The Manage IT Newsletter:

This issue explores how IT organizations can avoid common foundation setting mistakes that set the stage for outsourcing relationship failures.

Happy New Year and welcome to the first 2004 issue of the "Manage IT Newsletter." This monthly publication is dedicated to helping IT managers enjoy a richer career experience so they can reach their full potential.

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With warmest regards, Joe Santana,
Co-author Manage IT
www.joesantana.com ***************************In this Issue ****************************
* Focus Topic - Setting the foundation for better outsourcing relationships
* IT Management News & Trends
* Free Gift of the Month: Tips on how to set the foundation for a better Outsourcing relationship
* Closing Comments and Announcements
*********************************************************************

--------------------------- Focus Topic -----------------------------
Setting the foundation for better outsourcing relationships

Many of you will agree that Outsourcing is here to stay. A quick look at the article listed in this issue, clearly show how the practice is evolving and growing. Unfortunately, while outsourcing does offer many important benefits to its clients, according to Gartner Group studies, 50% of these relationships end in failure (E.g., Early termination and even litigation) According to experts, there are two areas where people entering these relationships often make mistakes that set the stage for failure.

Mistake # 1 is failing to establish goal alignment and agreement on how to measure success between the client and the supplier. According to Jon Piot, COO of Impact Innovations, a Dallas based IT consulting company (http://www.impactinnovations.com)," outsourcing relationships often get off on the wrong foot when partners fail to completely communicate information during the "courtship" process. "Generally, the customer is hoping to satisfy a set of objectives and solve historical problems but the supplier doesn't get the full picture due to the rigidity of the RFP process," states Piot. "In many cases it is only after the transition and a healthy does of negative feedback that the supplier begins to understand what the customer really wants," he adds. Jim Leto, a 30-year industry veteran and president and CEO of Robbins-Gioia, LLC, a leading program management-consulting firm (http://www.robbinsgioia.com), agrees. "If the supplier is totally focused on cost reduction and has metrics set up to track this--but you, the client see success in terms of time to market--you are almost certainly going to be at odds with the supplier," states Leto.

Mistake # 2 a poorly designed set of agreements. According to Piot in his practice he finds that most SLAs do not detail the ramifications of such basic things as the supplier under-performing. "They basically forget to specify what happens if the SLA isn't met," states Piot. Furthermore on the contract terms and conditions side of the equation, Piot tells us that while conditions of termination are usually well documented, the process or back-out requirements on the part of either the supplier or customer are typically missing. These contracts according to Piot say nothing about what happens from a logical business perspective when the contract ends. For example, will the supplier assist the client in transitioning the function back in-house or to another supplier? Another reason for problems relative to agreements results from selecting suppliers that lack of scalability and flexibility to adapt to your evolving needs and entering into inflexible contracts.

IT Outsourcing is an excellent business model that enables you to augment your ability to drive value to your business and leverage your IT budget when done correctly. An important key, however, to success is avoiding the aforementioned pitfalls. For a list of tips on how to set the foundation for a better outsourcing relationship get your copy of this months free tip sheet at http://www.joesantana.com/freenewsandtips.htm

In the following IT Management News and Trends section you will find a list of articles on some of the latest and expected future developments in outsourcing. Finally, as always in the "Announcement" section, you will find additional resources to support you and some of your key initiatives.

JS

-------------------- IT Management News and Trends -------------------
This month, we have some select articles that focus on recent developments and future predictions relative to outsourcing.

Article on how web-conferencing company is seizing an opportunity in the IT outsourcing offshore trend.
http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3290211

An article that highlights a new twist on offshore outsourcing, where a London-based travel agency has taken outsourcing to a new level by shipping the work and the workers who perform the work to India.
http://www.computerworld.com/careertopics/careers/story/0,10801,87005,00.html

An overview of how Telecom executives see outsourcing as an integral part of keeping their companies viable amidst today's economic turbulence.
http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/career/article.php/3107921

An article on how the momentum to outsource is cutting across industry boundaries as corporations in all sectors are pressed to "do more with less."
http://www.outsourcingcentral.com/Mag_story.asp

The URL below will take you to January issue of the Outsourcing Journal with numerous articles forecasting what will happen in outsourcing in 2004 and beyond.
http://www.clickonme.com/welcome/jan2004.html?email004900

------------------- Free Gift of the Month ---------------------------
For your free copy of tips on how to set the foundation for a better Outsourcing relationship go to http://www.joesantana.com/freenewsandtips.htm

----------------- Closing Thoughts and Announcements -----------------
WANT TO KNOW WHAT IT PROS AROUND THE WORLD THINK?
Join to the IT Professional World Wide network at http://itpww1-network.ryze.com (Membership growing at a phenomenal rate and it is still free).

WANT TO LEARN WHAT TO OUTSOURCE FOR TOP RETURN ON INVESTMENT?
Get your copy of the audio program titled "Doing more with less through IT Outsourcing," at http://store.mixonic.com/joesantana

WANT TO HELP YOUR FRIENDS LOOKING FOR ADVICE ON HOW TO FIGHT BURNOUT AND ACHIEVE PEAK PERFORMANCE
Have them visit www.joesantana.com and sign up for the free TIPS DRIVING PEAK PERFORMANCE EMAIL SEMINAR. Delivered over seven days, this program is packed with advice that can immediately be put to use by a rookie or a veteran IT manager. (HR pros will also find it a rich source of ideas they can use to coach IT managers).

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IT MANAGEMENT WITH JOE?
Visit www.ULiveandLearn.com and register for the IT Management webinar. This information packed program comes right to your desktop and offers you advice on one of your most important career decisions.

NEED HELP QUICKLY BUILDING A PIPELINE OF CANDIDATES.
Contact EmployeeROI www.employeeroi.com/1-888-654-8845

I hope you enjoyed this issue of the IT Managers Newsletter and as always I look forward to continuing to serve you in 2004.