Abstract Many public and private sector organizations are faced with a
growing backlog of software work and an acute shortage of experienced
software personnel with expertise. Software outsourcing is seen as a
solution by many. The authors conducted a survey among all the 50 North
American states on their software outsourcing activities. The authors are
very thankful to all the state agencies for their support and encouragement.
Introduction
Harvard Business Review has identified outsourcing as one of the most important
management ideas and practices of the past seventy-five years. Today, more than 90% of
the organizations outsource one or more activities. To savy executives the real question is
no longer, “should we outsource”, but how best to ensure success in this new outsource
world.
This survey was conducted among all the states in North America about the status of their
software outsourcing in their organizations, how much they knew about software
outsourcing and what additional information they needed to make correct decisions.
