outsourcing

Features

• From IT to ET: Cloud, consumerisation, and the next wave of IT transformation

  IT as we know it is over.

• How to manage outsourcers after the contract's ink is dry

  When the global trade association SEMI experienced a big revenue decline last year and had to cut staff, CIO Gil McInnes turned to outsourcing.

• Outsourcing information security

  The need to keep information secure is not a recent development. To satisfy this need, most organisations construct a list of security requirements based on common sense. This has proven fairly effective with simple and well understood media such as pen and paper. As information management (and its security) has become more complex in nature, the likelihood of a gap in that common sense list of requirements has increased.

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  Outsourcing: Crippling Mistakes IT Departments Make

  Researchers at the University of Tennessee have studied a variety of outsourcing deals-from IT and back-office work to manufacturing and logistics-and identified the most common mistakes organizations make when partnering with an external provider.

• IT Outsourcing: Legal Mistakes That Can Cost You Big

  Good legal counsel can be worth every penny when putting together an outsourcing deal. But those legal fees can add up quickly if you're not careful. Worse yet, some common mistakes customers make when working with an outsourcing attorney can prove costly not only during contracting and negotiations but over the life of the deal.

• Offshoring? Try China and India plus a third site

  China may be rising as an offshoring destination, but many companies are outsourcing to multiple countries rather than just choosing between China and India.

• 10 Cultural Faux Pas You Should Never Make in India

  It's been 12 hours since your last bite to eat. Your stomach growls angrily as you meet the host who will take care of all your needs while you prepare to sign a big contract with his company. He takes you out to dinner at a nice restaurant--please tell me you didn't just order a steak!

• Cutting the Wrong Employees Can Kill A Business

  Retaining strategically important IT staff in a recession can provide an organisation with competitive advantage. Outsourcing selectively now is a good option, but retaining in house project management skills is the key for IT leaders when the economic climate improves.

• Cisco quietly downsizing through outsourcing

  When Cisco celebrated the fifth anniversary of its New England Development Center last year - a ceremony attended by Massachusetts Congresswoman Niki Tsongas and a representative from Gov. Deval Patrick’s office - the company was quietly preparing to move several jobs from there and other locations to contractors in India and elsewhere, mostly in the company's Network Management Technology Group (NMTG).

• What Outsourcers Can Learn from Open-Source Communities

  Perhaps your company's outsourcing efforts would go more smoothly if you picked up a few of these effective programming tools and methodologies from open-source developers.

• Where the US presidential candidates stand on tech issues

  The 2008 presidential election gives CIOs and other IT executives a choice of two major-party candidates who are interested in technology-related issues. While the US economy and the war in Iraq have dominated the debate between Republican nominee Senator John McCain and Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama, they have also hit on such IT hot buttons as telecommunications and tech jobs.

• Can outsourcers survive the economic storm?

  IT service spending might not feel drastic cuts as high-tech leaders look to shave dollars off their budgets, because outsourcers and service providers could help them contain costs and streamline operations, industry analysts say.

• Outmaneuver before you're outsourced

  If you work in data center operations, at the help desk of an IT call center, or as a programmer for an aging coding language like COBOL, it might be time to consider a new career path, according to a former Forrester Research analyst.