Cutter Consortium: Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Watch Out! Most Outsourcing Involves PII

17 Jun 2009 20:00:12 GMT

Herold, Rebecca | E-Mail Advisors | 17 June 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Personally identifiable information (PII) plays a key role and is involved within many business processes. PII is stored in an extremely large number of corporate systems and data storage repositories. Because of all the business processes and storage locations, every decision to outsource a business process or business activity may involve access to PII, or the transfer of PII from the organization to a third party, and possibly even subcontracted parties.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090617.html

Why Vendor Management Is an Oxymoron

3 Jun 2009 16:17:24 GMT

Andriole, Stephen J. | E-Mail Advisors | 03 June 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

In the world in which we live, a world that changes almost daily, there are truths and untruths. There's hype, and there's reality. There are technologies that work, and there are technologies that stay forever in the trough of disillusionment. There are subtleties and nuances. There are smart people and nasty people. Let's look at one of the perceptual anomalies of our world or, if you prefer, a dirty little secret. Vendor management.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090603.html

For Hybrid Clouds, Fog of Confusion Is Burning Away

28 May 2009 16:05:28 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 28 May 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships; Enterprise Architecture

Most of the attention being paid to cloud computing has focused on public cloud providers, such as Amazon and Google, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendors, such as Salesforce.com. However, based on my research, including feedback I've received from readers, I believe that the future of corporate IT, especially when it comes to larger companies, will be based on "hybrid clouds" -- those employing both public and private clouds to meet business goals.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2009/btt090528.html

Retendering an Outsourcing Contract: Attracting New Entrants

20 May 2009 15:44:02 GMT

Cullen, Sara | E-Mail Advisors | 20 May 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Many client organizations nearing the end of an outsourcing contract start to consider whether they should retender the deal. Yet for most, these deliberations are largely about whether or not to do so; very few go beyond the simple yes/no proposition to consider the "how." This is important because the odds are stacked against new entrants (bidders other than the incumbent provider) unless your organization does something about it, and your organization risks expending time and resources on what ends up being a pointless exercise.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090520.html

Sourcing Criteria for SaaS

20 May 2009 15:38:57 GMT

Gangadharan, G.R. | Executive Updates | 20 May 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Traditionally, software has been perceived as a product, requiring possession and ownership in order to receive the desired performance. The transition from software as a product to software as a service (SaaS) is reflected in the distribution of software, where an application is offered as a service to customers through the Internet. The SaaS approach can be viewed as a combination of application service provision and outsourcing.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/updates/2009/srcu0905.html

On-Demand, Cloud-Based BI and Data Warehousing: Prime-Time Players in a Down Economy or Over-Hyped Technologies?

12 May 2009 15:19:15 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 12 May 2009 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships; Business Intelligence

Organizations today may choose from a broad range of on-demand and "cloud-based" BI and data warehousing options, ranging from reporting, dashboards, and focused analytic applications (offered as licensable services) to hosted data integration services and full-blown managed data warehouses. These on-demand providers hope to benefit from a down economy by offering organizations a way to forgo having to implement costly data warehousing and BI applications inhouse, in effect offering to "rent" them a "solution" to help with their data integration, data management, and reporting and analysis needs.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090512.html

Security Is Only As Good As the Weakest Link

6 May 2009 16:02:28 GMT

Christie, Scott S. | E-Mail Advisors | 06 May 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

It started innocently enough. A US educational institution (which we shall call WhoU) was looking to update and standardize the PII of current and former students in its electronic database and upgrade its software to automate much of this process on a going-forward basis.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090506.html

Design Your Next Contract to Go Beyond "Cheaper"

22 Apr 2009 15:39:10 GMT

Cullen, Sara | E-Mail Advisors | 22 April 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

As so many clients have told me, the number one thing they would do differently if they could start over would be to design their contracts better -- not from a legal point of view, but from the business perspective. In the current economic climate, the business perspective will have a heavy financial emphasis; thus, it is worth exploring how you might go about measuring a bit more than just "cheaper" from a financial perspective.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090422.html

Hadoop, MapReduce, Cloudera, EC2, and BI

14 Apr 2009 14:58:16 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 14 April 2009 | Business Intelligence; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Recent developments have brought together parallel processing and cloud computing technologies in such a way that they are set to change the way organizations look at analyzing massive amounts of data. In fact, I believe that these developments hold the promise of ushering in a new era in high-end, affordable data analysis. And the cool thing about it is that this era isn't a few years "down the road"; it's here, now. I'm referring to the commercialization of the open source Hadoop and MapReduce distributed processing framework, Amazon's cloud-based version of these tools -- now available on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) platform for anyone to rent -- and the rise of new startups, such as Cloudera, to help businesses apply these tools to data mining and other enterprise BI applications.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090414.html

What's at the Intersection of Agile and Offshore?

