Mainframe Outsourcing Misconception #2: My Staff Doesn’t Have the Time, Objectivity or Skills to Plan and Implement the Outsourcing Decision

Another popular misconception about outsourcing, this one often has some basis in fact.  These days, staffing in IT departments, especially in mainframe and midrange systems, is very lean.  Technical staffers are often carrying the workload that was once supported by a greater number of personnel and, as a result, lack the time to do the important work of transition planning.  Some staff may even feel threatened by the outsourcing strategy or conflicted about supporting the decision.

Truth be told, experienced and professional mainframe outsourcing vendors understand the implementation hurdles and can perform the preponderance of the work preparing for and implementing the outsourcing arrangement.  Your staff’s involvement in planning and transitioning workload to the outsourcing arrangement may well be limited.  They may need to help collect technical details for defining the workload, be involved in the planning of the migration, and of course, they will be required to test the systems during the migration process.  Taken together, these activities may represent less than 10% of the overall transition workload.

Posted by Adrian