By Jo Best, 10 November 2009 12:41
NEWS
Local council IT departments' tendency to outsource problematic tech functions means their outsourcing projects are rarely successful, according to a new report.
The report, from consultants Deloitte, reveals that local councils need to change their overall approach to IT rather than hoping outsourcers can step in and solve all their tech problems.
"Building an effective corporate IT capability is not the job of the outsourcer. The outsourcer is being contracted to provide skills and expertise but the local authority still needs to provide vital input from its service areas into defining, training and testing systems," the report said.
"Wise authorities will... use outsourcing as a way of providing aspects of their service in a more cost-effective way, and will not simply outsource a problematic service because it has issues they do not understand," it added.
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Rather than outsourcing all IT to a single supplier, Deloitte advises councils to look at outsourcing "highly commoditised" functions such as desktops, networks and datacentres while still keeping overall strategy within the council's control.
According to the consultants, outsourcing specific functions - such as networks, operating and applications development and maintenance - could save councils between 10 and 15 per cent over the longer term.
Deloitte recommends councils put together an IT board to take strategic decisions on tech and consider inviting an individual from their outsourcing supplier to sit on the board.
The report also advocates that IT departments monitor service levels around outsourcing agreements, manage commercial arrangements and quality assure the supplier's work to make sure council end users are getting the right services. "Suppliers cannot be relied upon to police themselves," the report added.
The full report, Taking Control of IT, is available on Deloitte's website.
Comments
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1. iangotts
Interesting. But also true for Business Process Outcourcing.
So first define the proble in terms of end to end processes using a Process Mapping application
The you can have a sensible conversation aout the outsourcing deal - scope, SLA and price.
This was coverd in a chapter of my book Common Approach, Uncommon Results
2. muzza2009
It's called 'niche' outsourcing. Been there done that 1998. Worked a treat. Then the muppets at the top in all their widom kludged it all together into one contract for one supplier - took years to get working and years more to go niche again when it went ar5e-up (in this case, the writing was not on the wall, but the bottom of the last page of the contract, so it went pear-shaped from the word go)..