8 Apr 2009 13:19:10 GMT

Cottmeyer, Mike | E-Mail Advisors | 08 April 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships; Agile Project Management

Companies today are trying to lower costs and increase staffing flexibility by taking some, or even all, of their development activities overseas. Many of these same organizations have teams that are using agile development practices to increase quality and improve project performance. What happens when these two trends in our industry intersect?

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090408.html

IT Outsourcing: Building Requirements

7 Mar 2009 13:13:44 GMT

Sánchez Ferreiro, Rafael | Executive Updates | 07 April 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Once a decision has been made to outsource one or more IT services -- to reduce costs, improve service quality, provide adequate technical support, or for other previously identified reasons and always as an integral part of the business plan -- it is crucial to clearly delineate the requirements that will shape the depth and responsibilities of the contract. To do that, it is useful to establish a baseline for the initial conditions under which the service is provided.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/updates/2009/srcu0904.html

Open Source BI in the Cloud: A Look at Pentaho 3.0

31 Mar 2009 13:08:49 GMT

Hall, Curt | E-Mail Advisors | 31 March 2009 | Business Intelligence; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

In a recent BI Executive Update (see "Open Source BI and Data Warehousing: New Directions," Vol. 9, No. 2), I discussed the possible impact on the BI market caused by end-user organizations adopting open source BI tools. Basically, I wrote that the commercial BI vendors are also offering alternatives to standard software licenses for BI products. The most important are BI tools, applications, and services in the form of software as a service (SaaS) or on-demand (i.e., so-called "cloud-based") BI offerings. In short, I wrote that some end-user organizations are undoubtedly going to consider SaaS/on-demand BI offerings in place of open source BI software in order to take advantage of the benefits afforded by the on-demand model. I added that, in some sense, SaaS/on-demand BI could be seen as a competitor to the appeal of open source BI. But what about giving end-user organizations the choice of deploying open source BI applications in the cloud? That's exactly what open source BI vendor Pentaho is offering.

http://www.cutter.com/content/bia/fulltext/advisor/2009/bia090331.html

Choose Your Organization's Negotiating Stance

25 Mar 2009 14:28:40 GMT

Cohen, Moshe | E-Mail Advisors | 25 March 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

You can measure the effectiveness of your IT sourcing professionals by the prices and terms they get from their vendors, by the quality of the products and services they obtain, by their ability to develop relationships and integrate your company's objectives into their vendors' actions, by the time it takes them to close deals, by the wisdom of their choices as to what vendors to consider, and more. Much of the choice of criteria depends on your time orientation and the balance between long-term value creation and short-term value distribution based on price. In this Advisor, we'll look at the choices you have in your approach to negotiations and what each means to your buyers.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090325.html

Cost-Saving Sourcing Initiatives Revisited: Yesterday's Learning Applied to Today's Cost-Cutting Goals

12 Mar 2009 19:54:28 GMT

Berry, John | Executive Updates | 12 March 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

In the past couple of years, organizations have sought sourcing value beyond cost savings. Access to talent and business process innovation are two examples of these more strategic aspirations. Yet, as the economy goes, so go sourcing priorities. Cost-saving sourcing projects are likely the highest priority again this year. While saving money proved elusive for some organizations in the past, those disappointing efforts arm managers today with a deeper understanding of the levers influencing sourcing costs, increasing the likelihood of success.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/updates/2009/srcu0903.html

