The State of IT Outsourcing and Guidelines for Success

August, 2007

$45.00

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]