Outsourcing is ''nearly always'' effective

Companies wanting to cut costs in the downturn must look at the outsourcing of key software components as a way of succeeding in this direction, it has been asserted.

Dave Baldwin, the managing director of Getronics, told CRN that many businesses are worried that by outsourcing, they will be damaging their effectiveness due to the switch which will take place, though this will likely not be the case.

He explained that many also worry about losing control, when in reality the IT department will operate much more effectively if not on par with the system which was previously implemented.

Mr Baldwin added that outsourcers of such things as customer relationship management and software asset management aim to be a simple extension of the consumer's IT team, making sure they complement any existing infrastructure.

He concluded: "Customers may be nervous about handing a part of their business over to a third party but they can quickly gain tangible efficiencies quickly."

Before outsourcing anything, a company ought to look at in-house systems' efficiency first, according to Euan Davis, a leading technology analyst who made his comments to Computing at the recent Forrester IT Forum in Berlin.