The materials in this section reflect the knowledge we've gaining over many years of working with outsourcing service providers and their corporate buyers around the globe. This section covers application services and managed services as well as traditional consulting-based IT services.

We will be actively refining and adding content to this section over the coming months.

Articles

• "Performance Coefficients - A Method for Objectively Measuring Outsourcing Vendor Performance," by Ian S. Hayes.  This paper proposes an alternate approach for measuring and comparing the relative performance of outsourcing vendors.  Unlike scorecards, performance coefficients evaluate a vendor's financial effectiveness for delivering business accepted work products.  This approach simplifies the assessment of the many factors, such as quality and vendor management overhead, that are part of vendor performance and provides a tool for estimation and what if" planning scenarios.

• "Creating Better Service Level Metrics," Ian S. Hayes. Solid service level metrics are the foundation for Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that actually work.  Unfortunately, poorly chosen and implemented metrics often do more harm than good when managing a sourcing relationship.  This white paper explores while metrics fail and how organizations can implement a successful service level metrics program.

• "Creating a Selection Framework to Align Sourcing Options with Business Goals -  Part I"  and  "Creating a Selection Framework to Align Sourcing Options with Business Goals - Part II" by Ian S. Hayes.  In this two-part article, learn how to better align sourcing options with corporate objectives by creating a selection framework.

• "Moving Beyond Ad-Hoc Outsourcing," Ian S. Hayes.  Companies are seeking to take their outsourcing arrangements to the next level by investing in SLAs, sourcing management tools and PMOs.

• "Evaluating and Managing Outsourcing Vendor Performance," Ian S. Hayes, SmartAdvice column published in InformationWeek.com through The Advisory Council (TAC).

• "Outsourcing Metrics: Guidelines for Selection," Ian S. Hayes.  Proper selection of metrics is key to motivating the right behaviors and obtaining success.

• "Using a PMO to Expand Your Outsourcing Program," Ian S. Hayes.  As companies' outsourcing engagements begin to mature, they desire greater management control and oversight over vendor performance, ideally centralized in a PMO.

• "Customer Happiness: The True Measure of Outsourcing Success," Ian S. Hayes.  Of all the metrics used to measure outsourcing vendor performance, customer satisfaction is the final arbiter of success.

• "Metrics for IT Outsourcing Service Level Agreements," This article discusses principles to follow in selecting metrics for the service level agreements governing successful IT outsourcing projects.

• "Ready or Not, Global Sourcing is in Your IT Future," Ian S. Hayes, Cutter IT Journal, November, 2002.  A look at how/why global sourcing is impacting, or will impact, your IT organization.

• "When to Consider Development Outsourcing," Ian S. Hayes, Cutter Consortium, Sourcing E-Mail Advisor.  A brief summary of build vs. buy considerations when developing a new system.

• "Outsourcing, Insourcing and Saving Money," Ian S. Hayes, Cutter Consortium, Sourcing E-Mail Advisor.  This article examines what it takes to save money when considering outsourcing or insourcing.

• "Seize the Day: Opportunity Outsourcing," Ian S. Hayes, Cutter Consortium, Sourcing E-Mail Advisor. This article looks at some of the opportunistic drivers for outsourcing decisions.

• "Five Principles for Selecting SLA Metrics," Ian S. Hayes, Cutter Consortium Sourcing, E-Mail Advisor, January 6, 2000.  This article advocates five common sense principles to follow when establishing service level metrics for outsourcing agreements.

• "Under the Table Work -- the Hidden Productivity Drain," Almost every IT organization suffers from the "under the table work" phenomenon -- unsanctioned or unofficial work that gets done through informal channels.  Not only does this work have negative affects on productivity, it can come back to haunt IT organizations when they enter into outsourcing arrangements.

• "IT: In or Out," Ian S. Hayes, The Manufacturer, Vol. 2, No. 10, October 2002.  This article considers some of the drivers and benefits prompting manufacturing organizations to outsource IT in part or in whole.

