Developing a Global IT Sourcing Strategy

by Jon Carrow, Derek Bluestone

This Executive Report describes the fundamentals of building a global IT sourcing organization. We, the authors, spent the last two years building such an organization (which we will refer to as IT Sourcing in this report) for a Fortune 100 pharmaceutical company. In doing so, we became a change agent within the IT department, facilitating rapid closure on a consolidated, corporate-wide IT strategy. The results have been considerable. In addition to the numerous "soft" benefits associated with a more strategic focus on IT spending, we have generated hard cost savings in excess of US $52 million. Given the size of our IT sourcing organization, this represents an ROI of 20 times annual budget. But more importantly, we have achieved technical agility -- the key to gaining competitive advantage in today's global market.