to Adam Smiths theory of the division of labor. Specialization and focusing on core competencies has companies outsourcing more and more non-core competencies to the experts. Click here to purchase. - $125 (USD)
February, 2004
The Practicalities of Offshore Outsourcing E-Commerce Sites
The ability to develop and maintain e-commerce websites with labor costing less than half that of US workers is enticing many organizations to consider sending that work to offshore outsourcers. Now that global competition is the game, it only makes sense to turn toward a global workforce. While the economics of outsourcing seem very attractive, keep in mind that having an offshore company perform the work introduces a number of new problem areas.
October, 2003