Strategic involvement of information and communication technologies in outsourcing

Purpose To portrait the utilisation of information and communication technology in off-shore outsourcing and raise questions for debate, hypotheses for verifications, and ideas for the improvement. Design/methodology/approach An explorative qualitative study with a research framework designed to answer the questions regarding strategic considerations and implications, outcomes and future.

The authors have conducted twelve semi-structured interviews with relevant executives from twelve companies. Findings Contemporary ICT solutions help companies involved in off-shore outsourcing to achieve competitive advantages, but companies seem to realise that a bit late, during the implementation phase.

Intentional and unintentional negative side effects of off-shore outsourcing could have been avoided if ICT has been thoroughly considered by top management in the initiation phase. The ICT enabled outsourcing have significant role in innovating business models of companies. However, the technological islands of application are not converging, at least not with desirable pace.

Future off-shore outsourcing will comprehend more R&D activities, and spread throughout the whole business process. Existence of integrated IT solutions will stimulate, while documenting and standardising business processes will further fructify ICT's utilisation in outsourcing. Research limitations Limited number of companies makes generalisation difficult.

There is a certain number of factors that influence success of off-shore outsourcing, and the research doesn’t distinguish whether successful consideration and implementation of ICT is one of them. Practical implications Findings argue for appropriate consideration of ICT in the initiation phase of outsourcing.

If so, companies can avoid negative side-effects of outsourcing, create new business opportunities and innovate business concepts. Originality/value Initial study to raise questions for debate, hypotheses for verifications, and ideas for improvement