Outsourcing
CIO Magazine, 10/15/04: How to Outsource-Proof Your IT Department
A NEW GAME PLAN
CEOs increasingly believe that sending IT work offshore will magically reduce costs and increase productivity. To combat this outsourcery, CIOs need a little white magic of their own.
BY CHRISTOPHER KOCH
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CIOs haven't helped, Sparks believes, because they've failed to provide clear-cut proof that they can compete with outsourcers. Sparks wants to make his group competitive in every area that the companies he's worked for have used to justify outsourcing: cost, efficiency, responsiveness, productivity and quality. Here's how he's doing it:
He has consultants helping him prepare for a Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) assessment of his IT processes—just as the Indian offshore outsourcing companies do. This will give the business a clear picture of the efficiency, productivity and quality of Sparks's department to compare with what outsourcers have to offer.
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Business Week, 11/29/04: The New Terrain for Silicon Valley
John Hennessy, a leader in this unique American region, talks about the challenges ahead and how the Valley will have to change to cope
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Q: So you're talking about the grunt tasks.
A: Or the lower-level tasks initially. I think initially that's the case. In some sense that group you're outsourcing isn't providing the sustainable intellectual property advantage. They're providing what's absolutely necessary to sell the product. But they're not the core of your advantage.
I think it's not unlike this concept that Cisco people talk about, core vs. context. What's your core, what do you really need to get the job done to sell to your customer? But it really isn't in your core competency.
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IT Management
Infoworld, 11/19/04: The top 20 IT mistakes to avoid
InfoWorld’s CTO tells tales from the trenches, flagging the most common IT mistakes that can ruin peace of mind and even careers
By Chad Dickerson
We all like to think we learn from mistakes, whether our own or others’. So in theory, the more serious bloopers you know about, the less likely you are to be under the bright light of interrogation, explaining how you managed to screw up big-time. That’s why we put out an all-points bulletin to IT managers and vendors everywhere: For the good of humanity, tell us about the gotchas that have gotten you, so others can avoid them.
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