IT outsourcing

Making outsourcing a success is a learning process that demands careful planning, commitment and lots of communication.

"Converting to an outside contractor requires strong leadership and a cohesive school board," said James A. Williams, former superintendent in Dayton, Ohio. "You need to define the objectives and process and be open and honest with everyone. It may take several years to see results, but the right outsourcing arrangement ultimately will benefit pupils, teachers and employees."

School systems are using contract services that include custodial care, facility maintenance, energy management, grounds keeping, food service, security, transportation, technology, computers and networks, laundry and linen, supply and equipment purchasing and accounting and billing.

existing employees has been a sore issue in some outsourcing contracts. Some contractors prefer to transfer school district support employees to the contract firm's payroll under a variety of arrangements. In some cases, employees are placed on the contractor s payroll immediately. In others, employees continue to be employed by the district but are replaced with contract workers when they retire or leave. Some contractors will offer to interview existing employees but will not guarantee they will be hired.

Outsourcing non-instructional support services, such as transportation, food or janitorial and maintenance services, is a management tool used by school boards nationwide, because it allows them to sharpen their focus on providing core educational services while simultaneously right-sizing the academic bureaucracy.

it is cost daving. Outsourcing has a great help.

Information systems outsourcing, or IS outsourcing, is the practice of turning over part or all of an organization’s IS functions to external service providers (Grover and Cheon, 1996). Common IS outsourcing practices include IT infrastructure outsourcing (servers, communication networks, etc), business process outsourcing (data entry, data process, etc), application development outsourcing, system integration outsourcing and so on.

The features of IS outsourcing include: (1) IS outsourcing implies that firms use external entities to manage internal information systems. The information systems of customers (usually non-IT firms) are the objects of outsourcing. (2) Information systems are man-machine systems, which are related to not only information technologies but also human activities. So IS outsourcing service providers need to understand both IT issues and the business processes of customers. (3) IS outsourcing is part of the informationization of firms. In order to align with the overall objective of IT departments, IS outsourcing should be carried out base on IT planning.


First, pay more attention to topics related to the social environments of IS outsourcing. During the past several years, information systems research has focused less on technology development and more on the social context in which information technologies are designed and used (Sidorova and Evangelopoulos et al., 2008). Firms have realized that we should rely on the combination of technology and management to solve problems. We can see that up to now IS outsourcing research results based on sociology are rare. In the future, IS outsourcing research could draw more on the theoretical foundations in sociology. For example, are there any unique characteristics of the IS outsourcing practices in the social environment of China? If so, why are things in China different from those in North America and Europe?

Second, attempt to study new IS outsourcing patterns. For example, SaaS (Software as a Service) is a new pattern of IS outsourcing that deserves deep research by academia. Possible research topics include: What industries and firms are more suitable to use SaaS? What are the critical success factors for SaaS?

Third, investigate the relationships and differences between IS outsourcing and outsourcing of other functions. At present firms outsource more and more other functions besides IS. For instance, commercial banks outsource the function of cash transportation to public security service companies, firms outsource the job of employee recruitment to consulting companies, and firms outsource logistics to third-party logistics companies. Possible future research questions include: what are the relationships and differences between IS outsourcing and outsourcing of other functions? Will they bring different influences to firms?


Advantages of Outsourcing Information Technology IT

Information Technology (IT) is a critical part of the business process that can require technical competence beyond the scope of the current management. In this case, a third party should manage the IT function.

Here are some of the reasons why outsourcing is a better choice for managing the IT department, rather than maintaining IT internally:


Advantages
- IT costs become more visible as all billable hours must be accounted for
- Outsourced services are utilized as needed, and organizations pay only for what services are actually used
- An outsourced IT department can reduce costs by utilizing its extensive knowledge base of various IT specialists, as opposed to an organization maintaining a comprehensive in-house staff



Outsourcing Benefits
- Outsourced companies make performance reports and measurements available to their clients
- Communications between business functions improve at all levels and ensure that IT resources are not being misused
- Outsourced companies can provide 24x7 support at a fraction of the cost
- Outsource staff tend to drive planning and budgeting improvements
- Service Level Agreements (SLAs) can be established



Staffing Benefits
- Staffing levels can be adapted quickly to client requirements, thereby avoiding gaps due to attrition, business growth or economic downturns
- IT consultants are fully trained on the latest technologies
- Retention of technically qualified in-house personnel is more difficult when external job opportunities are rapidly changing
- Continuous IT support coverage without having to rely on only one or two key people



Advantages Outsourcing
- Outsourced services use established standards for equipment and software requirements, saving time and money
- Outsourced services use approved lists of reliable vendors, which improves the quality of goods and services received

Client can Focus on Core Business Competencies
- Client management can concentrate on core competencies and revenue generating activities, while leaving technology management to IT professionals
- Management of non-essential core functions is transferred to the outsourcer.


In the case of USEP, IT outsourcing is pretty much helpful. Through advance technology everything is possible.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JSD/is_5_57/ai_77382343/
http://www.unameits.com/why_it/benefits_advantages_outsourcing_information_technology.jsp
http://www.pacis-net.org/file/2009/%5B57%5DA%20Survey%20and%20Analysis%20of%20the%20Literature%20on%20Information%20Systems%20Outsourcing.pdf
http://www.pacis-net.org/file/2009/%5B57%5DA%20Survey%20and%20Analysis%20of%20the%20Literature%20on%20Information%20Systems%20Outsourcing.pdf