Do not outsource when you are going through a period of major
change and beware of outsourcing your core competency.
This was the advice to tif members from Jane Kimberlin, IS
director of Powergen, who has completed a successful re-insourcing
programme extricating the company from a long-term, 12-year
outsourcing contract with Perot Systems.
Kimberlin also urged tif members to outsource only when they had
achieved the lowest possible internal costs.
"They should be short term, from three to five years, and
involve selected tasks, not everything.
Contract details are vital: "You have to think change," she
stressed.
Tif - sharing knowledge to save costs
The Infrastructure Forum is an active cross-industry group of
senior IT infrastructure directors and managers from more than 80
major UK companies set up five years ago to share their knowledge
and experience to resolve business and technical infrastructure
issues.
The focus is on medium to very large organisations, which it
welcomes as members. Tif is driven by the needs of its members,
such as Glaxo, Shell and BAA, to deliver high-performance IT at
lower cost. Members have a combined annual IT spending power of
about £16bn.
Tif chairman Tim Gregory, IT director at BACS, announced that
the organisation is in expansion mode and aims to nearly double its
membership to 150 members.
"We've streamlined our administration, have a proactive
communications programme, can offer a wider range of services and
have revised our management structure," he told members at the
conference.
For the tif membership list and activity programme see:
tif.co.uk; or ring 0144-286 6634, or
e-mail