The IS Model Curriculum and Offshoring: A Call for Revision Bruce White, Quinnipiac University Bill Tastle, Ithaca College

Overview Growth in Global IT Management (aka outsourcing / offshoring) Factors for Global IT Management IS2002 Curriculum Global IT Management and IS2002

Global IT Management Growing Offshore outsourcing is frequently as a cost saving for companies Can involve significant overhead in terms of managing / setting up Need to be aware of cultural and other issues

Why Outsource 1 1.Reduce and control operating costs 2.Improve company focus 3.Gain access to world-class capabilities 4.Free internal resources for other purposes 5.Resources are not available internally 6.Accelerate reengineering benefits 7.Function difficult to manage/out of control 8.Make capital funds available 9.Share risks 10.Cash infusion 1 - From the Outsourcing Institute (1998)

10 Factors for Successful Outsourcing 2 1.Understanding company goals and objectives 2.A strategic vision and plan 3.Selecting the right vendor 4.Ongoing management of the relationships 5.A properly structured contract 6.Open communication with affected individual/groups 7.Senior executive support and involvement 8.Careful attention to personnel issues 9.Near term financial justification 10.Use of outside expertise 2 - From the Outsourcing Institute (1998)

Fjermestad- Eight Factors 3 1.Alignment to business strategy 2.Management support 3.Culture 4.Infrastructure 5.Contracts 6.Strategic partnership 7.Governance 8.Economics 3 -Fjermestad, Jerry, Jo Ann Saitta, “A Strategic Management Framework for IT Outsourcing: A review of the Literature and the Development of a Success Factors Model”, Journal of Information Technology Cases and Applications, 2005

ACM President – skills needed 1.Sourcing methodology and processes 2.Strategy development 3.Project management 4.Risk management 5.Contract law 6.Financial analysis 7.Supplier selection and certification 8.Relationship development.

BUT … The IS2002 model curriculum doesn’t directly talk about managing Global IT activities. So – two questions: 1.Do we need to include Global IT management in the IS curriculum? 2.If so, HOW???

The first question Do we need to include Global IT management in the IS curriculum? We can’t just add courses to the IS Model curriculum. BUT … when do we add courses? We added IS Electronic Business Strategy and IS Design and Implementation in New Environments in 2002 (not in IS’97).

Again … Is outsourcing / offshoring / Global IT management a serious enough topic that it needs to be in the model curriculum? Consider the recent discussion – including “The World is Flat” by Thomas Friedman. Consider our enrollments (with tongue-in- cheek comment “All the IS jobs are being outsourced to India”).

Commentary: As an IS educator, I think our graduates need to be exposed to global IT management (aka outsourcing) – and the issues surrounding it.

So … question 2 - HOW How do we incorporate Global IT Management into the curriculum? Three options: 1.A new required course (IS ??) 2.Outside of IS (such as an international business course) – with maybe an elective in IS 3.Incorporating the concepts in the rest of IS2002

Option 1: A new course – IS While this might be the best approach (adding an entirely new course dedicated to outsourcing / Global IT management), not all schools can do this. To illustrate, our program is in an AACSB business school – and we just can’t add any more credits to our IS major.

Option 2: Taught outside of IS We do have a business school requirement for an international business course. That is good – but may not be specific enough to address the IS outsourcing (and global IT management) questions.

Option 3: Incorporate concepts into IS2002 The authors suggest that you can incorporate the global IT management concepts into existing courses.

Davis, Ein-Dor, King, Torzadeh topics Gordon Davis, Philip Ein-Dor, William King, and Reza Torzadeh made a list of topics that could be covered in a graduate program emphasizing global IT management. While their suggestions are more germane to graduate IS education, the authors will use it as a discussion starter. Davis, Gordon B., Phillip Ein-Dor, William R. King, Reza Torkzadeh (2004), “Information Technology Offshoring: Prospects, Challenges, Educational Requirements and Curriculum Implications”, ICIS, 2004

Davis, Ein-Dor, King, Torzadeh topics (part I) Change Management Design Methodologies Project Management Business Processes Consumer Relationship Marketing (CRM) Data Warehousing Database Administration Database Systems Planning Electronic Commerce Emerging Technologies and Technology Forecasting

Davis, Ein-Dor, King, Torzadeh topics (part II) ERP Systems Global Cultural Implications for IS Globalization IS Security Management of Computer Personnel Management of Telecommunications Outsourcing Systems Integration Transborder EDI and Data Flows Workflow and Collaborative Work

Incorporating into IS2002 The authors suggest that you can incorporate many (if not all) of the Davis (et. al.) list into IS2002 undergraduate education. We will now take you through each course of IS2002.

IS Fundamentals of IS Topics from Davis, Ein-Dor, King and Torkzadeh: –Global Cultural Implications for IS –Outsourcing –Globalization –(and many of the other topics to be lightly introduced)

IS – Electronic Business Strategy, Architecture and Design Transborder EDI and Data Flows

IS Information Systems Theory and Practice Topics from Davis, Ein-Dor, King and Torkzadeh: –Business Processes –Customer Relationship Marketing –Electronic Commerce –Design Methodologies –ERP Systems –IS Security –Management of Computer Personnel –Workflow and Collaborative Work

IS2002.4/5 -Information Technology Hardware and System Software / Programming, Data, File and Object Structures No specific outsourcing / offshoring concepts covered. Although IS and IS may not explicitly have outsourcing / offshoring concepts, there may be assignments and applications that relate to outsourcing and offshoring.

IS – Networks and Telecommunication From Davis (et. al.) –Management of Telecommunications

IS – Analysis and Logical Design Topics from Davis, Ein-Dor, King and Torkzadeh: –Business Processes –Design methodologies –Workflow and Collaborative Work

IS – Physical Design and Implementation with DBMS Topics from Davis, Ein-Dor, King and Torkzadeh: –Data Warehousing –Database Administration –Database Systems Planning –Systems Integration

IS – Physical Design and Implementation in Emerging Environment Emerging Technologies and Technology Forecasting

IS – Project Management and Practice Topics from Davis, Ein-Dor, King and Torkzadeh: –Change Design –Project Management –Systems Integration –Workflow and Collaborative Work –(and as the capstone course, this implicitly can incorporate many of the other topics)

Suggestions / comments The authors suggest that with forethought, most of the important topics concerned with IS outsourcing (aka offshoring / global IT management) could be covered in the existing IS2002 model curriculum.

More suggestions / comments As additional practical experiences for students, students in IS Project Management could ‘manage’ students doing a development project in IS This could be taken a step further with students in IS at University A could ‘manage’ students at University B in IS2002.4

And … a global experience. And … even further, students in IS at University A in the United States could ‘manage’ students in IS Development at University F outside the United States – so to really experience the global IT management experience.

Conclusion The authors have demonstrated that it could be possible to incorporate the concepts and learning skills needed to effectively manage global IT systems. They suggest that further research into practical applications of such global skills might be beneficial to students and programs.

Questions