Government Technology
Government Technology: State & Local Government News Articles

Application Outsourcing is More Than About Saving Money on IT, Says New Study



Print
Comment

Nov 14, 2006, News Report

Most companies outsource at least some of their application development or maintenance functions, but saving money is not the prime motivator behind these outsourcing strategies, according to the findings from a new Aberdeen Group benchmark study.

In addition, the study found that a substantial portion of respondents to the survey -- about two of every five -- say their companies would prefer working with service providers that are close to or within the same time zone to allow closer contact with the people they work with regularly.

These and other findings are detailed in a new Aberdeen report, "Outsourcing Application Development and Maintenance," underwritten by IBM, Softtek and Unisys.

"While cost savings remain an important cornerstone of many IT outsourcing strategies, most companies, especially in the mid-market, look at outsourcing application work to boost the skills of their internal IT staffs and allow them to tackle more strategic work," said Rick Saia, Aberdeen's research analyst for IT services and lead author for the report. Although India has become a popular destination for this work, companies in other nations are ramping up their IT capabilities, affording more options in choosing providers. "This allows companies more 'near shore' options as opposed to looking to the other side of the world," Saia said. "Many large providers recognize this, though, and are looking to perform more work in other countries or at least partner with native firms that can provide these services."

The study found that companies that are best at outsourcing application development and maintenance save more than twice the industry average in application-related costs. They also experience close to 50 percent higher user satisfaction and -- on average -- a 67 percent increase in projects delivered on time and within budget.
KW

Comments

By Anonymous on Jun 27, 2008

I'm not sure it is applicable, but I detest calling for technical support for my HP computer...I do not like having to explain my problem numerous times due to language differences. Since outsourcing tech assistance, I have had to use the service twice; once for the PC and once for Microsoft software. Both times it took at least twice the amount of time due to this language problem. Both instances were with someone in India...because I asked where they were...and both times I came away unhappy with the results. The software problem was that the authorization code for MS Office was not working. It took a full four hours to resolve the issue. The tech kept asking me the same questions over and over and all he had to do was get a new authorization code from a supervisor. So don't tell me about the benefits of outsourcing! I hate it. If I had any other option I would certainly use it. It creates a very bad taste in my mouth for the company using the outsourced tech.

Respond to a comment.

If You Liked This Article, You May Also Like...

Related Products and Services


Latest Government Technology News


Industry Solutions for Government

Read real world deployments of technology in government from our sponsors.

View All Industry Solutions

Marketplace


This section
brought to you by:
Ca - Transforming IT Management

Identity and Access Management Survey
Take the survey to:
  • Win 1 of 10 $25 Amazon Gift Cards!
  • Download the Center for Digital Government's: I Am Who I Say I Am whitepaper
Take the Survey Now!

SF Health Plan

  Yes! I would like more information about CA's solutions for Government.

Security Management

The Evolution of Identity and Access Management IAM has become a key tool in the organization’s security and risk management efforts. Many Govt. organizations however, are not realizing the potential of a fully evolved IAM solution. This paper helps them achieve that goal.

How can a comprehensive IAM solution help me reduce security risk and achieve easier compliance? Identity and Access Management (IAM) solutions help you manage users and their access to your IT resources while acheving more effective compliance.

IT Governance

IT Governance: Making the Difference in Cities, Counties and States Project and portfolio management helps government respond to old and new challenges. Featuring case studies from California Department of Agriculture, New York City, and Oakland County, Michigan.

CA Information Governance Solution Brief The CA Information Governance solution helps you solve an array of challenges with unique offerings including federated records management, email management, retention management and business process automation.

Enterprise Management

IT Network Management: State and Local Governments Face New Challenges Network and voice management tools help agancies get optimum performance from today's increasingly complex networks.

Success Stories: San Francisco Health Plan San Francisco Health Plan helps more people access affordable healthcare by simplifying IT management

Success Stories: Social Services Agency, County of Santa Clara County of Santa Clara improves the quality of social services with simplified IT management

CA Network & Voice Management Solution Brief Integrated, fault and performance management for end-to-end service assurance of multi-vendor, multi-technology converged networks.

Risk Compliance and Best Practices

Key Trends in the IAM Market and how CA's R12 Suite Addresses these Trends Identity and Access Management (IAM) has been a major force in the enterprise IT marketplace for years now.This paper will address the question: What's driving interest in IAM solutions?

Network and VoiceManagement for Evolving Business IT management specialist CA provides a foundation for delivering the value of unified network and voice management

A Vision for Dynamic Business Service Management By applying new levels of consolidation, automation and insight, dynamic Business Svc Mgt delivers improved service levels and cost controls

Deploying the CMDB for Change & Configuration Management The Configuration Management Database (CMDB) plays a critical role within the ITIL framework.

The Changing Face of Network Management Automated NCCM tools reduce the downtime and degradation caused by configuration changes.