According to a recent Capgemini study on 2019 IT budgets, increasing efficiency and reducing costs are the two most important requirements for internal IT departments, according to 23% of the companies surveyed. However, to achieve these goals, companies often simply reduce budgets, which increases the pressure on IT managers and employees without addressing actual content optimizations. This often leads to dissatisfaction among IT staff and users.

Another measure is purchasing external services. A 2016 Bitkom survey on outsourcing shows that “Outsourcing: Almost all companies purchase IT services externally.” The survey found that eight out of ten companies purchase IT services externally. This relieves the burden on internal IT staff and makes specialist expertise available.

Knowledge

The quality of IT services depends on the knowledge of employees when outsourcing. Therefore, the quality of services can vary greatly. Focusing only on the technology used allows one to examine in detail only a small portion of error sources. Most errors are related to understanding individual business processes, as well as the data and interfaces involved.

Application support requires an understanding of the business processes to be supported. These processes are unique and complex. Therefore, an essential task is to build a valuable knowledge base. A knowledge map supplements this base and makes it easier for support staff to navigate the extensive collection.

Transition

Once you have decided to purchase external IT support services, the next step is the service transition. This process is carried out as a project and is crucial to the success of outsourcing.

It is important to involve all relevant employees and:

• Clearly and unambiguously communicate the scope and criteria.
• Define support processes, interfaces, and communication channels.
• Review existing documentation and update it if necessary.
• Build the knowledge base and knowledge map.
• Establish the delivery capability of the external service provider.
• Set up measurement and reporting.

Control

Even if you outsource, your future partner must be managed to some extent by an internal manager. Otherwise, they will lose touch, miss changes, and eventually be unable to meet your expectations.

Control is exercised through meaningful, goal-oriented performance measurement. Purchased services are recorded and monitored in regular service reports and review meetings.

Success

You don’t have to reinvent the processes, as ITSM best practices have already laid a solid foundation. The outsourcing project will be successful if it increases internal employee and user satisfaction and establishes a cooperative partnership that benefits both parties.


Sources:

• Capgemini zu IT-Budgets 2019
• bitcom zu Outsourcing 2016