HOME | ABOUT US | CONSULTING | RESEARCH INSTITUTE | JOURNAL | EUROPE | PAPERS | SUPPLIERS | FOCUS AREAS | EVENTS | NEWS | CONTACT US

Question List

Service Oriented Architecture for Offering Outsourcing Solutions

BEAT in ITO

Managed Services IT: Helping Caldwell Memorial Hospital become the Hospital of the Future

The Deal Zone: Getting Real About IT Outsourcing Agreements

Addressing the Challenges in Implementing or Consolidating Portals

Buyer-Driven Supplier Consolidation Will Change the ADM Industry

Vendor-Managed Inventory in IT

1. What is Outsourcing?

Listen to the world's top outsourcing authority, Peter Bendor-Samuel, answer the question 'What is Outsourcing?' Click here to watch the video with RealPlayer. Don't have RealPlayer? Download a free player by clicking here.

What is outsourcing? Outsourcing takes place when an organization transfers the ownership of a business process to a supplier. The key to this definition is the aspect of transfer of control. This definition differentiates outsourcing from business relationships in which the buyer retains control of the process or, in other words, tells the supplier how to do the work. It is the transfer of ownership that defines outsourcing and often makes it such a challenging, painful process. In outsourcing, the buyer does not instruct the supplier how to perform its task but, instead, focuses on communicating what results it wants to buy; it leaves the process of accomplishing those results to the supplier.

[Next Question]