IT outsourcing can involve a range of factors and issues. For example:

• People

• Facilities (space and related services)

• Equipment

• Hardware/software

• Third-party contracts and agreements

• Processes, functions, and activities, processing inputs and producing output

Equally, very many questions arise. For example:

• How will the provider take full responsibility for the unit?

• How will the provider begin to use space in the existing facilities, or the unit will be moved to their facilities?

• How will any pieces of equipment transfer to the provider?

• How will existing warranties transfer to the provider?

• How will existing software licenses transfer to the provider?

• How will existing maintenance contracts with third parties transfer to the provider?

• How will interfaces occur during the transition?

There are obviously countless other issues to consider as well, including personnel and human resource matters.

However, IT outsourcing is now a well trodden path. It has been managed successfully very many times.... and lessons have been learned. It is now possible to benefit from these lessons by deploying an established road map and kit, such as the IT Outsourcing Toolkit.

The IT Outsourcing Toolkit

This is essentially a collection of the basics and has been designed to take much of the pain from planning and implementing the outsource itself. It includes an introduction to service management, a service level agreement, a generic outsourcing contract, a benchmarking audit kit, transition plan and a service level requirements template. All are provided in 'editable' format: MS-Word, PowerPoint and in the case of the benchmarking hit, Excel.