InformationWeek Analytics New Research Shows Nearly a Third of Business Technology Professionals Have Fired an Outsourcing Partner in the Last 12 Months

SAN FRANCISCO, May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- InformationWeek Analytics today announced the release of its latest IT outsourcing research report. InformationWeek Analytics provides IT decision-makers with real-world perspective based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative research, business and technology assessment and planning tools, and technology adoption best practices gleaned from experience. The report author, Mike Healey is the president of Yeoman Technology Group, an engineering and research firm focused on maximizing technology investments for organizations.

Research Summary:

Outsourcing is a key part of every modern IT group, but is still an area in need of improvement. Twenty-nine percent of the 530 business technology professionals in the InformationWeek Analytics 2010 Outsourcing Survey have fired a vendor within the last 12 months.  The growth of cloud computing, outsourcing of high-end skills, and dissatisfaction with the results in some conventional outsourcing segments all point to the need for better outsourcing management. In this report, we identify outsourcing trends and management practices among organizations using outsourced services.

Findings:  

• Nearly 6 of 10 IT shops outsource some critical function—management, engineering or development. However, nearly one-fourth keep executive and management functions in-house but look to outsource everything else.

• With end user support and development of customer-facing applications, more than half of survey respondents say outsourcing has delivered lower quality.  However, cloud computing and SaaS get more favorable reviews, with the majority saying it has delivered better quality and 44% planning to expand use.

• Only 17% say they directly monitor the performance and uptime of all of their cloud and SaaS applications. A quarter monitor only mission-critical items and 59% rely on their vendors to monitor themselves.

• Cloud computing extends vendor relationships further than ever for some companies, and customers must stretch their management practices to cover it. According to business technology professionals, unforeseen costs, communication problems, and lack of industry expertise are three leading concerns to evaluate before selecting a partner.  

For full access to the research data, download now:  http://analytics.informationweek.com/abstract/13/2893/Outsourcing-Services/it-outsourcing-survey-2010-better-management-required.html

"By far the largest block of poll respondents, 35%, came from companies with 10,000 or more employees," says Lorna Garey, Content Director of InformationWeek Analytics. "These are the people on the front lines of outsourcing, and they presumably have good-size IT staffs. And yet well more than half don't directly monitor the performance and uptime of their cloud applications. But relying solely on the vendor for SLA monitoring is like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse."

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