Re-Evaluating Outsourcing Strategies

bob weinstein - February 23, 2009 Organizations are taking a hard look at their outsourcing strategies. The goal is to get a handle on what worked in the past and, more importantly, what’s needed in this current cost-cutting environment and for the future as well. As IT architects have learned repeatedly, there is no such thing as a panacea long-term solution. Practically speaking, the most prudent strategies are elastic, short-term remedies that can be changed on a dime when the economy improves and shifts into overdrive.

Jim Damoulakis, CTO of GlassHouse Technologies, a Framingham, Mass. storage and infrastructure consulting firm, says that current IT strategies focus on cost savings. “From our perspective, all types of solutions are under consideration--hosted  solutions to traditional outsourcing approaches,” he says. The services Damoulakis feels hold the “the most traction” are those that are “more focused and that can either address some significant shortcoming within the organization or, even better, provide a quick return in terms of savings.” And they’re often efforts focused around a particular portion of the environment, rather than traditional mass outsourcing.

“Being able to provide real metrics with regard to service levels and financial targets is critical,” Damoulakis asserts.
In the future, he anticipates a rapid …

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