Infrastructure Issues
What are the issues in
acquiring and managing the
IT infrastructure
Strategic Partnerships
Outsourcing, etc.
Installation
Acquisition
RFP and RFQ
benchmarks and penalties
Maintenance
Service
Preventive and restorative maintenance
Outsourcing
Outsourcing of IT
Functions
Traditional Outsourcing: removing IT
from a function for a long term (10 years)
Transitional Outsourcing: using outside
services to move to a new environment
over a short term (1-3 years)
Product Acquisition: purchasing
functionality rather than building it
Outsourcing Difficulties
Contracts are structured for long periods
(10 years is normal)
 Early benefits are clear for the customer; late
benefits to the outsource supplier
(When the benefits start building for the outsourcer, the
customer starts wanting change)
 Few outsourcers large enough for big projects
(EDS, CSC, IBM, AT&T)
 Technology evolution changes strategic IT
relevance
Outsourcing Features
More than half of all firms are considering
some sort of outsourcing activity
Acceptance of strategic alliances
Win-win alliances in many business areas
IT’s changing environment
Focus on networking and integration places
extraordinary pressures on legacy and state
of the art systems management
Outsourcing Drivers
Management concern for cost and
quality
Breakdown in IT performance
Supplier pressures
Simplified Company management
agenda
Financial Factors
Corporate culture
What Happens
Vendor specialists
Current IT organization
Basic services
Request for Proposals
OBJECTIVE: OPEN, FAIR
COMPETITION WITH UNDERSTOOD
CRITERIA
Qualified vendors should be offered an
opportunity to bid.
Intelligence
In-house
Vendors
Consultants
Literature
Similar installations
Review services (Auerbach, DataPro)
RFP Process
First Pass:
Eliminate unacceptable alternatives;
reduce the choices to 2-4 alternatives.
Second Pass:
Select the final product.
Need to publish:
Written requirements
Formal presentation
Don't let vendors run the selection
Evaluation standards
RFP Contents
Introduction
Instructions
Objectives
Contacts
Timetable
System Requirements
Mandatory Requirements
Desirable Features
Evaluation Method
Evaluation Criteria
Features Table
Hard Dollar Evaluations
Soft Dollar Evaluations
Delivery Date
Acceptance Criteria & Penalties
Mandatory Features
Desirable features
Desirable Features
Modularity
Compatibility
Reliability
Maintainability
Vendor Support
Acquisition Strategies
Rent: Short term, complete vendor support,
high cost
Lease: Intermediate term, local support, user
specified equipment
Purchase: Cheaper, total user responsibility
Contract: Full vendor responsibility, contract
sensitive
Validation
Test the proposed system to assure that it
does what you want:
Modeling
Simulation
Benchmarking
Work sample analysis
Managing Product Contracts
You get what you negotiate
Installation is expensive
3%-15% of the installation cost
Ongoing Support
Lease Conditions
By user
By device
Site
Customization
Managing Service Contracts
It depends on what you want
Commodity
Service level agreements
Penalties
Relationship
Dispute resolution
Contracts and incentives
Exit criteria
Copyright 1999 Doug Adams
I thought it might be fun to link our
websites.