Information System Outsourcing; Risks, and Risk Management Practices: An Investigation into Some Selected Higher Learning Institutions (Hlis) in Ethiopia
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Date
2010-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: IS outsourcing was one of the major business trends of the 1990s, and remains
an important topic. Today, it is a much talked about topic. Organizations view outsourcing as
a way to achieve strategic goals, reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction and provide
efficiency and effectiveness improvements. However, like any organizational decision,
outsourcing is not free of risk and requires effective management from the outset of the
outsourcing evaluation through the life of the contractual relationship.
Objective: The main objective of this study was to investigate risks associated with
Information Systems (ISs) outsourcing and the management of these risks within the context
of HLIs in Ethiopia.
Method: The research follows a qualitative research method. For this reason, the research
result draws largely from the analysis of the interviews conducted with the various
stakeholders in the IS outsourcing process (i.e. executives and other committee members
(such as, domain experts and users). After analyzing the interviews, an inductive qualitative
research approach was used to draw conclusions.
Results: The findings revealed that although respondents of the surveyed HLIs in the country
understand what outsourcing information system is about, all the surveyed HLIs have no
documented and structured outsourcing strategy or/and policy, program and as well as risk
management frameworks for IS outsourcing projects. As a result, their risk management
practices depend largely on intuition and previous experience. Furthermore, the findings also
revealed that that agreements on SLA requirements and the achievements of these
requirements have a paramount significance in the performance monitoring of the outsourced
IS functions.
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Keywords
Information System Outsourcing