A STRUCTURED APPROACH TO NEGOTIATING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY OUTSOURCING AGREEMENTS

摘要

It is becoming increasingly difficult for organisations tornachieve strategic advantage through InformationrnTechnology outsourcing. Expectations of benefits and thernsignificance or "business value" placed on them – remainrnvery high. However, research conducted by Gartnerrnshows that more than 50% of Information TechnologyrnOutsourcing agreements fail to achieve a satisfactoryrnoutcome. Failure has also been linked to a poorly draftedrncontract.rnNegotiation of an Information TechnologyrnOutsourcing agreement is not an intuitive, ad-hoc process.rnNor is it a procurement process, where negotiation canrnoccur predominantly on price. Understanding the complexrnorganisational, strategic and operational changes that needrnto take place in an outsourcing endeavour is imperative tornthe negotiation process. An organisation is most likely tornbenefit from outsourcing if it understands exactly how thernoutsourcing vendor will provide value and can use thatrnknowledge to effectively negotiate an agreement.rnThis paper reviews issues relating to InformationrnTechnology Outsourcing negotiations. It describes arnproject underway to build a structured framework forrneffectively negotiating Information TechnologyrnAgreements.