From Application Outsourcing to Infrastructure Management:: Extending the Offshore Outsourcing Service Portfolio

Offshore Outsourcing is an increasing IS/IT strategy that relies on third party Service Providers typically located in developing, low wage countries. The scale and scope is extending from traditional application development activities to embrace infrastructure management. It poses additional risks on both Service Recipients and Providers, which need to be carefully evaluated and assessed. In this paper, we convey the results from case-based research into three firms. Firms seeking to offshore infrastructure management need to develop effective risk mitigation strategies for selecting service providers. Therefore it will become increasingly necessary for Service Providers to develop offshore outsourcing capabilities.