There is an emergence and an emerging dominance of specialist suppliers. Buyers now are faced with an important, strategic choice in selecting the right vendor. Best in class . . . single integrator . . . which carries the best chance of success?
Systems and Computer Technology Corp. (SCT) is a single integrator with a focus. Even though it is a single integrator they only operate in four distinct markets: higher education, utilities, local government and process manufacturing, says Deirdre Wielgus, VP of cross industry services.
Though a company may perform a single function it doesn’t necessarily entitle the company to the best-in-class moniker, says Jim McAloon, outsourcing consultant at Hewitt, a human resources (HR) firm.
The information technology (IT) department at Geon, a compound company, has consolidated many of its help desk functions under the roof of a sole outsourcer – Compaq – over the last three years…
Customers are beginning to move away from best-in-class providers and towards a total solutions approach as more suppliers expand their offerings, says Stephen T. McClellan, securities analyst at Merrill Lynch.
Legal Voice:Traversing through the many benefits that both single integrators and best-in-class providers offer, hard lines as to which methodology a company should choose to use are difficult to find and may be nonexistent. The bouquet of benefits and disadvantages of the two tactics weigh pretty evenly when placed upon the outsourcing scale.
Outsourcing changes are usually linked to developments in the computer industry. In the past, mainframe operations have been the dominant way in which a company runs its information technology (IT). So consequently, outsourcing has drifted towards farming out entire computer centers. With more decentralized operations, such as LANs and WANs, the possibilities of selective outsourcing has become reality, opening the door to multiple vendors and the outsourcing of different environments. This leads to the question of whether to choose best-in-class providers or single integrators.
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