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The benchmarking service has been designed in response to user demands for an independent means by which to measure the value of outsourced IT contracts.
User association the Corporate IT Forum (Tif) is launching a benchmarking service that will allow enterprises to measure the value of their outsourced supply contracts, in a move that underlines the growing complexity of IT service partnerships and their accompanying pricing models.
The new service, dubbed ‘Continuous Performance Improvement for Outsourced IT Services (CPI OS)’, has been designed, developed and will be entirely financed by Tif’s subscriber base. It will enable corporate users of outsourced IT services to benchmark the cost and service levels of their contracts against those of their peers.
According to John Parker, director of improvement services at Tif, enterprises are finding it increasingly difficult and costly to measure the value of their outsourced contracts. Users do not want to rely on benchmarks provided by vendors, however.
“IT buyers need to be able to understand whether they are getting a good deal from existing outsourced contracts – they also need to be sure about the cost and service levels outsourcers provide before they go to the market,” says Parker.
The benchmarking service, to be officially launched on November 1, has been devised in direct response to these growing problems.
The launch of the new benchmarking service underlines the growing complexity of the outsourcing market, which is moving to a global delivery model in order to provide a cost-optimised ‘blend’ of IT services.
As the model grows increasingly sophisticated, and IT service providers develop more involved relationships with their clients, it is likely the pricing and delivery models of such services will also grow in complexity.
Discerning the value of these contracts will represent an ongoing challenge for consumers of outsourced IT services.
Further reading
Expert opinion An absence of benchmarking makes it difficult for clients to judge the effectiveness of their outsourcing contracts, argues Paul Michaels of Metri Measurement Consulting.
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