available personnel, as they can be expected to.
have more specialists on their payroll. A company.
may not be able to locate or afford someone with a.
highly specialized functional skill set. Some of.
these skill sets might include capacity planning,.
programming in obscure languages, and the.
maintenance of obscure or obsolete operating.
systems, hardware, and program products. While it.
would be impractical for many enterprises to have.
such a team of specialists, especially when they are.
not needed full-time, an outsourcer would be.
expected to have them, and would cover their costs.
by spreading their resources across several of their.
customers.
The costs of outsourced data processing and.
management of information systems are expected to.
be somewhat fixed in proportion to their usage and.
capacity. Costs may always vary, but outsourcing.
can be used in an attempt to reduce that variability.
for a given period of time. In any event, a company.
that sends its IS requirements and operation to an.
outsourcer is expecting to save money for the above.
reasons, or, anticipates some sort of cost.
containment. Hardware costs are declining, and.
software costs are often negotiable. On the other.
hand, personnel costs are usually stable only in.
periods of recession. A company may then have the.
opportunity to negotiate and stabilize the costs of.
services provided by individuals for a lengthy period.
of time. There is an awareness that these costs.
often rise dramatically and uncontrollably during.
periods of economic boom.
Another facet of outsourcing is a perceived.
mitigation of responsibility for IS in the enterprise. At.
first it sounds as if we"re advocating a line that "we.
outsourced, and if things go wrong, we have.
someone else to blame", but that's not the point! As.
we reviewed earlier, the trend for industry in the last.
two decades has been for American and European.
industries to concentrate on their core businesses.
In outsourcing, the ultimate responsibility for the.