IT outsourcing has been put under the spotlight after the Forrester Research industry report (UK leads £3.8bn outsourcing drive across Europe) and it is reassuring that the UK has played a significant part in its recent growth.

However, this growth does not mean that the industry has it right. There is still much confusion when it comes to outsourcing deals (The three steps to outsourcing, Forrester blog, forrester.computing.co.uk).
Many contracts require constant reassessment or are scrapped before they come to fruition, mainly because of a misalignment of objectives at the start, inability to flex with the needs of the client organisation or a failure to manage progress closely enough. Companies need a solid partnership with their service providers to ensure they have clear milestones.

Trust is paramount in relationships, and there is no room for ambiguity when projects are undertaken. Both parties need to focus more on the business objectives of deals and not dwell on the contract and the commercial terms.

Robert Morley, Perot Systems