Outsourcers: Improving Control, Reducing Risk & Driving Value

Download the Output Report from this Corporate IT Forum workshop focussing on outsourcing. The workshop was attended by 28 IT professionals from 20 organisations, including representatives from utility, publishing, government and retail organisations.

Outsourcing is now a core part of the IT strategy for most organisations, and the Corporate IT Forum members attending the Outsourcers workshop all had experience of outsourcing contracts in various ways.

Outsourcing of IT support, desktop support and infrastructure is relatively common, while an increasing number of organisations are now investing in outsourcing of e-commerce systems, hosting of data-centres, and software and application development, which is commonly outsourced offshore. Members have experience of a wide range of outsourcing providers, from Microsoft and HP to Cable & Wireless, Computacenter and Amazon.

However, this extensive experience does not mean that organisations do not still face enormous challenges around outsourcing. One of the most common issues raised by senior IT professionals is how to maintain and drive value from outsourcing when there are cost constraints in place. With budgets being slashed because of the recession, IT departments are looking for ways to achieve more with less.