New Frontiers in Global IS Outsourcing
Abstract
Editor's Desk Vikas Jain, The University of Tampa, USA, vjain@ut.edu Yogesh K. Dwivedi, Swansea University, Wales, UK, ykdwivedi@grnail.com Vishanth Weerakkody, Brunel University, UK vishanth.weerakkody@brunel.ac.uk The phenomenon of outsourcing is not new. Outsourcing of product manufacturing to low cost destinations has been around for many decades while IS outsourcing has grown over the last two decades. IS outsourcing became very attractive during the latter part of the 2oth century to organizations facing financial difficulties imposed by the economic downturn in the early 1990s and the dot.com crisis in the late 1990s. The most salient message, 'cost reduction through outsourcing' attracted the senior executives of many organizations in the West. Over years, IS outsourcing has matured with outsourcing providers moving up the value chain by not only providing low cost solutions but also the services required to support core business operations. With the Internet and an array of other digital media that facilitate cost effective communication, many IS outsourcing arrangement have now moved offshore as the coordination and management of these contracts have become much easier. This trend has created new opportunities for companies to leverage competencies available off-shore. The globalization of outsourcing operations has resulted in new terms such as