Managing Icelandic IT Operations Through Outsourcing

• Main Authors: Tastle, William J., Valfells, Arsaell
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: AIS Electronic Library (AISeL) 2008
• Subjects: Outsourcing; IT operations; Iceland; emerging trends; Management Information Systems
• Online Access: https://aisel.aisnet.org/confirm2008/40; https://aisel.aisnet.org/context/confirm2008/article/1039/viewcontent/60F.pdf

Iceland is a country in which the overwhelming majorities of its citizens regularly uses computers and are technologically literate. A review of CIOs representing 11 large corporations (by Icelandic standards) in seven industries yielded a set of trends that have emerged as representative of current Icelandic computer-based initiatives. Among these trends: a desire to reduce labor costs is not the primary reason for outsourcing; project management and requirements determination skills are in need; the establishment of IT strategy is typically not driven by the board of directors; while establishing systems that satisfy international standards is sought by most companies, none are eager to pursue certification; outsourcing is generally restricted to the fewest possible time zones; the most commonly used country for outsourcing is the Baltic nations and India; IT departments utilize outsourcing to secure sophisticated skills for one-time tasks, thereby permitting the company to maintain small IT staffs. Industry seeks business school graduates who can contribute IT strategy in the board room, create effective requirements documents, and possess a vision with respect to the application of technology to the competitive nature of business.