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Balanced and collaborative outsourcing of IT services| A qualitative Delphi study of enterprise partnerships

<p> Large organizations continue to outsource information technology services as a method of cost-savings rather than knowledge acquisition. This prioritization leads to failed sourcing projects and increases in overhead expenses. The purpose of the study was to achieve a consensus in regard to an effective staffing balance and collaboration in information services outsourcing. The study canvassed an expert panel of 49 IT professionals in a 3-round Delphi study. This study provided understanding of the internal IT professionals&rsquo; relationship with domestic contractors and offshore resources. Information was gathered from IT professionals with experience working with external partners. The study explored procedures to enhance outsourcing models. This was completed by answering the research questions: (R1) what do IT professionals perceive is an appropriate balance of internal staff, domestic contractors, and offshore resources in a global organization? In addition, (R2) when collaborating with external support, what communication and collaboration techniques should be integrated into a sourcing strategy? A qualitative Delphi method was followed, and participant&rsquo;s responses were analyzed to achieve research findings. </p><p> Recommendations were to maintain a 50% to 70% staff of internal employees, have the domestic contract labor equal to offshore labor, and maintain open, frequent communication with external partners. Over-outsourcing passes too much knowledge to the external partner, reduces internal knowledge, and creates a dependency on the external firm. These issues can be overcome by increasing collaboration across firms. Project managers should closely monitor the performance of external teams. IT organizations should acquire external resources based upon skills first, and costs second. Management should integrate firms to ensure the parent organization retains critical knowledge.</p>

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3721947
Date22 August 2015
CreatorsCuvar, Kenneth M.
PublisherUniversity of Phoenix
Source SetsProQuest.com
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typethesis

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