Title: Information systems services outsourcing reality in large Portuguese organisations

Authors: Joao Varajao, Antonio Trigo, Nelson Figueiredo, Joao Barroso, Jose Bulas-Cruz

Addresses: Departamento de Engenharias, Universidade de Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, Apartado 1013, 5001–801 Vila Real, Portugal. ' Escola Superior de Tecnologia e Gestao de Mirandela, Instituto Politecnico de Braganca, Rua Joao Maria Sarmento Pimentel, Apartado 128, 5370–326 Mirandela, Portugal. ' Departamento de Engenharias, Universidade de Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, Apartado 1013, 5001–801 Vila Real, Portugal. ' Grupo de Investigacao em Engenharia do Conhecimento e Apoio a Decisao, Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, R. Dr. Antonio Bernardino de Almeida, 431, 4200–072 Porto, Portugal. ' Centro de Estudos Tecnologicos do Ambiente e da Vida, Universidade de Tras-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, Apartado 1013, 5001–801 Vila Real, Portugal

Abstract: Outsourcing has become a major component of information technology strategy in many companies around the world. From the early 1990s to the present, the reality of sourcing has varied significantly, an example being the services that companies typically choose to transfer to external providers, which are now different from those of one or two decades ago. This paper discusses the results of a survey conducted to determine the current outsourcing status of information systems services in large Portuguese organisations, by identifying the services that companies keep inside their boundaries and services that companies outsource to vendors. It also presents a comparison of the results from this study with results from studies developed in other countries. These findings should be useful both for researchers, who can use it to study the outsourcing and information systems function evolution, and for practitioners, mainly vendors, who may use it to build up its offer in agreement with the buyers| needs and wishes.

Keywords: information systems; sourcing; outsourcing; information management; Portugal; systems management; information technology.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2009.021606

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2009 Vol.4 No.1, pp.125 - 142

Published online: 30 Nov 2008 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article