Outsource Magazine Issue 34 - (Page 68)

ROUNDTABLE IS INFRASTRUCTURE NECESSARY? In November, Outsource co-hosted a breakfast roundtable with IBM, addressing the question "Is Infrastructure Necessary?" This intentionally provocative title proved to be the inspiration for a very wide-ranging discussion; the attendees - comprising senior IT professionals from a broad sweep of verticals and differently sized businesses and public sector organisations - were all generally in agreement that infrastructure of some kind was of course vital, but the nature of that infrastructure, its composition and who should bear the responsibility for managing it, were all open to debate. O utsource editor Jamie Liddell, chairing the discussion, opened by inviting the participants to address the question of whether or not they thought it was even possible, considering the complexity of the technology available, to keep infrastructure in-house. A delineation was quickly drawn between network and connectivity, on the one hand, and a broader deﬁnition of infrastructure including cloud capability - and within that broader deﬁnition, while the organisations represented at the table had taken a variety of different approaches to what is kept internally and what is outsourced, a general consensus was reached that a great deal of activity is bound to be transferred to third-party operation either as a result of cost parameters or as a consequence of the organisation's desire to focus upon core competencies (though, again, there were a number of different deﬁnitions as to what comprises "core"). One of the guests - working for a major UK retailer - summed it up thus: "For us it's a question of 'can we make it add up?' Consendre mod eugait alit luptati sisisisit augait num iusti facidunt ipsumsan el eraestrud exerat ad onulla cor ing eumsandre ex elit "I believe in infrastructure." - Mick Cornett atetue tet ulla feu feum niamconEm ea commodiam ad tem dolortio Utat lum quisim et, quissi.Volobore m iurero dolobore. 68 ● ● www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk http://www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Outsource Magazine Issue 34

Challenges and Champions
Outsourcing in a Troubled Economic Environment
Richard Jones
High Stakes
In Transition
The Bigger Picture
Numbers, Numbers Everywhere...
NOA Round-Up
Struggling To Get Through?
International Commercial Disputes In Outsourcing Agreements
Is Infrastructure Necessary?
Global Freelance Platforms Grow Up
Trumping Price – Only with Best value
Kerry Hallard
Technology Investment in 2014
Water Will Always Find A Way
The Right Time Is Now
You, Robot?
The Legal View
Top Ten
NelsonHall Round-Up
Online Round-Up
The Deal Doctor
Inside Source
The Last Word

Outsource Magazine Issue 34