[clug] Interesting article

jm jeffm at ghostgun.com
Mon Jan 5 06:13:02 GMT 2009


I would say that the article contains too many blanket statments. You 
can out source IT, but you should do so only if;

* IT is NOT strategically important
* You are happy to trust thrird parties with you valuable data
* It is cheaper to get the required services from a third party than to DIY
* You can select and manage the third party to obtain the desired level 
of service at the desired cost

This means that it makes sense for a lot of small businesses. For the 
larger businesses or govt it typically is not true as IT becomes 
customised to compete better and the data becomes more of interest to 
third parties (think insider trading, espionage). The larger companies 
can out source sections (eg remote office support) but are unlikely to 
benefit from wholesale out sourcing. Look no further than this town to 
see (comical) examples of what can happen when this is thought to be a 
good idea.

I did have a good article about this somewhere from a couple of years 
ago - do you think I can find it.

Jeff.

Paul Wayper wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> Michael James wrote:
> | http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/01/02/it_trends_2009_fforecast/
> |
> | Quotes:
> |
> | IT becomes an increasingly throwaway business.
> | Forget complex processor technology or clever storage solutions.
> | Install massive redundancy of cheap commodity gear.
> |
> | Just about every major company funds a junkyard
> |  of application systems and technologies attached to them.
> | Depression-level economics will force line managers
> |  to actually take charge of this expense they unknowingly caused.
>
> I can't agree with some of the sentiment in the article.  Yes, of course
> outsourcers have been trying to sell their services to anyone that would
> listen.  But outsourcing is simply one level of cost added on and one 
> level of
> accountability taken away from any business.  They're harder to get 
> any work
> out of, they'll deliver what they think you want rather than what you 
> actually
> want, and when you try to do something about it all these lawyers and
> negotiators appear in the room.  As an employee I have much more 
> loyalty to
> the company or group I'm working for than their customers, or their 
> customers'
> customers, and while I expect myself to give good support to anyone in 
> that
> chain, if your employer says "you get paid per phone call" you learn 
> to hang
> up on people really quickly.
>


More information about the linux mailing list