Research Papers

Note: These reports were published under contract for the Cutter Consortium. Full copies can be purchased directly from Cutter.

• "Using Tools to Manage Sourcing," Ian S. Hayes, Cutter Consortium Executive Report, Sourcing Advisory Service, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2003. "A significant movement is afoot to implement integrated systems to help manage all facets of a sourcing relationship, from contract management to collaboration between sourcing teams and end users to real-time monitoring of a vendor's service delivery performance. A new generation of automated tools is enabling both clients and vendors to improve the usefulness, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of their outsourcing relationships. This Executive Report covers the tools that IT organizations can use to manage their sourcing relationships, focusing on areas where automation is available and desirable." Read the summary

• "Maintaining Alignment When Outsourcing," Ian S. Hayes, Cutter Consortium Executive Report, Sourcing Advisory Service, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2002. "Outsourcing is gaining in popularity, and many companies now outsource IT functions to third parties as part of their larger strategies. But third party outsourcers are yet another step removed from executive thinking, making it harder to communicate changing objectives and to identify the adjustments that must be made. The prevalence of longer tem outsourcing engagements increases the odds of drift. Moreover, conflicting agendas and divergent needs among the parties create an atmosphere conducive to misalignment. This Report addresses the topic of maintaining alignment in outsourcing engagements. It considers what alignment means in an outsourcing engagement, offers guidelines for taking the pulse of alignment, and suggests tools for maintaining alignment. The Report describes some of the most common alignment issues that plague outsourcing engagements, gives recommendations for turning around misaligned engagements and advises companies on how to build a self-aligning engagement from the start." Read the summary

• "Outsourcing Development," Ian S. Hayes, Cutter Consortium Executive Report, Sourcing Advisory Service, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2001. "Within IT, outsourcing is a well-established practice. When we speak of outsourcing, we tend to think of large-scale, long-term engagements covering the entire IT function, data center operations or application maintenance and support. These three types of outsourcing are certainly prevalent, but they are by no means the only, or even the most popular form of outsourcing in use. Hiring consulting firms to staff and manage development projects -- development outsourcing -- is more widespread than these traditional forms of outsourcing, yet it is often not viewed as outsourcing per se." summary

• "Planning and Managing Service Levels," Ian S. Hayes, Cutter Consortium Executive Report, Sourcing Advisory Service, Vol. 1, No. 8, 2000. "Many things prompt companies to consider outsourcing in the first instance. Some want to focus on their core competencies, and offload non-strategic functions to the outsourcer. Others may want to purse a new opportunity, change direction or correct problems in their IT organization. None of these companies, however, would be willing to consider outsourcing if it meant a deterioration in service. An outsourcing arrangement that does not offer good or superior service is simply not worth doing. And the quickest way to kill an outsourcing relationship is to provide poor service." Read the summary

• "Creating Service Level Agreements," Ian S. Hayes, Cutter Consortium Executive Report, Sourcing Advisory Service, Vol. 1, No. 5, 2000. "Preparing for an outsourcing engagement takes a great deal of time and effort, and a commitment to doing things right. These preparatory activities will culminate in a set of contracts and documents that memorialize the understanding of the parties and the terms of their agreement. These materials will govern the relationship of the parties for years to come, and will be used to manage and measure the outsourcing project. The success of the relationship hinges in many ways on the quality of the underlying documents created by the parties. Despite the importance of these documents, companies often skimp on the up-front preparations necessary to create them." Read the summary

• "Making the Decision to Outsource," Ian S. Hayes, Cutter Consortium Executive Report, Sourcing Advisory Service, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2000. "In this paper, Ian Hayes explores the circumstances that make outsourcing a viable and sensible option for an IT organization. He also examines the different types of functions and activities that an IT organization may want to outsource, explores the various implementation options available today, provides guidelines on how to select a suitable outsourcing candidate and describes an approach for scoping and bounding an outsourcing project." Read the summary