Sometimes in business continuity we end up with such a fierce focus on actions inside the enterprise that we neglect actions directed towards the outside world, and specifically towards our customers.
IT servers, enterprise applications, data centres and cloud services might seem world away from other sectors traditionally attracting attention in terms of a ethical sourcing strategy.
The road to IT sourcing nirvana is full of potholes, not to mention the ravines on either side, should you stray from the straight and narrow.
When you shove things higgledy-piggledy into your desk drawer, just to clear space in your workspace, you have a quick solution, you also have a dirty solution, because trying to find the key to your filing cabinet will take you ages afterwards, and Yes, you’ve just experienced technical debt, first hand!
Wait a moment, does it actually make sense to talk about shadow IT and sourcing strategy in the same breath?
Stick to core competence and competitive advantage, and outsource the rest: such has been the mantra of businesses for decades now. The logic is simple. By using external partners specialised in the non-core activities, for example, accounting, logistics and pay, an enterprise can benefit from that partner’s economies of scale and superior expertise. Profits go…