Outsourcing - a 21st century approach to business and technology

Some people like to compare outsourcing relationships to marriage. There is the initial attraction, the contract, the honeymoon period, the inevitable disputes - and all too often a nasty break-up. Indeed, high-profile mega-deals that go wrong feature in the business press just like celebrity splits in tabloids.

What's more, figures about how many outsourcing deals go sour, from the likes of Gartner, read like divorce rates. But all those negative statistics, while they serve a purpose, don't say much about the success stories. Yes, outsourcing may be different to marital love, but with both there are happy stories out there.

The key point is that as with anything, outsourcing has to be done properly to be successful. Both parties must enter the relationship properly, with clearly defined and achievable goals. Contracts must be properly drawn up, allowing for flexibility and signed off by all the right heads in an organisation including - critically - the head of IT. There must be decent career paths for any employees who join the outsourcer, ongoing service level assurances and the ability for functions to be brought back in-house in the future. The list goes on.

It is the purpose of silicon.com's latest special report www.silicon.com/outsourcing to examine all these aspects of outsourcing. This publication may be broadly in favour of it but we are also sensible enough to say it isn't for everyone. Get advice, read up, proceed carefully - a lot's at stake.

Perhaps more than anything, in an age where we frequently outsource all kinds of parts of our private lives, from laundry to gift-guying to shopping around for financial services, outsourcing IT stands out as a very 21st century approach to business and technology. As silicon.com columnist Rene Carayol likes to say: "Continue to do what you do best, partner for the rest."

Success stories such as Coca-Cola and Nike are famous as 'virtual businesses' where so much of what they do is outsourced. Not every organisation that uses IT will want to do the same thing but in an age where there is pressure to squeeze more and more value out of assets with no blank cheques for investment, outsourcing can be the answer. That we know.