IT and the Big Picture: Send out the day-to-day stuff
By Charles Oakley, ISG Solutions, Rockville MD
The following article was
published in Association Trends, June 24, 2005.
Outsourcing IT services is not the practice of sending software development overseas to India or China. Rather, it involves hiring a company to handle day-to-day IT tasks such as:
- Ensuring that firewalls, virus checking and other security software packages are up-to-date, with the latest patches installed.
- Installing software and operating system upgrades, and
- Resolving problems with e-mail or access to the Internet.
Tasks like these can cause huge headaches for assn IT directors, taking time and scarce resources away from more strategic projects. Outsourcing these tasks helps assns in several ways:
Resolve IT recruitment and retention issues. Recruiting and retaining technology professionals is an on-going challenge for most assns, which too often cannot pay as well as the private sector. Outsourcing vendors can justify having IT experts in a wider variety of areas (networking, security, databases, specific applications) than could be cost-justified for most assns. Assns can then take advantage of this expertise when needed without having to hire full-time staff.
Free up staff to focus on core issues. Turning over mundane IT services and maintenance tasks, such as upgrading software or ensuring that security patches are up-to-date, allows assn IT staff to devote more attention to strategic issues such as implementing new Web initiatives or delivering new products and services to members.
Enhance availability, performance and reliability of mission-critical applications. Assns often find that by drawing on the facilities, processes and expertise of their vendors, they can more easily implement best practices in data management, security, application management, backup procedures, and disaster recovery. This reduces downtime and ensures that staff have access to the data and systems they need to get their jobs done.
One assn that takes advantage of IT outsourcing is the National Recreation and Park Association. NRPA has outsourced management of its iMIS database, Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains accounting software and its web site to ISG Solutions, Rockville MD.
NRPA's primary goal was to ensure that its products and services were available to members 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ed Zier, director of information technology at NRPA, had previously spent 25 years as VP of operations at the US Chamber and was well aware of what resources were needed to ensure that level of availability. "We made a decision [at NRPA] to outsource our most critical business applications with a reliable hosted provider because we simply could not support it by ourselves in terms of existing infrastructure and staff."
NRPA has found it convenient to be able to make one call when there is a problem. This minimizes the amount of time NRPA staff devote to resolving IT issues in-house, and virtually eliminates having to deal with finger-pointing among vendors. "We have a single point of contact that owns any problem," Zier said. Once a problem as been reported, the outsourcing vendor takes responsibility for reaching resolution.
While ISG Solutions offers outsourced management of iMIS and other specific applications, outsourcing vendors like DelCor Technologies, Silver Spring MD, offer management that extends to desktop workstations, an assn's network, and even to PDAs. Most vendors provide considerable flexibility in defining what to outsource, allowing each assn to tailor a program that fits its unique needs.
When evaluating outsourcing vendors, assns should consider several key issues:
- Has the company invested in its own facilities or does it lease from other businesses?
- Are its facilities and systems up-to-date?
- What are its policies regarding data management, upgrades, backups, and security?
- What types of technical expertise can the vendor offer, and what certifications do the company's engineers have?
- What kind of service level agreement does the company offer?
- How much experience does the company have with associations?
- If the relationship does not work out, what are the company's exit policies?
Since computer software, systems, e-mail and Internet access are now essential to the smooth running of an assn, it's important to choose a vendor that becomes a trusted partner. Working closely together, outsourcing vendors and IT directors can provide the most cost-effective management and maintenance of an assn's computer systems.
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