IT Trends Show 25% Hiring, Outsourcing on Rise

11 Mar 2009 19:53:35 GMT

van Tyn, Jeroen | E-Mail Advisors | 11 March 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Staffing has taken an expected hit, according to our recent research on IT trends for 2009.1 While still about half of companies thankfully remain in a stable IT hiring situation, only a quarter of companies are currently hiring, and the remaining 25% are downsizing. In parallel with this movement, we found that project management as a hiring category has dropped by nearly half, indicating fewer IT projects are being undertaken. Outsourcing has continued an upward trend; overall, 22% more companies are outsourcing now as compared to 2007. Companies continue to use nonemployees to provide needed skills while preserving the ability to quickly shed staff as a cost-savings strategy.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090311.html

Get a Clear View of Clouds, and Then Venture into Them

4 Mar 2009 19:39:09 GMT

Murugesan, San | E-Mail Advisors | 04 March 2009 | Cutter IT Journal; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Like electrical service, computing has become a utility. You can draw on your required computing resources -- hardware, software, storage, applications, and infrastructure -- when and where you need them and in the amount you need. Known as cloud computing, this new model of computing allows users to access programs, applications, and other computing resources through the Internet, even from a thin client, which may be a desktop PC, or a mobile device such as a smartphone or a laptop. Of course, cloud computing has limitations, presents risks, and raises concerns, and all these need to be addressed satisfactorily. The recent outages of some popular cloud applications and services instruct us to carefully consider the pros and cons of adopting cloud-based applications and services.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090304.html

Key Activities of the Outsourcing Lifecycle: Part I

1 Feb 2009 14:15:12 GMT

Cullen, Sara | Executive Reports | 01 February 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Getting outsourcing wrong can seriously disable any business. On the upside, the accumulated evidence demonstrates that outsourcing, when properly planned, resourced, and accomplished, can deliver significant strategic advantage to firms and governments in every sector. To help you understand the successful outsourcing journey, this year we present a series of four Executive Reports by Dr. Sara Cullen that detail the outsourcing lifecycle. This 2009 series is based on a detailed understanding of the experiences of 107 organizations and is the most thorough description of the outsourcing process in the literature to date.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/reports/2009/01/index.html

IT Services Sourcing: Business vs. Technological Decision

26 Feb 2009 14:05:26 GMT

Sánchez Ferreiro, Rafael | Executive Updates | 26 February 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Performing some IT and communications tasks through internal or external means is not a technological decision; in fact, it is one that focuses on business, and it needs to be framed within the company's general organizational strategy. The reasons that a CIO confronts this dilemma can vary, but they usually involve company pressure to reduce costs, concern for fighting hardware obsolescence, and an intention to reduce the organizational structure. However, there is much more.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/updates/2009/srcu0902.html

Staffing Trends 2009

25 Feb 2009 14:04:38 GMT

Adams, Dennis A. | E-Mail Advisors | 25 February 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

The first part of my analysis of this year's IT trends data from a recent Cutter survey1 focuses on the labor within the IT organization, specifically issues associated with outsourcing and with staffing levels. We posed a general question to our respondents asking them to describe their current IT staffing situation. In 2008, the most common response from 46% of the respondents was that their company was currently hiring IT people. This year, however, only 25% of respondents indicate that the company is hiring. In 2008, 10% of respondents indicated that the company was currently downsizing. We compare that to this year's responses, which indicate that fully one-quarter of respondents say their company is downsizing. The good news is that this year half of the respondents indicate that the staffing situation is stable. We step back from this result to see the effect that the economic slowdown has already had in the last quarter of 2008 on projections for 2009. We have no reason to expect that this trend will improve substantially during the coming year. IT organizations will be forced to do the same or more work with fewer people.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090225.html

Only if You Must: Outsourcing Strategic Agile Projects

11 Feb 2009 22:06:27 GMT

Coldewey, Jens | E-Mail Advisors | 11 February 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Before I start to lay out an appropriate outsourcing strategy for agile projects, here is one major piece of advice: If you have the choice, don't do it!

