INN blogging colleague Ara Trembly, never one to shy away from a meaty discussion, saw new numbers that suggest outsourcing has
I couldn't agree more with Ara. But let me suggest an alternative scenario that also is emerging, that is turning outsourcing as we've known it on its head. That great disruptive force on the horizon is called the cloud.
Some
What is happening all over the place, in fact, is outsourcing engagements are collapsing into smaller-size chunks, thanks to the fact that systems and applications are being chunked up into bite-size services delivered over the Internet. We're likely to see fewer multi-million-dollar megadeals, in which entire operations and application sets are handed over to third parties, and more tapping into functionality, service by service. Small service cloud engagements may be harder to measure, and therefore much of this activity is slipping under the radar.
In a post last year in
These new players, by the way, could just as likely be non-IT companies (such as insurance carriers) with large IT departments providing additional capacity to partners, customers, or even the broader market.
This is not a trend lost on outsourcers, either, who are getting into the cloud act themselves. For example,
So, yes, the outsourcing numbers have gone down quite a bit, and it certainly relates to a reluctance among companies to spend. But there's a compelling value proposition in the idea of looking to cloud providers – be they traditional outsourcers or online booksellers – to acquire bite-size chunks of services when needed, paying only for what is used, when it is used. Call it just-in-time outsourcing.
Joe McKendrick is an author, consultant, blogger and frequent INN contributor specializing in information technology.
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