Smart Sourcing in IT: The Key to Agile and Future-Proof Tech

In today’s digital age, organizations have encountered new challenges that require modern solutions to solve their clients’ increasing needs. In many cases, these issues were addressed by inefficient legacy technologies, making the shift to work-from-home more difficult and time-consuming.

As a result, numerous organizations have started digital projects, accelerating the adoption of cloud services. In doing so, many have understood the necessity of managing their IT infrastructure differently to access appropriate services for their individual needs in the right way and at the right time. A new phenomenon known as "smart sourcing" has emerged as they continue to redesign the role of IT in their businesses.

Smart sourcing is the strategic way of taking control of their IT infrastructure by making the right and competent decisions for organizations to become more agile and flexible in managing their IT estates. This ultimately enables them the freedom to innovate rapidly as technology constantly advances.

Growing shift towards smart sourcing

Many industries view IT outsourcing as a preferred solution since it lowers risk and costs while increasing production and efficiency. However, many organizations have learned that, while outsourcing can bring them the required performance in the short-term, retaining key knowledge is vitally important over the long-term to avoid the vicious cycle of reducing capability and increasing dependency on third-party providers.

Therefore, the trend is shifting toward insourcing and smart sourcing. This empowers organizations to take control of their technology by upskilling their in-house teams.

This shift has occurred alongside a significant drive to take up cloud services. While not all organizational executives agree with the 'cloud-first' approach, the majority understand the cloud's inherent significance in their goals. As a result, many organizations are now transferring specific sets of data and applications into public and private cloud repositories. The pandemic has pushed this tendency to the point where it is improbable that any public sector organization has not investigated, or is not looking into, the cloud and the best ways to source its technological requirements.

Getting smarter with IT

The rapid adoption of cloud technology, along with a rising recognition of the necessity of bolstering in-house IT skills, is prompting more firms to consider smart sourcing as a more flexible method that allows for the procurement of the 'best of breed' solutions.

Smart sourcing can provide a fruitful middle ground between fully outsourced and in-house delivery of IT services that maximizes the benefits of both worlds to create a future-proofed technology environment.

It can also assist organizations in determining their ideal combination of cloud platforms, including hybrid and on-premises systems, to establish a multi-cloud strategy that matches their particular needs. It also enables them to balance investment in external and internal skills, paying for the former only when there is real value in doing so, and building up the latter to increase their control over the long-term.

Smart sourcing is a continual process that allows the flexibility and agility demanded in today's digital world. It is a mindset that enables IT leaders to choose the ideal combination of technology services and vendors for their business as their needs change. It requires smart thinking to maximize the plethora of cloud options available – treating multiple suppliers as a menu from which to find the right fit for their organization.

Getting on the road to smart sourcing

One of the first steps to smart sourcing is to map the organization’s current services and technology architecture, including that of any existing outsourcing contract. This watches how it performs and the impact it has on customers, allowing organizations to understand how it may be handled for the best results. A thorough understanding of the organization’s information architecture is also key, along with assessment of the critical or commodity nature of each element. Eventually, as elements change, they affect other parts of the system; knowing exactly which components fit where is critical to getting started.

Secondly, it is vital that organizations ensure that their skills and knowledge are retained and invested in education, especially because keeping a core internal team offers a degree of agility. In the main, smart sourcing is around out tasking and not outsourcing so knowledge is rarely impacted.

Choosing the right path for your organization

In conclusion, while major advances in technology and business management can create new opportunities, no single method is likely to give the optimal solutions for all firms. Many firms are now realizing that smart sourcing combines the benefits of in-house and third-party capabilities, allowing them to harness the benefits of the cloud services they utilize, such as enhanced scalability and cost savings.

In turn, businesses can have the ease of mind to focus on their strategic goals to innovate in this competitive landscape while still taking control of their IT and achieve high levels of effectiveness.