The art of business relies heavily on making choices. The people who are entrusted with leadership positions in companies are generally those who have shown to be skillful in their evaluation of alternatives and demonstrate the ability to select the right people, markets, and offerings to succeed.
One of my early bosses gave me some great advice as I was assuming greater management responsibility. He said, "You may think that every decision you make is essential to get right but the fact of the matter is that you'll make only two or three truly critical decisions each year. The key to success is knowing which decisions are essential to get right".
Outsourcing is also about choice. It is the choice to position a company to grow or contract, to get to market quicker or to slow down and stabilize operations.
Rarely are there any "right" answers, but merely choices that determine a direction and a re-sourcing model to achieve an objective.
It's about people, paying for performance, updating skills quickly and cost effectively, and about turning your largest fixed cost into one that is largely variable. It's about the choice of connecting technology to the service of internal and external customers.
Outsourcing evaluations force dialog and a committed effort from both clients and service providers to get it right. It forces both parties to recognize the business costs related to making change. If done properly, it creates new and innovative sources of capabilities to help achieve change.
Having a choice means that there are alternatives. The decision regarding outsourcing is one that warrants taking the time to get right - whether you do it, or not.
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