Life's Achievement..

Information is the lifeblood of any organization. Damaged or lost data can cause disruptions in normal business activities leading to financial losses and lawsuits. Information systems, which comprise hardware, software, data, applications, communication and people, help an organization to better manage and secure its critical corporate, customer and employee data. Information systems also improve integration and work processes.

The role of information system in an organization is to monitor and document the operations of systems, which are called target systems. An information system owes its existence to the target system. For example, production activities would be the target system for a production scheduling information system; human resources would be the target system of a human resource information system. It could be that every reactive system may have a subsystem that can be considered as an information system whose objective is to monitor and control such a system. The main functions of an information system may be input, processing, output, storage and control.

Outsourcing vs. Insourcing:

Outsourcing began in the early eighties when organizations started delegating their non-core functions to an external organization that was specialized in providing a particular service, function or product. In outsourcing, the external organization would take on the management of the outsourced function.

Most organizations choose outsourcing because outsourcing offers a lot of advantages. When organizations outsource to countries like India, they benefit from lower costs and high-quality services. Moreover organizations can concentrate more on core functions once they outsource their non-core functions. Outsourcing can also help organizations make better use of their resources, time and infrastructure.

In outsourcing, the outsourcer and the outsourcing partner have a greater relationship when compared to the relationship between a buyer and a seller. In outsourcing, the outsourcer trusts the outsourcing partner with vital information. Outsourcing is no longer confined to the outsourcing of IT services. Most organizations are opting to outsource because outsourcing enables organizations to access intellectual capital, focus on core competencies, shorten the delivery cycle time and reduce costs significantly. Organizations feel outsourcing is an effective business strategy to help improve their business.

The opposite of outsourcing can be defined as Insourcing. When an organization delegates its work to another entity, which is internal yet not a part of the organization, it is termed as insourcing. The internal entity will usually have a specialized team who will be proficient in the providing the required services. Organizations sometimes opt for insourcing because it enables them to maintain a better control of what they outsource. Insourcing has also come to be defined as transferring work from one organization to another organization which is located within the same country. Insourcing can also mean an organization building a new business centre or facility which would specialize in a particular service or product.

Organizations involved in production usually opt for insourcing in order to cut down the cost of labor and taxes amongst others. Organizations who have been dissatisfied with outsourcing have moved towards insourcing. Some organizations feel that they can have better customer support and better control over the work outsourced by insourcing their work rather than outsourcing it. According to recent studies, there is more wok insourced than outsourced in the U.S and U.K. These countries are currently the largest outsourcers in the world. The U.S and U.K outsource and insource work equally.

If an organization has a number of non-core processes which are taking plenty of time, effort and resources to perform in-house, it would be wise to outsource these non-core functions. Outsourcing in this case, would help save on time, effort, and manpower and would also be aid in making quicker deliveries to customers. For reducing costs and making faster deliverables, outsourcing is again a good option.

If the work involves production, then it would be more ideal for the organization opt for insourcing, as it can save on transportation costs and exercise a better control over your project.

If given a chance to point out my opinion regarding outsourcing or insourcing in our university,I may choose to have it insource. We all know that the university is a public institution. Money is kinda a big issue when it comes to some implementations. Since outsourcing cost much, it would be a lot better if the university had an insource system since it lessens cost. . The university has good programmers that can do all the systems needed by the university. Why not give them the responsibility to do such system that definitely helps the university. They are competent enough and thus have enough knowledge when it comes in making and maintaining the Information Systems. They are definitely familiar with the flow of the system they come up with. So when problem arise, they can easily solve it since they are the ones who made it. They can always do better and develop their ideas. We all know that in outsourcing the time the system’s down, security and data integrity is then lost. Since the one using that system doesn’t have the knowledge to solve the problem, then it’s a hassle on their part because they cannot solve it alone. With in sourcing of course they surely deal with the problems easily and can secure the data thoroughly.


Reference:
http://www.outsource2india.com/why_india/articles/outsourcing-versus-insourcing.asp