A tentative model for IT outsourcing

Outsourcing projects involve many stakeholders, including clients who transfer the operational responsibility of their business processes, and a vendor who accepts that responsibility. IT outsourcing applies when the transferred responsibilities are limited to IT-related processes. Outsourcing clients seek to leverage on potential efficiency provided by the vendor, whereby the vendor delivers the same intended business results at a cheaper cost. Vendors potentially achieve these efficiencies through better subject matter expertise and economies of scale. Clients outsource processes considered non-strategic while strategic processes are managed in-house. Once a client decides to outsource IT-related processes, the outsourcing strategy takes the form of one or more of five delivery models. This article portrays a proposed model for successful IT outsourcing. This model assists the outsourcing professional in navigating through the various steps of the outsourcing life span with a clearer awareness of likely causes and potential remedies applicable to the outsourcing strategy on any given outsourcing project.