Clients, Service Providers Find Production Access Significant Challenge When Transitioning ADM Operations

STAMFORD, Conn., April 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Information Services Group (ISG) (NASDAQ: III), a leading technology insights, market intelligence and advisory services company, today released findings showing that providing production access to offshore resources is the single largest challenge that customers and service providers encounter when transitioning application development & maintenance (ADM) operations.

"While essential to a successful ADM transition, production access is often overlooked and poorly managed during the transition process," said Jim Hussey, Global Head of the Transition Services for ISG. "As a result, the capabilities of the service provider are often compromised and the client becomes dissatisfied with the ADM initiative as well as with overall provider performance."

The findings on production access are based on the first meeting of the ISG Transition Council, a panel of more than 50 experts from clients and leading service providers established to identify key issues around sourcing transition and define best practices and strategies for improvement. The forum, held last month, featured case studies, open mic discussions and extensive polling.

Typical problems with production access during ADM transitions identified in the Council forum include a lack of adequate planning coupled with overly aggressive schedules and unrealistic targets for numbers of staff with access needs.

To address these challenges, the Council defined a set of best practices designed to improve pre-transition planning, ensure accuracy and accountability, enhance service provider involvement and better understand the implications of changes in proposed solutions. Click here for more information on the Council's findings.

"We often find that clients have not adequately considered their unique production access requirements," Vivek Kalra, Senior Vice President, Tech Mahindra. "Service providers face significant challenges to engage all relevant parties, so dialogue when contractual arrangements are being finalized is critical to ensure success. Knowing our processes are in line with the findings of the ISG Transition Council enables us to leverage the expertise of an objective and respected third party."

"ISG is at the forefront of technology industry for its deep technical knowledge base and innovative consulting-led solutions," said Anubhav Saxena, Vice President, Global Business Marketing, Strategy and Strategic Alliances, HCL Technologies. "The ISG Transition Council helps clients and service providers better understand the technical and organizational challenges that must be overcome to establish effective offshore production access. The findings are consistent with our experience and we believe organizations that follow these recommendations will benefit greatly."

Topics of future ISG Transition Council sessions will include service integration transition challenges, transitioning to the Cloud, the challenges of incumbent transitions and BPO transition initiation activities.

About Information Services Group

Information Services Group (ISG) (NASDAQ: III) is a leading technology insights, market intelligence and advisory services company, serving more than 500 clients around the world to help them achieve operational excellence. ISG supports private and public sector organizations to transform and optimize their operational environments through research, benchmarking, consulting and managed services, with a focus on information technology, business process transformation, program management services and enterprise resource planning. Clients look to ISG for unique insights and innovative solutions for leveraging technology, the deepest data source in the industry, and more than five decades of experience of global leadership in information and advisory services. Based in Stamford, Conn., the company has more than 700 employees and operates in 21 countries. For additional information, visit www.isg-one.com.

SOURCE Information Services Group