ICT OUTSOURCING

ICT outsourcing

Abstract

Purpose - Today's global business is heavily dependent on information and communication technology (ICT). The reality for most organisations is that the rate of technology change has been extremely fast. To cope with these changes, some organisations are committing a large amount of resources. Such challenges make it difficult for some companies to invest in ICT, resulting in a need to re-think their business models. One such approach which has proved popular over the last few years is to outsource ICT. However, not all ICT outsourcing projects have been totally successful. The paper aims to explore various constructs in ICT outsourcing.Design/methodology/approach - The aim is achieved by conducting studies on 11 ICT outsourcing projects within the service sector.Findings - In future, customers will be looking for value-added services while focusing less on outsourcing as a cost-cutting exercise. There is also an added pressure on the customers and vendors to ensure that the original business case to justify outsourcing is robust.Research limitations/implications - The research is conducted with a limited sample of ICT outsourcing projects. For this reason, many of the conclusions in this paper are generalisations. Further research will need to be conducted in order for the lessons that emerge to be applicable across a wider business perspective.Originality/value - The paper takes a longer term perspective on the interface between customers and vendors in outsourcing projects. However, globally, this sector is very fluid and it is crucial that organisations understand the complexity of the relationships.

Table of contents

Abstract1

Table of contents2

Introduction3

Literature review5

ICT outsourcing6

Theoretical framework and data collection7

Creation of customer value8

People management10

Conclusions11

References12

ICT Outsourcing

Introduction

Information and communication technology (ICT) is a set of products offering data and value-added services including remote access, desktop management and public switched telephone networks (Ojiako, 2005). ICT plays a significant role in the global economy (Ojiako et al., 2005), and within organisations, it serves as a core intellectual component of the organisation's resilient infrastructure (Maguire and Ojiako, 2007). ICT also enables business transformation; supports re-design initiatives and also enable organisations to deliver flexible services in step with constantly changing customer demands (Maguire and Ojiako, 2008). This means that the ability of an organisation to link its business goals and ICT implementation goals is essential for the survival of majority of organisations (Maguire, 2002, 2004; Ojiako et al., 2004).

Over the last few years, there has been an increase in academic and business research on the perceived role of ICT and the role of ICT on business performance (Leek et al., 2003; Melville et al., 2004; Tallon, 2007). Primarily, this has been by organisations which have recognised that they lack the necessary competence and capabilities to leverage their ICT infrastructure (Pai and Basu, 2007). For most organisations seeking to leverage their technology competencies (Tippins and Sohi, 2003; Gonzalez-Alvarez and Nieto-Antolin, 2005), ICT outsourcing has continued to appear as an attractive option (Allen et al., 1998; Austin et al., 2001; Aubert and Croteau, 2005; Pai and Basu, 2007). Overall, the organisations should ensure that the ICT they develop is “market-led” otherwise ...