An
insightful post by John Sloat on Information Week’s Web site uses the
example of Australian airline Qantas (disclosure: a TPI client) to make the
point that today’s information leaders need to be able to juggle their own
homegrown projects with managing multiple, even overlapping, sourcing relations
with outside vendors. 
Gone
are the days when CIOs were judged solely on their ability to deliver and
maintain new systems. Now the performance review measures whether the CIO can
balance a technology strategy with a comprehensive “resourcing” plan to deliver
the Three Cs: topflight Capabilities, desired Capacity and best Cost.
Few
companies believe they can get all three without turning to outside providers,
which is how CIOs took on the extra responsibility of managing a portfolio of
external resources.
From
my vantage, the progressive CIOs are dedicating significant time to their
resourcing strategies, trying to get everything in line with the overall
business plan.
Any astute CIO knows that outsourcing has to be considered as a
service-delivery option. It certainly is the appropriate choice when an
external firm can do a job better than you can. But the hard work only begins
at this point. Managing the seams between outsourced service and internal
function is more art than science.
Look for the stock of the most artful CIOs to keep climbing.
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