Investigation and Prioritizing Outsourcing of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Projects (Case Study: ICT Infrastructure Projects)

Abstract

Outsourcing IT functions is being developed as a replacement for implementing IT projects or rendering IT services within organizations. Organizations' past experiences in outsourcing indicate that this process poses variety of risks and problems. This study is aimed to identify and prioritize the risks of outsourcing IT infrastructure projects. Classifying risks of outsourcing along with incorporating thematic experts' experiences through the Delphi method, reveals various risks associated with the employer and the contractor as the primary sources of risks as well as general risks and chronological risks which occur in the periods before, during and after contracts. A total of 22 main risks were identified and categorized. Afterwards, based on the opinions obtained from thematic experts and using the Analytic Hierarchy Process, different types of risks were prioritized. The results suggest that those risks arising due to failings of structure and content are more important than those of technical and contextual knowledge.