Key Steps for Launching Your IT Outsourcing Partnership

Define mutual strategic intent. This includes articulating the business case, including mutual goals and objectives, key accountabilities with clearly defined expectations on the deliverables’ quality, service performance levels, and financial targets. 

Determine the scope of outsourced services. CIOs should consider conducting a trial period or pilot to evaluate the outsourced provider’s ability to flex and deliver on talent requirements and service level agreements (SLAs).  

Agree to service-level expectations. Before partnering with an outsourced provider, establish the key performance indicators (KPI) with reporting mechanisms for the transition period and steady state to provide transparency and mitigate performance ambiguity. It’s important to address what failing to meet those expectations looks like, too, including any associated penalties or fees. 

Create a robust transition management process. Define the transition phases from the start and continue until the outsourced provider has reached the “steady state” of services. Orient the outsourced provider to key aspects of your business -- including vision, mission, values, and culture -- and to your operating model and infrastructure services, which is essentially your “way of doing business.” 

Define the governance model and establish a program management office. Including representation from both parties provides clarity in decision-making authority and is essential to success. Establish processes for planning the work, ensuring the fulfillment of business requirements, resolving issues, mitigating project risks, and building and maintaining effective reporting mechanisms to provide complete transparency. 

Enable ease of communication. Provide frequent and consistent communication to proactively address collaboration challenges and inform stakeholders on the “why,” what will happen, how, and when. Some key considerations include: Determine and validate preferred language to avoid misunderstandings, miscommunications, and conflicts that may impact project quality and efficiency; set logistics and expectations upfront for conducting meetings and coordinating work across time zones to minimize turnaround times and logistical challenges; secure workspace with proper privacy, communications, and technology infrastructure; and foster cultural understanding and relationship building, moving from “fear of the unknown” to “embrace the change” in a structured fashion. 

Recognize that talent acquisition can be extremely competitive. It’s necessary to confirm that outsourcing providers can promptly flex to meet your demand. You’ll want to gain insight into their existing resource pool and their ability to acquire additional talent. Once you have the talent, ensure there’s a knowledge transfer process to minimize the impact on project productivity and the ability to meet timelines and budgets with any talent turnover. 

Define roles and create job specifications with competency expectations. Vet the talent using interviewing, tech competency testing, and reference checks. This includes validating preferred language fluency, both written and spoken. Your team members should conduct the final interview before onboarding the resource to confirm their overall fit with the organization. 

Monitor performance and ensure quality. Implement rigor in the steps required to go from specification to code, ensuring the quality of deliverables and reporting productivity to SLAs. You will also need to implement processes for resolving talent issues quickly and efficiently.