Considering Long Term Outsourcing Relationships
The Gartner Group recently released a report that indicating most large companies do not have long term strategies to manage their outsourcing relationships. In fact, fewer than 30% have formalized any plans at all.
The danger in this situation lies in the risk associated with any outsourcing relationship. Key among these dangers is the tendency for an buyer to become dependent on the seller for whatever service is being provided.
This vendor dependence can become even more critical if the buyer works with only one vendor. This practice is known as 'single sourcing'. A somewhat more common approach known as 'multisouring' can temper this risk somewhat, however it can add greater administrative overhead.
An interesting result of the complexity found in outsourcing, is that many companies actually outsource the process of managing outsourcing.
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