Abstract
Outsourcing is a subject of much attention and controversy in the modern business landscape, due to far-reaching
ramifications into matters such as politics, economics, legal, and human resources. Given such wide exposure,
ensuring the success of outsourcing projects seems a worthwhile pursuit. This paper presents a study focused on
Information Technology (IT) outsourcing, which entails full or partial transfer of ownership of IT-related processes
to a vendor, supposedly to achieve business benefits such as cheaper costs, economies of scale, and increased
efficiency. This said, can all processes be outsourced? Are some processes meant to be kept in-house? To what
extent do the overarching strategies and motivations behind an outsourcing decision influence the outsourcing
delivery models and eventually the performance of outsourcing projects?
Regardless of the specifics of an outsourcing project, there seems to be a dearth of tried, tested and repeatable
blueprints guiding the decision-making throughout the outsourcing journey. The aim of this paper is two-fold:
a) Present the finding of a study towards a conceptual model for IT outsourcing;
b) Illustrate how a conceptual model can be validated with empirical data, towards an enhanced model;
Data was collected from 20 outsourcing professionals via structured questionnaire derived from the conceptual
model for successful outsourcing. Data was then analysed through data visualization and findings were contrasted
against the initial literature review. Knowledge gaps identified were applied to the conceptual model and the
enhanced model was proposed as a result.