20151221-Bain-Taming_the_Hydra_Keeping_Control_in_Multisourced_IT_Environments_8页_744kb

The article "Taming the Hydra: Keeping control in multisourced IT environments" examines the challenges and solutions for organizations managing IT services from multiple suppliers. It highlights that while multisyndinating IT allows for cost savings and access to best-of-breed technologies, it risks loss of control over critical functions. The authors argue that organizations must retain four core IT capabilities internally for effective management: overall architecture and design, operational service management, change delivery, and proactive vendor management. These capabilities ensure necessary control, security, and flexibility in a multisyndication model. The article discusses reasons to avoid outsourcing these functions, such as maintaining business-intimacy, achieving consistent technology strategy, avoiding vendor lock-in, gaining visibility into performance, aligning risk, enabling flexibility to change, promoting common delivery methods, and fostering vendor independence. Specific challenges include the absence of a single point of accountability and the need for robust internal IT skills to coordinate suppliers and deliver reliable services. Bain & Company advises companies to build internal expertise, with IT staff potentially increasing to 15% of the workforce, to support this model, emphasizing that these capabilities reduce changes from defects, promote innovation, and can be tailored over time to meet evolving business needs. The multisyndication approach is presented as a smarter alternative to traditional outsourcing, but requires careful management to avoid negative consequences like suboptimal trade-offs or reduced competitive tension through proper vendor relationship strategies.