The idea for this book started when I was sitting with the CIO (chief information officer—the senior executive in charge of the information systems [IS] and information technology [IT] services) of one of the largest second-tier suppliers to the automotive industry outside Detroit. The man said at the time that his company outsources their IT and IS on a regular basis, but he has no idea if he is doing it correctly. Subsequent talks with other CIOs confirmed this observation. Companies outsource their IT and IS but are really uncertain whether they are doing so correctly. Indeed, in reading many practitioner books on the subject, it is hard to escape the feeling that managers do it, and know how to do it right most of the time, but they only see things head on. They see the dots. This book is about connecting these dots into a pattern by weaving them together through the perspective of theory.
What makes this book special is that it focuses on down-to-earth practical advice gleaned from the experience of dozens of senior IT project managers and CIOs and so deals with outsourcing on a practical level, but it also complements this with a theoretical academic view showing the pattern in the dots. The book does not hide the real complexity of the issue and does not attempt to introduce the reader to some elusive nonexistent boilerplate solution. Instead, the book treats outsourcing for what it is: a complex issue with no silver bullet—but where, nonetheless, steps can be taken to understand outsourcing for what it is and manage the process accordingly and know when to avoid it altogether. It is this focus on the correct mind-set, rather than methodology steps alone, that makes this book unique. The book is written for managers, students, and academics involved in and studying outsourcing. This book is about coaching the reader about managing the outsourcing of information systems, not necessarily about offshoring them, and in doing so complement existing books and research.
A convenient way to image this complexity and the ways to address it is to think of an IT outsourcing project as an iceberg. You, the skipper, are happily sailing the big blue sea when you suddenly see this iceberg. Realizing things for what they are, you try to avoid the dangers while taking advantage of the opportunities. This is the correct thing to do, and to some extent you can do it. But the real danger lies in the 90% part of the iceberg that is submerged and that you do not see unless you happen to be simultaneously flying overhead with an airborne sonar system. And even then, the real risks are still there unless you know what immanent dangers to measure. This book is designed to address this dual perspective by combining the practices of managing outsourcing as seen by managers in the field facing this iceberg head-on on the one hand, with a proverbial 30,000-foot academic water-piercing sonar perspective on the other—and, in doing so, to introduce the reader to a unique blend of head-on manager insights and academic theory.
We see further because we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us and those who hold us up now. So, many thanks are due to the many people whom I have worked with in the past, to many CIOs who shared their current experiences with me and my colleagues, and especially to my wife.