Gartner Analyst: Stop Outsourcing Now

More outsourcing/offshoring backlash. Check out this interview with Linda Cohen, the Gartner Group's chief of research for outsourcing, in Datamation.

Excerpt:

''Today, outsourcing is applied to basically be a remedy for cost problems or assumed cost problems,'' adds Cohen. ''The thought is if they outsource this, it will be cheaper. And that's not usually the case. We've gotten to a state of compulsive outsourcing. It's this need to outsource because everybody else is doing it... It's keeping up with the Joneses. If my competition is doing it, then we better do more of it.

''When your CEO stops asking, 'Should we be outsourcing this?' and starts asking, 'Why aren't we offshoring this?' or even worse, 'What more could we outsource?'... It's gotten to the point that it's almost a compulsive reaction.''

Breathtaking statistic: Gartner estimates that at least 50% of outsourcing engagements will fail to meet expectations. (I've seen private numbers even higher than that.)

Gartner Analyst: Stop Outsourcing Now (Datamation)