A New Take on Outsourcing

Filed in archive Opinions & Insights on September 5, 2006

To go to a global management structure you need to knit them all together. The more we drive standardized work, processes, and infrastructure, the less complexity we will have.

This was the statement given by General Motors in regards to the way they view their outsourcing deals. It has a point right?

Some firms treat outsourcing as something that would contribute to the company's cost-cutting strategy. Though that is the case, some firms do not share this kind of opinion. One example of this would be the company, General Motors.

For the firm General Motors, outsourcing is more than a cost-cutting strategy, it is a way of life. Just to give you a little background, General Motors (GM) has been outsourcing their tech functions since 1996 through their IT subsidiary, Electronic Data Systems. Ever since engaging in this type of business strategy, GM has also been drawing contracts with other IT suppliers like IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Capgemini.

I believe that changing one's perspective of things would have an effect in the outcome of the said project and yes, this also includes outsourcing.