Control, Process Facilitation, and Requirements Change in Offshore Requirements Analysis: The Provider Perspective

Process, technology, and project factors have been increasingly driving organizations to offshore early software development phases, such as requirements analysis. This emerging trend necessitates greater control and process facilitation between client and vendor sites. The effectiveness of control and facilitation has, however, not been examined within the context of requirements analysis and change. In this study, we examine the role of control and facilitation in managing changing requirements and on success of requirements gathering in the Indian offshore software development environment. Firms found that control by client-site coordinators had a positive impact on requirements analysis success while vender site-coordinators did not have similar influence. Process facilitation by client site-coordinators affected requirements phase success indirectly through control. The study concludes with recommendations for research and practice

Narratives of an outsourced information systems failure in a small enterprise

In this study we investigate a case of an outsourced information systems (IS) failure (OISF) within the collaborative partnership among asymmetric partners. A small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) is dealing with an independent software vendor (ISV) conducting a project of implementing an IS that fails. We used a narrative research methodology for our enquiry. In the construction of our narrative we followed the OISF framework as a theoretical touchstone. As a major conclusion we found that asymmetric collaborations with partners with inadequate managerial and technical IT capabilities are extremely prone to OISF’s. We showed that an outcome-based and fixed price contract is not an adequate instrument to conduct such a partnership and to avoid a failure

Narratives of an outsourced information systems failure in a small enterprise

In this study we investigate a case of an outsourced information systems (IS) failure (OISF) within the collaborative partnership among asymmetric partners. A small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) is dealing with an independent software vendor (ISV) conducting a project of implementing an IS that fails. We used a narrative research methodology for our enquiry. In the construction of our narrative we followed the OISF framework as a theoretical touchstone. As a major conclusion we found that asymmetric collaborations with partners with inadequate managerial and technical IT capabilities are extremely prone to OISF’s. We showed that an outcome-based and fixed price contract is not an adequate instrument to conduct such a partnership and to avoid a failure

Improving outcomes in outsourced product development: a joint consultant-client perspective

Although firms increasingly outsource front end product development activities to production suppliers or design consultants, this practice has received little scholarly attention. The few existing academic studies report high failure rates but generally present only the client firms’ view of the causes. Our first results from in-depth interviews of both clients and consultants give a richer picture of enablers of success and causes of failure. We confirm some previous findings(internal divisions within the client, “poor communication” between parties),identify new ones (inadequate client capabilities, failure to transfer design intent), and combine them into a comprehensive model of outsourced product development that includes negotiating project scope, continuously managing expectations, and carefully re-integrating the design output into the client’s operations. Finally, we classify several types of client dependency (need for new ideas, extra capacity, or specific technical expertise) and highlight the particular hazards associated with each

Corporate decision-making in R&D outsourcing and the impact on internal R&D employment intensity

This article aims to assess whether firms’ strategies of R&D outsourcing determine changes in their internal R&D employment intensity. Four strategic decisions are investigated: to start, increase, decrease or stop outsourcing. It is found that internal R&D employment intensity decreases when firms decide to start, to increase, or to stop R&D outsourcing. However, this finding hides important differences according to the type and the location of the contractor. In general, firms prefer a mix of different types of contractors at different locations. Started outsourcing of R&D to research centers within the nation and increased R&D outsourcing to research centers within the region appear to decrease the internal R&D employment intensity. Decreasing outsourcing to national universities in another region also has a negative impact on internal R&D employment intensity. A corporate decision to stop R&D outsourcing to other firms within the nation but outside the region has a positive impact on the internal R&D employment intensity. The latter is the only effect that is not only statistically significant but is also substantial in magnitude

Supply Portfolio Concentration in Outsourced Knowledge-Based Services

In the extant vertical integration literature, the question of how the firm's portfolio of outsourced work is managed across suppliers has been relatively understudied. We seek to advance this area of research by examining factors that influence how concentrated the firm's outsourcing is among its set of suppliers. Using data on the outsourcing of patent legal services, we find empirical evidence that outsourced knowledge-based service work is concentrated in the hands of fewer suppliers when: (1) it requires greater firm-specific knowledge; (2) there is a higher level of interrelatedness across outsourced projects; (3) the firm's reliance on outsourcing is high; (4) its outsourced projects are focused on a narrower (capability) domain; and (5) the technological dynamism of this domain is low. Our study suggests that examining portfolio-level phenomena in outsourcing is a useful complement to the predominant focus on transaction-level outcomes in prior research because it provides insights into how firms manage tradeoffs across their entire set of outsourced projects.

Successful Management of an Outsourced Large-scale Digitization Newspaper Project

This article uses the case study of the Nevada Digital Newspaper Project (https://nvdnp.wordpress.com/), an extension of the National Digital Newspaper Program (https://www.loc.gov/ndnp/), to introduce proven strategies on how to successfully manage a large-scale digitization project. It provides tips on how to stay within the timeline and deliver products with outstanding quality, leveraging limited human resources, and engaging an external digitization vendor. It discusses practical project management techniques and tools, strategies for establishing collaborative vendor partnerships, and strategies for efficient communication with stakeholders

In a Highly Outsourced Environment, What are Companies Doing Around Staff Development or Their IT Workforce?

[Excerpt] IT skills are more necessary than ever for competitive strategic initiatives. With the rise of shadow IT (unauthorized IT within organizations) and the ever-increasing skills gap in the IT labor market, companies need to invest in training and developing their IT technicians’ skills, no matter where they sit. With IT workers being a large part of the contingent workforce, they are susceptible to becoming underdeveloped and often lack the skills required to succeed in their positions. Typically, organizations have been focused on hard skills, but soft skills have become a requirement for IT departments. In typical working arrangements, soft IT skills are learned through on the job experience. Experiences such as relevant training and mentoring mechanisms offer opportunities for IT professionals to develop and refine their soft and hard skills. However, in highly outsourced environments these skills are less likely to be developed. Furthermore, with the development of new and exciting fields such as cloud, AI, and blockchain, IT technicians must develop new, rare, and difficult skills. According to Gartner, 20% of companies will need to allocate 10% of their IT staff on AI-related projects by 2020. With very little available talent in this space, this need will be difficult to fill

Offshore outsourcing - A global shift in the present IT industry

The paper analyses the offshore outsourcing of IT services (OOIT), which have become increasingly important for the global IT industry. Through this rapid process of firm relocation, a new terminology has emerged, which forms the starting point for our paper. We compare wage cost differentials of IT workers in key offshore locations like India to those in the US and Europe, incorporating the hidden costs of offshoring - including long-term risks and opportunities - in order to determine the total cost of offshore outsourcing activities. The debate on the potential future negative employment impacts in the major OECD countries recently became a point of political contention in the US presidential election campaign, reflecting widespread fears in the US and elsewhere that outsourcing will lead to decreased income and job loss. In Europe, policy makers are searching for instruments to guide these developments so that major social disruptions do not lead to disproportionately negative welfare impacts in the short term. The future costs and benefits of outsourcing can currently be assessed only in broad terms due to the lack of adequate data and representative statistics. However, the theory of comparative advantages suggests that overall, offshoring and inshoring countries will gain from the new international division of labour in the long run. --offshore outsourcing of IT,international factor movements and labour markets,international business,multinational firms