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090211.html

Webinar: How SaaS Trends Impact You - Register Today

24 Feb 2009 13:43:05 GMT

Kaplan, Jeffrey M. | Events | 24 February 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Over the past few months, Cutter Senior Consultant Jeff Kaplan has been analyzing the results of our 4th annual survey on charting the growth of the software-as-a-service market. This year, the data has uncovered a new round of important market trends that have implications to IT and business decision makers. Jeff Kaplan’s been analyzing some of the data in recent Business Technology Trends & Impacts Updates. But in this webinar, he takes it a step further by revealing even more findings, and -- more importantly -- he will answer your questions about the impact these trends may have on your sourcing strategy.

http://www.cutter.com/events/multimedia/saastrends.html

An Evolutionary State in Offshoring Management: The Strategic Center of Excellence

28 Jan 2009 19:07:53 GMT

Berry, John | E-Mail Advisors | 28 January 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

A center of excellence (COE) is not a new concept in business management. Even in offshoring, the creation of IT development centers to more effectively coordinate the application development work of distant service providers is a well-established type of COE. Yet the COE concept in offshoring has matured from its development center roots, taking on a more strategic aspect. The features of the evolved offshoring COE that offer value to managers are worth exploring for what they say about the evolution of offshoring as a management discipline.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090128.html

Debriefing the Losing Bidder: An Investment in Future Success

14 Jan 2009 16:15:03 GMT

Cullen, Sara | E-Mail Advisors | 14 January 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

This Advisor looks at debriefing the unsuccessful bidders after a competitive bidding process has closed. This is often treated as an optional process -- and is usually one to be avoided. However, if done well, with the right intent, it is a valuable exercise for all, and can also create support for your future bidding opportunities.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2009/src090114.html

Some Less Obvious Factors Curtailing Cloud Computing Progress

14 Jan 2009 16:08:40 GMT

Cohen, Pini | E-Mail Advisors | 14 January 2009 | Cutter IT Journal; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Cloud computing is a prominent concept in the IT technology world. Cloud computing and software as a service (SaaS) promise fast return on investment, agility, improved scalability, availability, and more.

http://www.cutter.com/content/itjournal/fulltext/advisor/2009/itj090114.html

Core Competencies for Outsourcing Lifecycle: Part II

14 Jan 2009 16:06:49 GMT

Cullen, Sara | Executive Updates | 14 January 2009 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Part I of this two-part Executive Update series took you through the core competencies of the first phase of the outsourcing lifecycle: the architect phase.1 The architect phase is where the deal is put together in a strategic sense, cumulating in the detailed contract, the contract management strategy, and the contract scorecard. Here in Part II, we address the remaining three phases of the lifecycle: engage, operate, and regenerate.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/updates/2009/srcu0901.html

Think Boldly in Times of Economic Change

31 Dec 2008 15:44:01 GMT

Orr, Ken | E-Mail Advisors | 31 December 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

In bad times, there is a tendency to draw inward, to look out for yourself, and to protect what you and yours (family, company, department) has. But this is also a time to think boldly. In good or even middling times, there is a tendency to focus on the present and put things off -- if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But, clearly, things are broke, so now is the time to fix them. Bad times like these add a sense of urgency to everything. In better times, projects that we know have to be done are often postponed because they are likely to require some sacrifices. But in dire times like these, sacrifice is the order of the day. There is something about bad times that draws everyone together.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2008/src081231.html

Fine-Tuning Your Sourcing Strategy

31 Dec 2008 14:20:17 GMT

Dooley, Brian J. | Executive Updates | 31 December 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

As the IT outsourcing environment continues to evolve, new demands are being placed on management to improve and refine sourcing policies and governance. During the past several years, there has been a steady move from contracts managing large facilities aimed at cost reduction toward smaller contracts that focus on providing expertise and efficiency around noncore processes of the business. Companies are more likely to consider multivendor contracts in IT, and strategies may include using vendors operating anywhere on the globe. The consequences are making outsourcing more complex and adequate management increasingly vital. This also comes at a time of increased focus on transparency, control, and efficiency in meeting an increased need to watch costs in turbulent economic times.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/updates/2008/srcu0812.html

Recently Added

29 Dec 2008 19:28:13 GMT

The Technology Five-Step: Why You Need to Do the Strategy, Architecture, Delivery, Organization, and Efficiency Dance -- Now by Stephen J. Andriole
Radical Delivery: How the Extreme Gets to Normal in 10 Steps by Stephen J. Andriole
Managing Offshore Development: From Requirements Analysis to Customer Support by Stacey Berlow
Bargaining Power in the Outsourcing Lifecycle by Sara Cullen
SaaS Market Surging by Jeffrey M. Kaplan

The Effect of Recession on Outsourcing Webinar

17 Dec 2008 19:14:42 GMT

Cullen, Sara | Webinars/Multimedia | 17 December 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

