IT Outsourcing, Challenges during takeoff

 An organization may outsource IT work for many reasons. The most important event is the transition period.

Based on the size of the organization and the scope of IT outsourcing, the quantum of preparatory work will be different. But the process involved in preparation is same.

Simple, three step process

1. Setup the TM team.  The Transition Management team. It is essential to have a small team, from IT department as well as the concerned user department. The team members must be capable of transferring the required data to the new IT sourcing team. Must also work on a dedicated basis, to ensure timely roll out.
2. Draw out the transition plan. Use WBS (Work Breakdown Structure) for best results.  Ensure that the plan that is drawn is an integrated one.  Using the WBS, it will be easier to ensure that all steps are on paper.  It may involve, data transfer, status report hand over, shifting of full servers (if servers are being outsourced to a data center) etc, depending on what activity is being outsourced. Accordingly, the WBS may be a big tree with lot of details. It is essential to expand to fully till the leaf, to get best results during transition.
   The plan should be clear and specify a simple matrix giving activities in the proper sequence and the person responsible. The activity list itself should ensure that all dependencies are taken into account.
3. Implementation. Once the plan is ready, implementation will be a cake walk. On the day of transition, a brief shut down of the old systems / process / servers is done, data transferred and then ported to the new structure. Usually this is done during off days to have least disturbance, or if not avoidable, a couple of days break is taken and then a catch up is done to come on line (ERP Implementation).

With all of the above points, to deliver a well organized transition you might take note of this helpful note – Plan your work. Work your plan.