Lifecycle Management for IT Offshore Outsourcing Service - A Case Study
Xiao, Xi (2012)
Xiao, Xi
Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulu
2012
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201205107579
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201205107579
Tiivistelmä
Today, many companies attempt to utilize IT offshore outsourcing services to achieve predefined strategic goals, such as lower support cost, faster product release time or better focus on the core business. The case company in this study has also engaged in an offshore outsourcing service for IT application support with a service provider firm located in India. Due to the lack of offshore outsourcing experience, the case company encountered various challenges during the inter-organizational collaboration; and the service quality was reported to have dropped significantly after the support responsibility was transferred to the service provider.
The objective of this study is to propose an IT offshore outsourcing service lifecycle model appropriate to the context of the case company. The study reviewed rele-vant literature area, including topics of outsourcing, offshoring, service transition and cross-cultural communication; and employed qualitative interviews for the purpose of the current state analysis.
Soft Systems Methodology was adopted as a primary research method to conduct the study and analyze the data. During the case company interviews, nine main challenges were proposed by the interviewees to address the corresponding possible solutions, which were analyzed and developed into the key findings of the current state analysis. After that, according to the knowledge from literature and the analysis results, a lifecycle model was developed to help the case company improve the problematic situation and manage the service quality.
The proposed model defines five sequential phases with a number of internal elements and one governance group that serves the entire service lifetime in order to tackle the challenges faced by the case company. Finally, the developed model is assessed for its reliability and validity by selected experts in the case company.
The objective of this study is to propose an IT offshore outsourcing service lifecycle model appropriate to the context of the case company. The study reviewed rele-vant literature area, including topics of outsourcing, offshoring, service transition and cross-cultural communication; and employed qualitative interviews for the purpose of the current state analysis.
Soft Systems Methodology was adopted as a primary research method to conduct the study and analyze the data. During the case company interviews, nine main challenges were proposed by the interviewees to address the corresponding possible solutions, which were analyzed and developed into the key findings of the current state analysis. After that, according to the knowledge from literature and the analysis results, a lifecycle model was developed to help the case company improve the problematic situation and manage the service quality.
The proposed model defines five sequential phases with a number of internal elements and one governance group that serves the entire service lifetime in order to tackle the challenges faced by the case company. Finally, the developed model is assessed for its reliability and validity by selected experts in the case company.