Most IT organizations have gone through different organizational models over the past 15 years. You have probably dabbled with everything from fully outsourced groups to fully in-sourced groups. You have probably had large teams of consultants and shunned consultants all together. You have probably converted contractors to employees and then have to let them go a few years later. You may be on the wave of off shoring.
Building the right organizational sourcing model is not easy, and to have a sustainable model going forward requires you to look back and forward as to the role IT will play in business.
In order to show where IT organizations should focus internal core competency development, it is important to understand the macro-level forces impacting the IT industry.
1. Globalization: IT roles have become increasingly more global over the past five years and they will continue to do so. For North American companies, the IT help desk may be in the Philippines, the development teams in India and the server operations group in China. To leverage a global talent pool, companies have either hired staff globally or are partnering with vendors in other regions to deliver solutions at a lower TCO, but with equivalent quality.
2. Increasing Complexity: As new emergent paradigms as SOA, virtualization and capacity “on demand” become more