IT outsourcing is a phrase used to describe the practice of seeking resources -- or subcontracting -- outside of an organizational structure for all or part of an IT (Information Technology) function. An organization would use IT outsourcing for functions ranging from infrastructure to software development, maintenance and support. For example, an enterprise might outsource its IT management because it is cheaper to contract a third-party to do so than it would be to build its own in-house IT management team. Or a company might outsource all of its data storage needs because it does not want to buy and maintain its own data storage devices. Most large organizations only outsource a portion of any given IT function.
2. Advantage and Disadvantage
Advantage
The benefits of Outsourcing are:
Less capital expenditure - For example, by outsourcing information technology requirements, a company does not have to buy expensive hardware and software.
Less management headache - For example, by outsourcing business process such as accounting, a company no longer has to hire and manage accounting personnel.
Focus on core competencies - Outsourcing non-core related processes will allow a business to focus more on it's core competencies and strengths, giving it a competitive advantage.
Disadvantage
Before deciding on outsourcing your company's business process, keep in mind the disadvantages of outsourcing:
Less managerial control - It may be harder to manage the outsourcing service provider as compared to managing your own employees.
Outsourcing company goes out of business - If your outsourcing service provide goes bankrupt or out of business, your company will have to quickly transition to a new service provider or take the process back in-house.
May be more expensive - Sometimes it is cheaper to keep a process in-house as compared to outsourcing.
Security and confidentiality issues - If your company is outsourcing business processes such as payroll, confidential information such as salary will be known to the outsourcing service provider.
3. Implication
When business starts to go bad, people panic. As a result, they tend to abandon their long-term strategic course, scrambling for short-term relief,” said Greg Frazier, executive vice president, supply chain business development worldwide, Avnet Electronics Marketing, Phoenix. For example, Frazier has recently fielded a flurry of calls from small and mid-size OEMs asking about outsourcing – customers that had previously decided that outsourcing was not the right fit for their company. And though under the right circumstances outsourcing can certainly provide an OEM with significant opportunities for savings, it is no panacea. “When they hear major OEMs like Sony announce plans to close 10 percent of its plants worldwide and shift more manufacturing to outsourcing, they question their (manufacturing) decisions,” Frazier noted.
Supply chain integrators like Avnet work closely with OEM customers to evaluate the pros and cons of outsourcing, said Frazier, who cautions companies to be particularly vigilant in their evaluation of suitability and financial stability of potential contract manufacturing partners. A recent report from electronics research firm iSuppli Corp. found that the global electronics contract manufacturing sector has begun to feel the impact of the slowdown.
Growth in 2008 for the contract manufacturing sector is estimated to be almost half of the 16.1 percent recorded in 2007. “As the end markets erode die to recession, the trickledown effect will cause less significant revenue growth for electronics supply chain participants, including electronic manufacturing service providers (EMS) and original design manufacturers (ODM),” said Adam Pick, principal analyst, EMS/ODM, for iSuppli, El Segundo, Calif.
OEMs must also carefully consider the regions in which they plan to outsource. “Everyone’s automatic assumption is that Asia is the go-to region. But when you factor in energy costs, which have only recently begun to come down again, and rising labor rates, local alternatives like Mexico can be very attractive,” said Frazier.
When selecting an EMS partner, it's also important to remember that one size does not fit all, said Craig LaBarge, chief executive officer and president of LaBarge, Inc., a St. Louis-based EMS provider. “Depending upon the nature of their business, OEMs will have different expectations for their outsourcing partners. Our core competencies are very different than those of a provider that's set up to produce large volumes of a consumer-oriented product, for example.”
LaBarge's niche is producing low volume, high-rate-of-change, high-complexity electronic assemblies, which may be used in applications ranging from military and aerospace to industrial and medical.
While the current economic environment presents an excellent opportunity for OEMs to further utilize outsourcing as a way to reduce their manufacturing and design costs, there are challenges and difficulties that come with this kind of change. “In our experience, the most successful situations are those where the customer understands that outsourcing is as much a cultural change as a strategic one for their organization,” LaBarge noted.
The bottom line is that even in the best of economic times, the decision to outsource should be made based on a careful cost/benefit analysis. “This is not a quick, short-term solution,” said Frazier. “Every OEM must consider their options based on their individual circumstances and goals, and not make a knee-jerk reaction based on what others are doing.”
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