Although popular wisdom maintains that outsourcing saves money, objective research and experience show that results are often not as positive or enduring as expected. IT Outsourcing & Offshoring explores the myths, economic realities and future trends of IT outsourcing and offshoring.

The program examines the various outsourcing, offshoring and insourcing options and their likely impact on the firm. Participants learn the benefits of the portfolio (or selective sourcing) approach, which advocates applying a combination of sourcing strategies to different IT and business processes based on their strategic importance. Participants are shown how to use sound contracts and service level reviews to optimize management of outsourced activities and ensure that promised benefits are delivered and maintained.

The final part of the program explores the future panorama of IT outsourcing and offshoring and how it is being shaped by increasingly common IT alliances and partnerships. Participants learn how to successfully employ tools and strategies of outsourcing governance to maximize the benefits of these new outsourcing arrangements.

Introduction: The history of outsourcing

• History of outsourcing
• Reasons for and against outsourcing/offshoring

The Industry: Key Players, Typical Arrangements and Outsourcing/Offshoring Trends

• Key players / key deals
• Typical arrangements
• Outsourcing/offshoring options
• Outsourcing/offshoring trends

The Realities of Outsourcing/Offshoring: The Myth of Efficiency

• Organization members initiate outsourcing evaluations for reasons other than cost efficiency
• An outsourcing supplier may not be inherently more efficient than an internal IT department
• An internal IT department might be able to achieve similar results without necessarily having to outsource
• If outsourcing is chosen, the contract is the only mechanism to ensure that expectations of both parties are realized
•  Outsourcing/offshoring experiences are far more complex and less successful than most believe

The IT Cost/Service Dilemma

• Changing the philosophical balance to meet senior management expectations
• Changing the balance to meet business unit manager expectations
• Changing the balance to meet end user expectations

Generic Strategies to Reduce IT Costs

• Strategies and results
• IT performance/adoption of best practices
• Economies of scale

The Experiences of Spanish Companies with Outsourcing/Offshoring

• Case examples of Spanish company experiences with outsourcing/offshoring

The Future of Outsourcing/Offshoring

• Growth of the IT sourcing market
• Focus on selective sourcing
• Growing number of supplier options and opportunities
• Tighter and shorter term contracts with multiple suppliers to ensure successful relationships
• Proliferation of IT alliances/partnerships

Outsourcing Governance

• Governance challenges and strategies
• Outsourcing governance tools
• Outsourcing governance market: Digital Fuel, Enlighta, Oblicore, and EquaTerra
  

Rudy Hirshheim
Ourso Family Distinguished Professor of Information Systems at the E.J. Ourso College of Business, Louisiana State University
Ph.D. in Information Systems, London School of Economics and
Political Science, University of London

Rudy Hirschheim has been a keynote speaker on outsourcing at conferences around the world, sponsored by organizations such as Gartner Group, DCI, COMPASS and KPMG. He has been widely quoted in prominent publications including The Wall Street Journal, CFO, Harvard Business Review, PC Week, MIS, I/S Analyzer, Computerworld, and the Sloan Management Review, among others. Prof. Hirschheim was also recently featured in a BBC television special on outsourcing in the United Kingdom.

Prof. Hirschheim has published three books on outsourcing, most recently Information Systems Outsourcing in the New Economy: Enduring Themes, Emergent Patterns and Future Direction. He has consulted on outsourcing issues for organizations including British Telecom, Inland Revenue, Compaq, Xerox, Shell, Deutsche Bank, and the World Bank, among many others.

Sandra Sieber
Associate Professor of Information Systems, IESE
Ph.D. in Management, IESE

Sandra Sieber's interests center on the interplay of strategic management and IS, as well as the role of new information and communication technologies (ICT) for organizational learning and innovation. She also has a keen interest in industries being transformed by recent technological advances, such as telecommunications, banking, media and entertainment. Prof. Sieber has published scholarly and general articles in national and international journals, magazines and newspapers, and has contributed to several books.

Josep Valor
Professor of Information Systems, IESE Business School
Ph.D. in Operations Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sc.D. in Medical Engineering, Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
Doctor of Industrial Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Josep Valor is associate dean for faculty and research and professor of IS and IT. His current research interests include the impact of ICTs on competitiveness and industry structure. As well as research published in the International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Knowledge and Process Management, Prof. Valor has recently published books on the information-telecommunications hyper-industry, and IS management. He is on the editorial board of Information and Management.

Evgeny Káganer
Assistant Professor of Information Systems, IESE
Ph.D. in Business Administration (IS), Louisiana State University

Evgeny Kaganer’s research interests focus on the institutional and social aspects of IT diffusion and use within and beyond organizations. He has also done extensive research and consulting in the area of healthcare IS. He worked as a research associate on a three-year project supported by a U.S. National Science Foundation grant that examined the implementation and impact of hospital-wide clinical IT applications in U.S. healthcare provider organizations. His work has been published in the European Journal of Information Systems and Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings.

This seminar is especially aimed at senior managers with IT responsibility; IT managers; IT and management consultants; and business unit managers.

For more information, please contact:

Mark Wuijten
Program Director
Executive Education
IESE Business School
mwuijten@iese.edu

Leila Vila
Client Services
Executive Education
lvila@iese.edu