Strategic Sourcing

Butler Group emphasises the point that a poorly focused IT department cannot hope to take advantage of new technologies that can give the business a competitive edge. It is much better to outsource the routine IT processes to a specialist provider, and to concentrate on those added-value areas that lie at the heart of the business. This may indeed extend to the entire IT function, where the operation of this business unit can best be managed by a third-party with the appropriate breadth of services and IT expertise.

Companies of all sizes are recognising that IT is a utility, a service provided to the business in the same way as any other. How it works is no longer an issue, provided it does the job required, and where a third-party can provide or manage a service more efficiently, it is prudent to follow that route. Butler Group believes that sourcing will show strong and steady growth in the period to 2005, and that every company should make a careful assessment to determine which of its services can profitably be delivered by an external provider.