CIOs Need To Make Sure They Don’t Do Outsourcing The Wrong Way
We are now at the beginning of the 21st century and, despite all our knowledge about the importance information technology has on our lives, are we still discussing outsourcing? Yes. Anyone who holds the CIO position is capable of outsourcing difficult tasks. It is easy to do this wrong. There are many variables involved. We need guidance for CIOs to ensure that they outsource correctly.
It is easy to make mistakes when you outsource today
This outsourcing stuff wouldn’t be so difficult if it were as simple as choosing a few tasks that the IT department is currently performing and then giving them to another company to make them better (or cheaper). There’s more to outsourcing than that. The biggest problem that the CIO has faced is that the company they outsourced their tasks to was simply not capable. They were not able to perform their tasks due to the lack of skills and capacity at the company they were working with.
CIOs who are contemplating outsourcing may face a variety of other problems. The most common problem is the speed at which an outsourcing project moves. Outsourcing too fast can cause problems for both your company and the outsourcing company. It is important to ensure that the functions you outsource are correct. Many CIOs have found that outsourcing project management functions has not been the best decision.
Many CIOs are realizing that outsourcing cannot be managed in a “black box.” This happens when a function like IT help desk is outsourced. The company assumes that the customer doesn’t care who or where they are located, as long as the problem is solved. CIOs are realizing that this is incorrect. CIOs are discovering that companies want to control the customer relationship, from the sales rep to the support person. They also want the salesperson to know who is speaking with their customers.
How a CIO can Outsource
We can all agree there are many ways CIOs can do outsourcing wrong. The question is: What’s the best way? In the last few years, one of the most significant changes has been that CIOs are becoming more demanding about what their outsourcing vendors should deliver. CIOs need to spend time fine-tuning their outsourcing strategies.
Outsourcing IT functions can still save money. This means that a CIO will need to find hybrid solutions that are most beneficial to their company. You can still outsource the help desk function. Once it is outsourced, you should identify which member of the outsource team will support which customer. Next, you will need to connect that person with the rest of your offshore team who is already working on that customer. You will then have one team that interacts with customers.
Outsourcing might not be the best solution for all IT departments. For those who believe outsourcing is the best solution, it can be beneficial to create solutions that allow the outsourced staff to work alongside the rest of your team. You may need to create rules to allow outsources staff to be exempted from certain performance metrics required by other staff so they can support customers.
What Does All This Mean for You?
Whatever your perspective, outsourcing can be difficult for any CIO. This has been a long-standing practice and we’ve made mistakes in the past. We are still learning from our mistakes, and believe that we know the right way to do this.
CIOs made many mistakes with outsourcing in the past due to moving too fast and choosing the wrong company. CIOs are becoming more aware of outsourcing and are now able to build relationships with outsourced workers. These workers must then be part of an onshore team supporting a customer.
There is good news: everyone has become more knowledgeable about how to best outsource IT department tasks. CIOs must understand that outsourcing doesn’t mean “outside of sight, outside of mind”. It simply means that we will need to restructure the way we build our IT teams after we outsource IT functions. This is a must-do when you decide to outsource a part of your IT department. Then, watch what happens!
