Wednesday, August 27, 2003

CenterBeam Gartner, 8/26/03:  InfoWorld Improved IT Services as a Result of Outsourcing InfoWorld Media Group outsourced its desktop, remote servers and help desk services to CenterBeam. The successful relationship has led to improved quality of IT services and higher customer satisfaction. [more] 8:42:55 AM     Desktop Outsourcing Giga, 8/21/03:  Getting What You Paid for: Monitoring Service Level Received From Desktop Vendors John Ragsdale We’ve noticed it is getting harder to contact and resolve issues with our desktop hardware vendor. How should we address the declining service level with the vendor? With industry attention growing on declining service levels from high tech vendors, IT management must monitor the level of service received from technology vendors. At the help desk, slipping service levels from desktop hardware, software and peripherals vendors adds to the cost of support: longer resolution times, multiple interactions to resolve a single issue, and degraded productivity for the impacted employees. [more] 8:42:46 AM     Meta, 8/25/03:  Organizing for Outsourcing: What to Do When Outsourcing the Desktop Robert McNeill What are the organizational considerations when outsourcing desktop management? End-user organizations are demanding not only lower prices, but also improved predictability and transparency of cost throughout the life cycle of a desktop outsourcing engagement. Companies are asking for, and getting, much stronger service-level guarantees as part of the standard set of services vendors are offering. However, outsourcers prefer to price desktop, server, helpdesk and local area network (LAN) services as an entire bundle because this increases the potential profit margins of the deal and increases the outsourcers’ sphere of influence within a customers account. [more] 8:42:33 AM     Outsourcing Meta, 8/14/03:  On-Demand Outsourcing & Service Provider Strategies, Service Management Strategies Dean Davison Although some herald on demand as a new age of outsourcing, others observe that commoditization has been a common industry trend for years. After digging beneath marketing messages and sales rhetoric, most IT organizations discover that the current innovations are merely incremental improvements in an industry already in flux. [more] 8:42:20 AM     Meta, 8/7/03:  Dimensioning Personnel Requirements for Outsourcing: Project Workforce Requirements Outsourcing & Service Provider Strategies, Service Management Strategies Don Carros In dimensioning enterprise outsourcing requirements, users often underestimate the workforce needed to support the outsourcing process, including requests for proposal, vendor selection, negotiations, vendor management, and portfolio management. [more] 8:42:10 AM     Gartner, 8/14/03: The Changing Face of Value in Outsourcing Relationships Enterprises are looking at the value delivered via outsourcing relationships in a more strategic way than they have to date. Sustained business value will be the key metric used to demonstrate future value. [more] 8:41:59 AM     Meta, 8/6/03:  Avoiding the Outsourcing “Post-Honeymoon” Blues Enterprise Application Strategies, Executive Directions, Government Strategies, Outsourcing & Service Provider Strategies, Application Delivery Strategies, Enterprise Data Center Strategies, Service Management Strategies Al Passori Although the outsourcing of IT products and services can convey several benefits to the enterprise, outsourcing can entail a measure of risk. Just as a business or individual assumes a level of risk in other types of investments or business ventures, the risks associated with IT outsourcing must be evaluated and managed wisely. [more] 8:41:49 AM     Gartner, 8/15/03:  Key Forces Shape Outsourcing Market Abstract:Real-time delivery offerings require major shifts in outsourcing contracting models, including financing, pricing, service levels, asset management, risk management and standards. [more] 8:41:34 AM     Meta, 8/7/03:  Dimensioning an Outsourcing Requirement Outsourcing & Service Provider Strategies, Global Networking Strategies Don Carros One of the biggest challenges users face in making an outsourcing decision is establishing the dimensions of what to outsource. [more] 8:41:24 AM     Outsourced Spam Filtering Gartner, 8/20/03:  Outsourcing Spam Filtering and E-Mail Boundary Services The e-mail boundary has come under increasingly malicious attack. A new breed of outsourcer claims it can protect an enterprise's e-mail system from threats, such as spam and viruses, and support e-mail business continuity services. [more] 8:40:52 AM     Application Outsourcing Gartner, 8/20/03:  Management Update: Application Outsourcing Key Trends and Business Drivers Enterprises should be aware of the changing dynamics in the application outsourcing market. That will ensure that they can take advantage of the multitude of external service provider offerings, delivery models and cost benefits by making well-informed outsourcing decisions. [more] 8:40:37 AM     Insourcing Meta, 7/17/03: Insourcing Outsourcing & Service Provider Strategies, Service Management Strategies Dean Davison, Christopher Pattacini, Adam Strichman, David Willis Bringing services back in-house after outsourcing is possible but requires significant time, effort, and investment. Although insourcing is an acceptable alternative for some IT organizations (ITOs), most consider the cost or risk of insourcing to exceed the benefits likely to be gained. Indeed, fewer than 15% of ITOs will insource before 2005. [more] 8:40:20 AM     IT Management Gartner, 8/13/03:  Management Update: Enterprises Should Assess How Their IT Spending Stacks Up The cost-consciousness of 2002 is here to stay, and asset managers can assume a critical role in helping their enterprises meet cost-saving objectives. Gartner highlights important IT spending issues and trends, and provides tips on how to reduce costs in IS organizations. [more] 8:30:58 AM     Help Desk Giga, 8/21/03:  High Tech Companies Outsourcing Support Must Continue to Monitor Service Quality John Ragsdale We have outsourced our technical support operation to an offshore provider. Should we continue to monitor the quality of service, or rely on reports from the outsourcer to gauge service levels? As product features and cost become almost identical in some high tech sectors (desktop hardware and printers, for example), service emerges as a key differentiator for vendors. Unfortunately, some companies claiming excellent customer service as a competitive advantage are finding their reputations tarnished by recent attention on dropping service levels linked to call center outsourcing. [more] 8:30:38 AM     Security Computerworld, 8/26/03:  The ROI of network security Story by Kathryn Korostoff AUGUST 26, 2003 ( NETWORK WORLD ) - Network security is one of the hardest technology categories for which to create an ROI analysis. The difficult part is determining the value of preventing security breaches, which constitutes the savings in an ROI calculation of savings divided by cost. The network security savings equals the cost of a security breach. [more] 8:30:13 AM

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