Information System
IT department is an indispensible department in an organization, and the idea of outsourcing IT services always has a considerable impact on both the organization and employees. It is always believed that outsourcing ultimately leads to a distinct advantage over the performing services of an in-house, and the advantages accrue from facets such as price, quality of services and flexibility (Wijers &Verhoef, 2009). Also, a company can realize notable and a significant increase in profits, improved operations and ameliorated markets (Wijers &Verhoef, 2009). However, there a plethora of disadvantages accompanied with outsourcing, and Wijers and Verhoef (2009), affirm that outsourcing is typically attached to drastic and unforeseen effects on a business, as well, the benefits of outsourcing are difficult to quantify analytically. Further it is highly recommendable that a company maintains its IT department, despite a financial crisis, ascribed to the fact that In-house IT professionals are in a better position of understanding and implementing strategic developments of the business (Wijers &Verhoef, 2009).
The primary negative impingements of outsourcing to workers are the loss of their jobs, which amounts to loss of talents and technical expertise within the organization (Wijers &Verhoef, 2009). Moreover, the retained IT professional may also feel betrayed or unappreciated, leading to demotivated and demoralized workers, hence poor performance (Wijers &Verhoef, 2009). Outsourcing also puts the confidentiality and security of the company at risk, and in tandem to this, there is increased potential for misuse of confidential information, and increased difficulties in protecting other people’s confidentiality, highly exhibited through access of personal files and customer data (Wijers &Verhoef, 2009). Furthermore, there will be substantial loss of control over physical and electronic security (Wijers &Verhoef, 2009). Loss of flexibility, control, and escalating cost as business changes, are also some of the damaging effects of outsourcing IT services (Wijers &Verhoef, 2009).
Apart from the disadvantages of outsourcing, the IT department also serves and plays a crucial role in a business. As stated, In-house IT professionals are in a proficient berth of apprehending and implementing strategic developments of the business (Wijers &Verhoef, 2009). Moreover, the IT department understands how to best support the business, deciding between implementing new systems versus upgrading the new ones, and selecting packages versus creating custom systems, which would otherwise not be done effectively by an outsourced personnel (Baschab & Piot, 2007). Similarly, the IT department also possess adept professional ethics, which is in accordance to the policies that govern the administration of the company, and this enhances privacy and information security of the firm (Baschab & Piot, 2007).
In-house IT professionals are also in a position of offering technical services to the organization that encompasses generation of new software and upgrading of the existing of software, withal any immediate monetary benefits, unlike the outsourced personnel who are majorly employed to render services without any forms of innovation (Baschab & Piot, 2007). In addition, maintaining an in-house IT department is relatively cheaper compared to outsourcing in the long run (Baschab & Piot, 2007). This is attributed to the potentiality of the organization to manage the IT budget and expenditure, which allows the organization to cut cost where necessary, and this is dissimilar to cases where the services are outsourced, since the costs of outsourcing are fixed and occasionally prone to changes (Baschab & Piot, 2007).
Concisely, it is utterly obvious that maintaining an IT department will propel the achievement of quality success more often than outsourcing. It is also evident that most jobs will be retained, thence reducing the levels of unemployment. Conventionally, confidentiality and security of the company will also be maintained, since there are no external sources or people who will access the highly profiled information of the organization. Nevertheless, containing the financial constrains of the organizations may take a bit longer when retaining the IT department compared to when outsourcing is implemented.
References
Baschab, J. & Piot, J. (2007). The Executive's Guide to Information Technology (2nd Ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Wijers, G. &Verhoef, D. (2009). It Outsourcing: Contracting the Partner, Part 1. Zaltbommel: Van Haren Publishing.