In this 40-minute webinar, Cutter Senior Consultant Sara Cullen will look at the current state of outsourcing and how a recession may change the outsourcing landscape both current and future contracts as well as the provider market. Sara Cullen’s 20 years of hands-on, global experience supporting organizations in countries experiencing an economic slump gives her unique insight into the effect recession has on outsourcing. She will explore some predictions, the types of contracts likely to become more common, and the long-term implications.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/webinar/2008/recessionsourcing.html

SaaS Marketplace Is Changing Rapidly

17 Dec 2008 19:12:27 GMT

Kaplan, Jeffrey M. | E-Mail Advisors | 17 December 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Because nearly every organization has become heavily dependent on technology and many organizations have been dissatisfied with the ROI of their IT operations, they are looking for new ways to acquire and administer their IT systems and business applications.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2008/src081217.html

Trends and Anti-Trends for 2009

11 Dec 2008 14:45:42 GMT

Kellen, Vince | E-Mail Advisors | 11 December 2008 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Business Intelligence; Enterprise Architecture; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships; Business-IT Strategies

With 2009 looming large, ugly, and just around the corner, it's time for the obligatory prognostications. Boy, is this difficult.... Hmmm. What will next year bring? Any wild guesses?

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2008/btt081211.html

Applying Tough Love to Alternative Delivery Models

3 Dec 2008 17:03:57 GMT

Andriole, Stephen J. | E-Mail Advisors | 03 December 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Everyone has a perspective about return on investment (ROI). Lots of calculations, models, and algorithms allegedly precisely measure the impact of alternative technology investments. There is strategic ROI and tactical ROI; there is "soft" ROI and "hard" ROI. There are as many ROIs out there as there are RBIs in the major league. What do we make of the ROI smorgasbord? Let's look at the targets of our ROI analyses -- rather than the methods, tools, and techniques. In other words, let's ask the tough questions.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2008/src081203.html

Core Competencies for Outsourcing Lifecycle: Part I

1 Dec 2008 16:44:57 GMT

Cullen, Sara | Executive Updates | 01 December 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Many people treat outsourcing as a task, something that most people can do in addition to their "real job." But once you look at the entire process required for an outsourcing lifecycle, you will see that there are a number of competencies required if you want the entire deal -- from womb to tomb -- to be a success. This two-part Executive Update series addresses core competencies.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/updates/2008/srcu0811.html

Summit 2009 | Interact with the Experts in IT

24 Nov 2008 17:07:29 GMT

Summit 2009: 4-6 May 2009 Cutter Consortium | Events | 04-06 May 2009 |
Now, More Than Ever ...
IT is being challenged to scrutinize every expenditure and make sure that every dollar is invested -- not just spent -- on high ROI efforts. Summit 2009 is one of those high-value items. Join us at Summit 2009 and explore the issues and strategies you should be considering to ensure you’re maximizing today's return and keeping ahead of the competition.

Summit 2009: Unlike Any Other IT Conference.
You'll get advice that is insightful and forthcoming. You'll have a chance to voice your opinion and hear the opinions of international experts and of other IT professionals. You’ll debate with, and listen to the debate among, some of the most experienced and clear-thinking business technologists today. And you'll return home with ideas to implement right away. Our only agenda is to support you, to give you a forum for thinking about your business world, outside of the box. Don't miss this opportunity.

Register today and save $200.00!

http://www.cutter.com/summit/2009.html

Gain the Upper Hand in Early Stages of Outsourcing Deals

19 Nov 2008 17:00:44 GMT

Cullen, Sara | E-Mail Advisors | 19 November 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

There are many buyers and sellers of outsourcing services in the developed countries. Buyers have choices with whom to buy and under what conditions. Sellers are free to choose their clients and what to charge. However, once a contract is signed, your choices become quite limited; thus, you want to make sure you have built up your power to the highest possible point before it begins to erode. In this Advisor, we'll examine the phases of the lifecycle in which power is building. An upcoming Advisor will look at the waning end of the lifecycle.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2008/src081119.html

Building the Better Buyer: Transforming New Buyers into Effective IT Sourcing Professionals

1 Nov 2008 16:52:40 GMT

Cohen, Moshe | Executive Reports | 01 November 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

