Impact Sourcing
We define impact sourcing as the practice of hiring and training marginalized individuals to
provide information technology, business process, or other digitally-enabled services who
normally would have few opportunities for good employment. Our definition uses the term
“marginalized” because it includes other factors than just poverty. Marginalized individuals
are individuals relegated or confined to a lower or outer limit or edge of social standing.
Individuals might be marginalized because of income, but also because of education, race,
religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, location, or other criteria (Carmel, Lacity, and
Doty 2014).
Impact sourcing comprises an ecosystem of different stakeholders, including the impact
sourcing organizations (impact sourcers), employees of impact sourcers, communities where
employees reside, and clients of impact sourcing services (Accenture 2012). Your group
should use primary and secondary data to explore three impact sourcers. For each case,
explore:
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What is the history of the organization?
What is the mission of the organization?
What marginalized population is the impact sourcer trying to uplift?
What services does it provide?
Who are its customers?
What is the value proposition to customers?
How are marginalized people recruited and trained?
How has employment affected their lives?
Impact
Sourcer
Founded
Sample Case Studies of Impact Sourcers
Targeted
Primary
Location
Case Study References
Marginalized Services
Individuals
Cayuse
Technologies
2006
Native
Americans
ITO (~35%)
BPO
(~65%)
Reservation of
the
Confederated
Tribe of the
Umatilla Indian
Reservation
near Pendleton
Oregon (USA)
CloudFactory
2008
poverty
ITO
Nepal
http://www.cloudfactory.com/socialmission
2001
Unemployed
high school
graduates ready
for work/study
program
BPO
Cambodia,
Laos, Kenya
Accenture (2012)
Poverty
BPO
India
http://head-held-high.org/
US War
BPO
Virginia (USA)
Found on the web
Digital Divide
Data
Held Held
High
Liberty
n/a
Accenture (2012); Lacity et al.
(2012)
Source
Maharishi
Institute
n/a
Matrix Global
2004
Onshore
Outsourcing
2005
Per-Scholas
n/a
RuralShores
Veterans
Disadvantaged
populations with
high school
diploma
Ultraorthodox
“haredi” Jewish
women
“No-collar”
individuals in
rural community
BPO
Johannesburg,
South Africa
Accenture (2012)
ITO
Modi’in, Israel
Lacity et al. (2012)
ITO
Macon,
Missouri (USA)
Lacity et al. (2010; 2012)
Poverty
ITO
NYC (USA)
2008
Disadvantaged
populations
BPO
Samasource
2008
Bottom of the
Pyramid
BPO
(microwork)
TechnoBrain
n/a
Poor and
vulnerable
populations
ITO
BPO
TxtEagle
n/a
Urban workers
with high school
education
BPO
(microwork)
UNICOR
1930s
US prisoners
BPO
Multiple centers
in rural India
Headquarters
in San
Francisco, 16
delivery centers
with partners in
Haiti, Kenya,
India,
Cameroon,
Zambia,
Uganda
Nairobi, Kenya,
Uganda
China, India,
Latin America,
Southeast Asia,
Africa
Several Federal
US Prisons
Found on the web:
http://www.liberty-source.com/
The Monitor Group/Rockefeller
Foundation (2011)
Gino and Staats (2012); Lacity et
al. (2012); The Monitor Group/
Rockefeller Foundation (2011)
Accenture (2012)
The Monitor Group/
Rockefeller Foundation (2011)
Lacity et al. (2014)
The Rockefeller Foundation has been the leading global institution promoting impact sourcing
through its Digital Jobs Africa Initiative. The Rockefeller Foundation supported three reports
by The Monitor Group (2011), Avasant (2012), and Everest (2014).
REFERENCES:
Accenture (2012), “Exploring the Value Proposition from Impact Sourcing: The Buyer’s Perspective,” available at
http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-exploring-value-proposition-impact-sourcing.aspx
Avasant/Rockefeller Foundation. (2012), Incentives & Opportunities for Scaling the “Impact Sourcing” Sector,
2012. Corporate report by Avasant consultancy. Retrieved from
http://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/news/publications/incentives-opportunities-scaling
Carmel, E., Lacity, M., and Doty, A. (2014), “The Impact of Impact Sourcing: Framing a Research Agenda,”
in Information Systems Outsourcing: Towards Sustainable Business Value, (eds. Hirschheim, R., Heinzl, A.,
and Dibbern, J.), Springer, Heidelberg, pp. 397-430.
Everest Group (2014), The Business Case for Impact Sourcing http://www.everestgrp.com/2014-09-thebusiness-case-for-impact-sourcing-sherpas-in-blue-shirts-15662.html
Gino, F., and Staats, B. (2012), “The Microwork Solution,” Harvard Business Review, Vol. 90, 12, pp. 92-96.
Heeks, R. (2012). A Model for Assessing IT Impact Sourcing Relationships; Web paper Retrieved from
http://ict4dblog.wordpress.com/tag/socially-responsible-outsourcing/ 2012b.
Heeks, R., Gao, P., & Ospina, A. (2010), “Delivering coherent ICT policies in developing countries,”
eDevelopment Briefing Papers, Vol. 14, pp., 1-4. Retrieved from
http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/research/publications/wp/di/short/CDIBriefing14PolicyCoherence.pdf
Heeks, R. (2012), “The Research Agenda for IT Impact Sourcing, blog. ICTs for Development,” Web paper
2012a.Retrieved from http://ict4dblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/06/the-research-agenda-for-it-impactsourcing/
Heeks, R., and S Arun. (2010), “Social outsourcing as a development tool: the impact of outsourcing IT
services to women's social enterprises in Kerala,” Journal of International Development, Vol. 22, 4, pp. 441454
Lacity, M., Rottman, J., and Carmel, E. (2012), Emerging ITO and BPO Markets: Rural Sourcing and Impact
Sourcing, IEEE Readynotes, IEEE Computer Society.
Lacity, M., Rottman, J., and Carmel, E. (2014), “Impact Sourcing: Employing Prison Inmates to Perform
Digitally-enabled Business Services,” Communications of the AIS, Vol. 34, Article 51.