Strategic Out-Tasking: Creating "win-win" outsourcing partnerships

  • Authors:
  • Karthik Krishnamurthy;David Jegen;Bill Brownell

  • Affiliations:
  • Cisco Systems India Private Limited, Bangalore, Karnataka 560 087, India;Devonshire Investors, Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA 02109, USA;Cisco Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA 95134, USA

  • Venue:
  • Information and Management
  • Year:
  • 2009

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Abstract

IT outsourcing is one of the most prevalent trends in business today. Yet traditional outsourcing models force tradeoffs by both the enterprise and its outsourcer. The former often compromise operational flexibility and innovation while the latter price deals to win, resulting in razor-thin margins and aggressive cost reduction. Strategic Out-Tasking can be seen as a ''win-win'' model that breaks the traditional, vicious cycle of negative compromise. Many visionary enterprises and leading outsourcers are embracing the guiding principles of a Strategic Out-Tasking model. From an operational perspective, this helps drive greater innovation within enterprises, yields higher outsourcer margins, and, more importantly, reduces partnership risk. We believe that Strategic Out-Tasking can, over the next few years, deliver $16 to $23 billion in industry bottom-line savings that enterprises and outsourcers can share.