Sourcing Markets

Abstract

According to Gartner (2004b), IT infrastructure consolidation and standardization characterized the largest multibillion IT outsourcing contracts during 2003 and 2004 and are expected to continue for the next several years. These contracts are not just exercises in cost reduction necessitated by economic doldrums, but they are also intended to advance clients toward becoming enterprises that are more efficient. The foundation of an IT portfolio is the firm’s information technology infrastructure. This internal IT infrastructure is composed of four elements as was illustrated in Figure 2.3. The presentation of Weill and Vitale’s (2002) work on infrastructure services indicated the number and complexity of services that constitute the IT infrastructure in an organization to enable electronic business. Successfully implementing e-business initiatives depends on having the necessary IT infrastructure in place. E-business initiatives can be decomposed into their underlying atomic e-business models, which can have quite different IT infrastructure requirements.