Risk management is getting to be too complex to use on anything less than a major, multimillion-dollar project. The use of risk management on IT programs is overly complicated. This two-part Bulletin shows one way of cutting through the clutter of risk management tools, status reports, and metrics by adopting a simple, stratified approach.

Risk management is getting to be too complex to use on anything less than a major, multimillion-dollar project. The use of risk management on IT programs is overly complicated. This two-part Bulletin shows one way of cutting through the clutter of risk management tools, status reports, and metrics by adopting a simple, stratified approach.

Data collected in a December 2003 Cutter Consortium survey suggests that, in spite of anemic capital spending on technology over the past few years, many of the emerging trends and technologies fly in the face of an otherwise weak technology market. Note, for example, the expansion of wireless networks, the adoption rate of Web services, and the surge in nearshore and offshore outsourcing -- the subject of this article. In fact, we could argue that major changes are in play and that the relationship between business and technology is transforming itself in new -- almost radical -- ways.

In our years of working with clients in the outsourcing space, we have heard numerous accounts of the ways in which stronger working relationships between buyer and provider generate greater value for both parties. Typically, however, organizations have difficulty measuring the incremental value that can be gained through strong relationship management.

At a barbecue in June 2003, I spoke with a naturalized Iraqi-American who shared some recent pictures with me from a family trip back home to Iraq. The pictures showed people living a near-normal prewar existence. This man told me that the American media depictions of widespread violence and social disruption do not represent the common realities of Iraq. As a result, Americans are left with incorrect impressions of pervasive chaos, violence, and anti-American hatred in his homeland. These problems, though disturbing, are exceptions.

These days, many of my clients are considering outsourcing options. Given the nature of today's global economy, even US presidential candidates can't ignore the subject.

Outsourcing can mean many things, however. I describe it as spanning a very broad spectrum. It can involve routine and repeatable tasks such as running call centers or processing payrolls, or it can be about more complex work such as applications maintenance, project enhancements, or new development.

It's official: IT outsourcing has achieved bandwagon status. How can you tell? Well, because the trend now combines a tremendous amount of activity with a tremendous amount of confusion. When people act in large numbers amid so much debate and disarrangement, that's a bandwagon.