Consultant Case Study

al. With cloud computing services and enhanced high-speed internet availability in the firm, Schaeffer is now considering the cons and pros of outsourcing its entire IT infrastructure as a whole. Reduced capital expenditure With the decision of outsourcing the IT infrastructure will free Schaeffer from the responsibility of experiencing financial expenditure to set up its IT infrastructure from the scratch. The firm will basically need to experience the operational expenditure towards the expense of utilizing the services provided by the third party. This can be a big advantage to the Schaeffer as a small firm with limited access to capital; it will allow the firm to compete with the other big firms on the equal footing. In addition, the switch will ensure a significant reduction in recurring expenses, which will offer a saving of capital even after considering the outsourcing contract cost.

Greater flexibility Outsourcing the IT infrastructure will provide the firm the freedom to transform to the current technologies by basically switching or renegotiating agreements. A decision that would otherwise have needed a lot of planning can be applied quickly without any adverse consequences risk. The firm can also revert to their original strategy if the shift fails without worrying about the loss of the investment. Improved customer and employee experience. Single-mindedness By outsourcing its IT to a cloud provider will free up the organization’s resources and let the organization focus on the areas that make the business efficacious and natures it. Conclusion From a decision that merely provides cost savings to a move that provides functional and strategic value to the organization, the implications of opting for outsourced IT infrastructure has transformed over the years.

However, there is no doubt that such a move gives significant long-term strategic and financial advantages to the organization. THE ESSENTIAL STEPS TAKEN IN PREPARING THE REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL • Doing homework First of all, Schaeffer had to figure out what it needs, what it wants as well as what is possible for it to start writing its RFP (Espino-Rodriguez et. Al. At a least possible, Schaeffer needed an area for an introduction, necessities, selection criteria, timelines, and process. Many of the fields will have subjections. • Writing of the introduction This is the section where the firm had to explain to the bidders with potential the reason for publishing the Request for Proposal and what it hoped to bring about by the so doing. The introduction even included a collection of the main points out of the other fields consisting the due date.

• Explaining the requirements This is among the essential sections and it consumes the most time. It had to be sure to identify the number or the name that the bidders had to use to establish the RFP they were responding to. • Deciding who will draw the RFP Schaeffer had already determined the suppliers from whom it wanted to hire. The company also had a record of tolerable vendors. The company did not limit its list of who reaps the RFP to only established vendors or big companies. Schaeffer had the idea of obtaining better ideas as well as better pricing even from the small vendors who would be often more engrossed in winning the business. They said that this requires being managed with grace and sensitivity. • Organizational knowledge An employee who is outsourced may not have the same passion and understanding for the corporation as a regular employee.

The managers said that there is an ability that the outsourced employees will not be as knowledgeable of the organization when they come into contact with the customers, leading to a negative experience of the customers. • Employee Layoffs The outsourcing was to lead to the need to reduce the staffing levels in the organization. Layoffs are inevitable unless the outsourcing is planned through attrition. This helped Schaller to have an efficient outsourcing and proper RFP development since they came to know themselves better. Why many disadvantages were raised after the taskforce recommendation had been developed There are a couple of reasons why disadvantages rose after the task force recommendation had been developed. First distrust and enmity developed among the segments of the organization that were normally at odds, or who have little contact.

Some of them such as intergenerational conflict and ethnic or racial tensions may be obvious but some may not or they may be one-sided (Bode & Burn 2001). Different groups or individuals may have different commitment levels to task force work. Goles, T. Hirschheim, R. Jayatilaka, B. Information systems outsourcing: a survey and analysis of the literature.  ACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems, 35(4), 6-102. Source of vendor production cost advantages in IT outsourcing. Levina, N. Ross, J. W. From the vendor's perspective: exploring the value proposition in information technology outsourcing.