Information Technology Infrastructure Outsourcing at Schaeffer

Document Type:Essay

Subject Area:Technology

Document 1

Throughout 2002, for instance, the company’s combined deals and transactions were about 2 billion USD and after evaluation, its benefits summed up to approximately 200 million USD. The stock of Schaeffer is held freely and its value has been perceived reliably by the trading center throughout the years. Since its inception in 1877 by Frederick W. Schaeffer, the company has been making little household machines, like cream separators, apple peelers, corn shellers, and stirs, to mention just a few (Ames et al. The company’s founder, Frederick, had three little girls who married young men that later joined the business. • Resources’ availability – the outsourcer would be accountable for making available the resources within the economies where the corporation intends to expand to, and this may be simpler as the outsourcer has available resources in such economies already (Murambi, 2017).

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• Quality Technical Knowledge – the company would access considerable higher quality technical knowhow because of the resources’ pool from ABC Corporation. The latter offers an attractive profession path for its workers and is capable of attracting and retaining people with exceptional talents, investing in training, and offering various challenging technical prospects. • Positioned to Explore – based on the plans of Schaeffer to expand and grow, the organization would be better positioned in exploiting prospects considering the impossibility of accomplishing this with the information technology infrastructure On the basis of these benefits, the management of the company would have made a better decision in outsourcing its information technology infrastructure in order to meet its growth objectives and goals (Aubert, Patry & Rivard, 2011). Describe the Steps Taken to Develop the RFP and the Role That an Outside Consultant Played in this Process Schaeffer involved Gartner Consulting Group in helping it to explore the decision of outsourcing in order to determine the viability of outsourcing the information technology systems required for supporting the expansion decision of Reitzel division and accomplish the anticipated target profit margins.

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This was aimed at managing the anticipations and auditing the services offered by the outsourcers as well as the expectations of the company. By identifying the services currently offered by the company in all its processes and operations to be outsourced, the advising company (Gartner) advised Schaeffer that it is essential as this would assist in differentiating the “presumed” current services as well as the real services offered by the firm. In addition, Gartner advised Schaeffer that only few companies based in the United States could fulfill the information technology necessities of the firm; but because the international scope of Reitzel, this would assist in understanding where and how to look for the outsourcing corporation. In short, the steps and phases taken to create the RFP by Schaeffer Corporation include: collection of data, creation of the request for proposal, and description of the information technology infrastructure.

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In this case, an outsider corporation contributes a critical role, which entails advising the company (Schaeffer) on a myriad of factors involved straight from the infrastructure and employees entangled as well as the expectations and costs. All of these perceived drawbacks caused a major uproar in the company’s ranks with some refuting the idea of outsourcing while others ardently supporting the concept. Some Managers Have Suggested A Third Alternative: Outsource The IT Infrastructure For The Specific Division Only. Which Alternative Do You Think They Should Choose, And Why? Schaeffer should not pursue the third alternative proposal, which outsources the information technology resources for specific divisions only due to some major critical reasons. Firstly, information technology (IT) is not among the core competencies of Schaeffer Corporation, and outsourcing its infrastructure of information technology would not cause any damage to the profit margins of the corporation (Hodosi, 2017).

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Secondly, because Reitzel division operates in a more dynamic manufacturing marketplace with considerable opportunities for development in profitability and sales in both global and domestic markets compared to the other divisions, Kinzer and Colbert, operating with a leading outsourcing corporation like the ABC, which is having enough abilities and resources as well as skills and the flexibility to back the change rate within overseas economies would benefit Reitzel division together with Kinzer and Colbert in future if they wish to expand the company abroad. The company’s management found it difficult to discern how they would work with a leading outsourcing company. All of their processes would change, since the people were capable of being all over the globe. And from the concluding statement of Schaeffer’s management, it was clear that there were major trust issues and they were not comfortable with the idea of the company outsourcing its information technology infrastructure.

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In addition, there were fears of a circumstance emerging that would compel the company to renegotiate as the time when probably it had lost its position to bargain particularly in issues, which were not covered within the agreement. All of these factors resulted in the emergence of multiple drawbacks presented for the corporation. Generally, the pilot test is an extremely efficient way to test what is probable to happen while simultaneously taking the pertinent precautions to avoid disastrous outcomes (Aalders, 2012). Additionally, executing the project in stages is an excellent option compared to jumping into contracts without having clear knowhow of the probable results. Such controversies could be evaded had the corporation considered the advice offered by Gartner Consulting Group, one of the leading outsourcing directors tasked with advising the company accordingly regarding their move to outsource.

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