sers groups, support networks, and the Web are all helping IS managers better deal with services providers. Take, for example, the In
ternational Information Technology Users Group, incorporated last August to represent the interests of 16 major corporations with large outsourcing contracts.
The group provides a forum for its members to develop best practices, discuss technology and management issues, and obtain a common view on services vendors. Members, most of them household words, include American Express, Bethlehem Steel, British Airways, Eastman Kodak, J.P. Morgan, and McDonnell Douglas.
Collectively, the group's members represent a hefty chunk of the major services vendors' annual revenue. Not surprisingly, the group has quickly caught these vendors' attention. Computer Sciences Corp., EDS, and IBM have each appointed liaisons to the group.
"There's sort of an underground movement to help each other out," says Richard LeFave, the group's VP who is CIO at Southern New England Telephone, another corporate member.
Other support groups are springing up. Harry Wallaesa, a former CIO of Campbell Soup Co., started a tech
nology buyers and sellers consultancy shortly after he helped outsource Campbell's IS organization to IBM in 1995. His outfit, Value Sourcing Inc., received financial backing from Safeguard Scientifics Corp.
After Value Sourcing merged last year with a publishing and consulting firm, Wallaesa turned to offering advice on outsourcing strategy and governance. He's now president of another Safeguard startup, align Inc. in Wayne, Pa. There he's handled engagements with Lucent Technologies and General Motors' Delphi auto-parts unit. "There's an evolution of management of services providers from a relationship model to a quantifiable, results-oriented model," he says.
IT services buyers and sellers are also using the Web as a meeting place. Resellers can be contacted via a Web site (www.technologynet.com) that helps them connect with each other, distributors, andcustomers. Managed as a subscription service for resellers by TechnologyNet Inc., a nonprofit organization in Bethesda, Md., the site expects to
announce an electronic-commerce partner this month.
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sers groups, support networks, and the Web are all helping IS managers better deal with services providers. Take, for example, the In
ternational Information Technology Users Group, incorporated last August to represent the interests of 16 major corporations with large outsourcing contracts.
