The survey found that more than half of the 945
respondents identified "controlling/reducing operating costs or
improving efficiencies" as the greatest benefit expected from IT
outsourcing.
Fewer organisations focused their IT outsourcing initiatives on
accelerating or improving business outcomes, called enhancement
deals, or significantly improving or altering their
competitiveness, referred to as transformation deals.
But this emphasis has its own hidden costs.
"One of the great clashes in the market today is driven by the
dominant use of outsourcing to cut costs along with requirements
for customised services," said Allie Young, research vice president
for Gartner's Sourcing research group. "Only by foregoing
customisation and moving to standardised services can the market
effectively and reliably deliver the cost efficiency goals."
According to the survey, "achieve cost take-out" was identified
as the foremost driver of IT outsourcing, with large organisations
more frequently identifying this driver than smaller organisations.
Following cost take-out, respondents equally rated "achieve speed,
agility, flexibility" and "gain access to technical expertise and
skills" as leading drivers.
The survey found that the top two inhibitors to IT outsourcing
were data security or privacy issues and concerns about the
potentially high costs of outsourcing. Respondents also admitted to
concerns about holding onto their intellectual capital and the
business knowledge of key employees.
Ms Young advised firms to assess not only the goals they wished
to achieve from outsourcing, but also their concerns.
“This exercise not only will help in developing a sourcing
strategy, sourcing maxims and prioritisation of goals, but will
educate various constituents in the organisation about realistic
outcomes and possible false assumptions or misperceptions that it
holds about outsourcing," she said.
