By Dominic Maher, 25 August 1999 00:15
NEWS Organisations looking to outsource their IT operations must ensure they do so in conjunction with the overall business strategies, according to Richard Sykes, former IT director of ICI and now chairman of Morgan Chambers. Sykes stressed in an exclusive interview with Silicon.com that IT cannot be treated in isolation from the business. Only then can organisations ensure that they make informed decisions about what should be kept inhouse and what should be outsourced. Sykes said: "The [functions] you move outside are the more commodity services, the ones where other people can do it far better for you in a far more responsible way than you can do it yourself." In Sykes' experience, suppliers often make empty promises. He explained that the outsourcing industry is still young, and is going through a learning curve. He said: "It is learning how to deliver a lot of the services that it claims it can already deliver, but it in fact really can't yet." Andrew Moyle, partner at law firm, Shaw Pitman, added: "The market is littered with bodies of poorly constructed outsourcing deals. In the desire to get the sale, companies over specify what they can do and can't live up to expectations." The interview with Dr Richard Sykes can be seen in Silicon.com's Outsourcing Channel.
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