A new generation of targeted outsourcing services is making it possible for organizations to selectively outsource or "out-task" specific IT management responsibilities or tasks to third-party service providers, according to Jeff Kaplan, a senior consultant with Cutter Consortium. These out-tasking services include Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and managed services. Free advisory.

In the case of SaaS, a rapidly expanding array of new and established independent software vendors (ISVs) are assuming the responsibility for delivering applications so organizations can benefit from the software functionality without the deployment and administration hassles and infrastructure costs.

While Salesforce.com's customer relationship management (CRM) and salesforce automation (SFA) solutions have gained the greatest market attention, a much wider assortment of accounting, collaboration, human resource management, supply chain, and other on-demand applications can also be out-tasked today, according to Cutter Consortium.

Kaplan said part of the appeal of out-tasking is its emphasis on downsizing the scope of third-party outsourcing agreements, thereby potentially increasing the likelihood of success.

About the market research advisory

Contact The Cutter Consortium for more information on its "E-Mail Advisor" on Sourcing & Vendor Relationships. This post is from the issue entitled, "Out-tasking as an alternative to traditional outsourcing" (August 23, 2006) by Jeff Kaplan. This and other Email Advisors are available free of charge through a limited-time free trial of the Email Advisor services.

The Sourcing & Vendor Relationships Email Advisor covers the issues associated with sourcing and software/services procurement and management, from avoiding legal pitfalls to human resources implications, SLAs, performance analysis and improvement and change management.

Jeff Kaplan, founder of THINKstrategies, is one of approximately 100 independent consultants who participate in the Cutter Consortium.

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