New buyers often come into an IT organization right out of school with neither the vision, the skills, nor the confidence to do their jobs well. Some thrive, some survive, and some drop out, but for many the path they wind up taking from newcomer to successful IT sourcing professional could have been more systematic, supportive, and effective. This Executive Report by Moshe Cohen discusses approaches and systems you can implement to help new IT sourcing professionals more quickly and efficiently become the seasoned professional you desire. The report focuses on leadership, mentoring, coaching, training, and on-the-job experiences.

http://www.cutter.com/sourcing/fulltext/reports/2008/04/index.html

Assessment Is Key to Successful Build or Buy Decision-Making

5 Nov 2008 14:23:40 GMT

Andriole, Stephen J. | E-Mail Advisors | 05 November 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Many of the major trends occurring in the industry are related to technology delivery through alternative forms of outsourcing. Alternative delivery models are all the rage. Software as a service (SaaS), hardware as a service (HaaS), storage as a service, and communications as a service all have a familiar on-demand/pay-by-the-drink ring. Assessments here are especially critical to optimization since these (and other) technology delivery models can save money and make money for organizations if deployed prudently.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2008/src081105.html

Crowdsourcing: When Does a Crowd do a Better Job?

22 Oct 2008 15:50:39 GMT

Di Maio, Paola | E-Mail Advisors | 22 October 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Collective Intelligence (CI) is an emergent, pervasive, and very complex phenomenon resulting from the interaction of all the other existing social and technological advances currently taking place. One of the most popular applications of collective intelligence is crowdsourcing, described by Jeff Howe, a Wired contributing editor, as "everyday people using their spare cycles to create content, solve problems, even do corporate R&D" [1].

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2008/src081022.html

Redefining IT Management for Outsourcing: Operation

20 Oct 2008 15:28:23 GMT

Funes Cervantes, Alfredo | Executive Updates | 20 October 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Consider this scenario: I arrive at an organization that operates under an outsourcing model. The company has moved beyond the feasibility analysis and the implementation phases. I now need to optimize, streamline, and improve the current model. Where do I start? This situation is not the optimum, but it is the most common.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/updates/2008/srcu0810.html

Want Innovation? Offshore It

16 Oct 2008 16:58:16 GMT

Berry, John | E-Mail Advisors | 16 October 2008 | Innovation; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

A funny thing is happening along the path of innovation for some companies. They are discovering their product development strategy is seriously endangered by a shortage of qualified technical staff. So they have responded with an obvious solution: offshoring it.

http://www.cutter.com/content/innovation/fulltext/advisor/2008/iea081016.html

Redefine Dispute Resolution by Reframing How You View It

8 Oct 2008 15:08:20 GMT

Zucker, William A. | E-Mail Advisors | 08 October 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

We need to rethink dispute resolution. It has matured in concept and approach so that it becomes not just a useful tool in managing conflict by problem solving but a vehicle for creative collaboration. We might want to start by renaming it, because what we call it influences our perceptions of its uses. Those who want to use it as a fundamental part of any relationship management need to think of it as consensus building or perhaps creative conflict.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2008/src081008.html

What Makes Customers More Likely to Adopt SaaS?

24 Sep 2008 14:22:06 GMT

Xin, Mingdi | E-Mail Advisors | 24 September 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is more than simply an application-hosting model. It is an integrated service that involves implementation, hosting, and ongoing maintenance services. In addition, the technical architecture of the SaaS model constrains clients' options for customizing the application at the core level of the application (e.g., changes in data schema). Customers also have less control over the changes that are made to the application by the vendor throughout its lifecycle. This means clients have to consider their requirements for all these phases of software service delivery while evaluating the SaaS model for their business software applications. In contrast, in traditional adoption of packaged software, clients can choose how to implement the package and later decide on where to host their instance of the package.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2008/src080924.html

How to Deal with Strategic Software

18 Sep 2008 14:12:24 GMT

Coldewey, Jens | E-Mail Advisors | 18 September 2008 | Agile Project Management; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Recently, the CIO of a non-IT company approached me to help him transform his organization to agile. "We have this tool that provides a real competitive advantage to our domain experts and our clients, but now success haunts us. Our users are frustrated by the slow reaction times, my team is frustrated by the workload, and we have decided to turn to agile to help with these problems." This sounded fair to me. I asked some probing questions about the business situation, and the answers seemed pretty consistent.

