Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 26
Information Systems
Outsourcing:
Risks and Benefits for Organizations
Ana André
Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal
Fernanda Sampaio
Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal
AbstrAct
Information Systems (IS) Outsourcing has emerged as a strategic option to be considered and has been
increasingly adopted by managers. However, many contracts still fail during their initial years, mean-
ing that Outsourcing has also been subject to strong criticism. There are advantages to Outsourcing
but also significant risks associated to it, and the assessment of both is therefore of great relevance
for informed decision-making. The objective of this chapter is to determine to what extent a common
view about risks and benefits associated to IS Outsourcing is shared by the Portuguese market players:
Service Providers, Clients and Opinion Makers. In order to accomplish this, an on-line Delphi study was
conducted, combined with the Q-sort technique, which allowed to obtain the perspective of each player
on the risks and benefits IS Outsourcing. Comparing these perspectives it was possible to understand
that the market players don't share the same point of view.
introduction
Outsourcing has emerged as a strategic option to
be considered and has been increasingly adopted
by managers.
The Outsourcing is “considered as one of the
effectiveness ways that organizations meet to
balance the equation of technology evolution,
costs reduction and service quality” (Maculuve &
Rodrigues, 2002). Organizations are transferring
a large amount of their IS functions to external
providers, from logistics to human resources, so
Driven by profit organizations are impelled to
stay competitive or they risk loosing market
share. Presented with an ever-changing business
environment, today's organizations continuously
look for more agile ways of working, capable
of increasing their ability to respond to market
demands. Therefore, Information Systems (IS)
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