This Executive Update contains the second part of our series containing advice from a panel of Cutter Consortium Senior Consultants -- Mike Epner, Ian Hayes, David Herron, and Wendell Jones -- on the outsourcing process.

Getting old isn't much fun, but it occasionally has some benefits -- one of which is the experience of "déjà vu all over again." In the IT industry, as in most other walks of life, the same problems, trends, fads, and Eureka!-style discoveries seem to occur about once a decade.

©2001 Clarity Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved.

©2001 Clarity Consulting, Inc. All rights reserved.

©2001 by ArcStream Solutions. All rights reserved.

©2001 by ArcStream Solutions. All rights reserved.

©2001 by Brian C. Newman. All rights reserved.

©2001 by Brian C. Newman. All rights reserved.

IT Industry

Software functionality and other services traditionally provided by internal IT departments will be increasingly delivered "over the Net" via supply chains composed of multiple external service providers.

IT Industry

Software functionality and other services traditionally provided by internal IT departments will be increasingly delivered "over the Net" via supply chains composed of multiple external service providers.

Editor's note: Assertion #32 from the Cutter Technology Council states, "There will be an increasing move to highly dynamic business-to-business (B2B) relationships." This assertion will be debated in an upcoming Council Opinion.

Editor's note: Assertion #32 from the Cutter Technology Council states, "There will be an increasing move to highly dynamic business-to-business (B2B) relationships." This assertion will be debated in an upcoming Council Opinion.

Without a great deal of fanfare, instant messaging (IM) has become a major interest area for a good many companies. Like so many technologies, it slipped under the corporate radar as part of the Internet, disguised as a way to let teenagers and retired people talk to each other. Somewhere along the line, it became obvious that millions of people were using IM to send billions of messages each day.

Without a great deal of fanfare, instant messaging (IM) has become a major interest area for a good many companies. Like so many technologies, it slipped under the corporate radar as part of the Internet, disguised as a way to let teenagers and retired people talk to each other. Somewhere along the line, it became obvious that millions of people were using IM to send billions of messages each day.

A year or two ago, dot-coms could do no wrong. They were new-breed companies, or so we were told; the next stage in business evolution, as far advanced over industrial-age firms as homo sapiens were above their primitive primate ancestors. This was, of course, nonsense.

A year or two ago, dot-coms could do no wrong. They were new-breed companies, or so we were told; the next stage in business evolution, as far advanced over industrial-age firms as homo sapiens were above their primitive primate ancestors. This was, of course, nonsense.

Project managers (PMs) often complain that they are continually being surprised by the unexpected. A common gripe: "If I had known about the situation even a month ago, the whole thing could have easily been resolved. Now, my only options are bad and worse. Why doesn't anyone ever tell me about these things when I can do something about them?"

Project managers (PMs) often complain that they are continually being surprised by the unexpected. A common gripe: "If I had known about the situation even a month ago, the whole thing could have easily been resolved. Now, my only options are bad and worse. Why doesn't anyone ever tell me about these things when I can do something about them?"

Project managers (PMs) often complain that they are continually being surprised by the unexpected. A common gripe: "If I had known about the situation even a month ago, the whole thing could have easily been resolved. Now, my only options are bad and worse. Why doesn't anyone ever tell me about these things when I can do something about them?"

Project managers (PMs) often complain that they are continually being surprised by the unexpected. A common gripe: "If I had known about the situation even a month ago, the whole thing could have easily been resolved. Now, my only options are bad and worse. Why doesn't anyone ever tell me about these things when I can do something about them?"