http://www.cutter.com/content/project/fulltext/advisor/2008/apm080918.html

What $4 per Gallon Gasoline Means to Your Company

18 Sep 2008 14:11:02 GMT

Mah, Michael C. | E-Mail Advisors | 18 September 2008 | Business Technology Trends & Impacts; Agile Project Management; Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Recently, I had a conversation with a senior VP of software engineering who said that certain "macroeconomic trends" were going to influence the direction of his software development strategy. Reading between the lines: the CFO was going to cut budgets in the face of the current economic downturn.

http://www.cutter.com/content/trends/fulltext/advisor/2008/btt080918.html

Show 'n' Tell: Managing Requirements in Offshore Development

10 Sep 2008 13:44:54 GMT

Berlow, Stacy | E-Mail Advisors | 10 September 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Compared to home-location development teams that may be colocated with domain experts and business champions, software developers at the (offshore) work location are not likely to be familiar with your business. They are learning the details of the business as they code up the application. Even with well-written requirements documentation, don't assume that the team will understand what should be built. Furthermore, intricate business rules and relationships among data elements can be particularly hard to convey.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2008/src080910.html

Redefining IT Management for Outsourcing: Implementation

1 Sep 2008 13:39:46 GMT

Funes Cervantes, Alfredo | Executive Updates | 01 September 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

This Executive Update is about implementing outsourcing. We will discuss the analysis of the situation we intend to outsource, the enforcement of service-level agreements (SLAs) and operation-level agreements (OLAs) between areas, the contractual aspects that shelter us, and the development of requests for information (RFIs) as well as the preparation of requests for proposal (RFPs). Finally, related to implementation is an element frequently forgotten: the possibility to reconsider the current internal organizational structure.

http://www.cutter.com/sourcing/fulltext/updates/2008/srcu0809.html

Sourcing Methods: Philosophy and Practice

1 Aug 2008 14:09:00 GMT

Unhelkar, Bhuvan | Executive Reports | 01 August 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

This Executive Report by Bhuvan Unhelkar discusses sourcing as a formal business strategy that enables organizations to focus on their core competencies and alleviates pressure to carry out all of their business activities themselves. The philosophical background of sourcing, which is the existence of economic entropies and the global communications capabilities to transcend the walls dividing those entropies, is underscored. The report also places the challenges and advantages of sourcing in a practical context, provides a process for executing smart sourcing strategies, and examines their cross-domain impacts.

http://www.cutter.com/sourcing/fulltext/reports/2008/03/index.html

Scheduling Meetings When Far-Flung Time Zones Cramp Styles

27 Aug 2008 17:41:10 GMT

Berlow, Stacy | E-Mail Advisors | 27 August 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

While it can be very personally rewarding to learn about other cultures and interact with people from different places, from a project management perspective, these factors must be thought of as risks that should be actively mitigated and monitored. The business impact leads to, as a general rule, increased costs and schedule or product delivery delays.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2008/src080827.html

Redefining IT Management for Outsourcing: Feasibility Analysis

1 Aug 2008 19:14:07 GMT

Funes Cervantes, Alfredo | Executive Updates | 01 August 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Beyond all doubt, the trend to outsource functions developed inside an enterprise or a government agency is at its peak. This phenomenon is not limited to IT; it's under consideration in several areas of an organization. Although outsourcing is a very appealing concept, it is essential for a company to be properly prepared for this kind of change.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/updates/2008/srcu0808.html

How to Organize Your BI When Outsourcing

13 Aug 2008 19:27:09 GMT

Choros, Patryk | E-Mail Advisors | 13 August 2008 | Sourcing & Vendor Relationships

Companies seek to concentrate on their value-adding processes and often consider IT infrastructure as a noncore area. Thus, a current trend in the organization of IT departments is outsourcing. When outsourcing, companies aim to reduce cost while getting a better grasp on service-level agreements (SLAs). However, IT -- especially business intelligence (BI) systems -- is becoming a key element for enabling agility in enterprise adaptation to changes in the business environment. This poses a serious challenge to traditional IT outsourcing contracts.

http://www.cutter.com/content/sourcing/fulltext/advisor/2008/src080813.html