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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

5. What is the best length for an outsourcing contract?

The Long and the Short of it All
By Peter Bendor-Samuel, Editor

The industry is abuzz about the need to make outsourcing deals more flexible. All parties agree that flexibility is desirable if it can be achieved fairly. But there is a variance in opinions among buyers, suppliers, legal analysts and consultants as to how to accomplish it. Can flexibility be built into a contract? How can both parties ensure that flexibility will be the tool used to maintain the deal over the long term? Are smaller deals more effective in eliminating flexibility problems than mega deals? Are there risks involved in becoming too flexible?

To read the rest of the editor's lead story from our March 1999 issue, click here.

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