Researching IS and IT - from Outsourcing to Control of Key Projects
Jinfo Blog

By Robin Neidorf

Abstract

Our recent research into "Relationships Between Information Services and IT" shed light onto areas from outsourcing to control of key projects and reporting lines. Robin Neidorf picks out some highlights.

Item

Our recent research into "Relationships Between Information Services and IT" generated many interesting insights into areas such as:

• Which departments "own" areas such as content purchasing and intranet management

• Where in the organisation IT reports

• Whether any IT or IS services are outsourced

• How staff can best build good relationships with IT.

105 respondents from professional services, biotech and pharma, government agencies, manufacturing and finance, as well as a handful in public and academic libraries completed the survey with individuals working in a wide range of departments, from corporate affairs to information services, IT and enterprise integration.

External Support

Outsourcing was more prevalent in IT (at around 45%) than information services (at around 33%).

• For information services, the most commonly outsourced areas of service are document delivery, cataloging and some research (either specialist like patent searching or to handle overflow capacity)

• For IT, a range of services were reported as outsourced, notably helpdesk, hosting, application development and training.

Who Controls Key Projects?

We gave respondents a list of 12 projects and asked IS to select how much control they have over these projects, on a scale of 1 (no control) to 4 (extensive control). We then asked IT to do the same.

The chart above demonstrates there are some areas where there is significant imbalance of control - and these areas (including intranets, data mining, federated search and discovery) tend to be those where we regularly hear customers venting frustration.

Next Steps

• This original research was carried out in February 2016 as part of our Research Focus, "Strategic Alignment of Information Services and IT" - visit the Focus page to view the complete list of articles, reviews, models and market landscapes produced.

• If your organisation has a Subscription then sign in to MyJinfo to read the full report "Research into Relationships Between IS and IT". Otherwise find out how to start your Jinfo Subscription.

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