تحلیل انتخاب ارائه دهنده برون سپاری IT/IS برای شرکت های کوچک و متوسط ​​در تایوان

Outsourcing is important in highly diversified business environments, but while there have been many studies on outsourcing, none have explicitly tackled the problem of how SMEs should assess and select their outsourcer. Numerous benefits might be gained if SMEs could utilize evaluation models to help select their IT/IS outsourcer effectively. Prejudices arising from selection through impartial analysis could be avoided and a more accurate and an objective decision could be made. We investigated the selection process of an enterprise needing an IT/IS outsourcing provider in Taiwan. Our recommended process quantitatively sorts the criteria using the AHP. An evaluation model was developed based on the needs of the SME who should use it to obtain a better outsourcing provider resulting from improved information vital to maintain outsourcing efficiency. Use of our model should reduce costs and potential risks in adopting new IT/IS applications and promote an objective standard with which to evaluate IT/IS outsourcing providers.

Taiwan, affected by the global economic downturn and increased competition, has confronted the issue of how SMEs can survive. Over time, SMEs have realized that IT utilities have become one of the most important ways of maintaining global competitiveness. However, there has been no effort to develop a model to aid in selecting an IT/IS outsourcing provider for an SME. While outsourcing has been perceived as viable and economically beneficial for large enterprises, the new business environment has shown that this may be a misconception: often outsourcing has proven to be less effective than internal IT/IS processing. Various factors affect the effectiveness of outsourcing; while some results from the supplier's capabilities, including their system and service quality [16], partnership, trust, and service level agreements [8], other factors depend on the client-firm's needs and abilities, including their IT capability, internal organizational, participation, and communication [9], as well as their shared/common processes and procedures for testing and ensuring quality and same Capability Maturity Model (CMMI) capabilities [20]. The right choice of an outsourcing provider has a positive impact on the productivity and performance of the client company, and probably on market reaction to increased or decreased market returns [1]. Studies point out those enterprises should carefully manage their pre-planning activity, recognizing that choosing outsourcing companies with excellent service quality is a crucial factor in making a successful selection. Similarly, the choice of outsourcing providers is one of the most important factors affecting outsourcing performance. Jayatilaka et al. [10] identified fifteen factors influencing the choice of ASP; of these, eight are directly associated with outsourcing providers. Outsourcing providers play a significant role in the success of outsourcing activities and careful management of the receiver–provider relationships is required to sustain a successful outsourcing → it can facilitate a successful turnaround in a failing outsourcing venture [11]. However, the outsourcing approach may have to change with time and due to new technology development [12]. Thus the selection of an outsourcing company is crucial in ensuring the success of the relationship between an enterprise and its outsourcing service provider.

Overall, 19 factors were split into four dimensions based on their similarity, such as “capacity of professional skills,” “capacity of service,” “capacity of operation,” and “external evaluation.” Subsequently, we calculated the weighting of each factor and dimension to show their priorities. The resulting instrument can be used to evaluate the selection of IT/IS outsourcing service providers and help in future provider selection. Taiwanese SMEs do not fully understand the importance of IT/IS service outsourcing. Although many studies have explored IT/IS outsourcing in business, most have only focused on large enterprises. Unfortunately, none of these efforts have tackled the problem of how SMEs should assess and select potential partners when considering outsourcing. Therefore, our study focused on SMEs and exploring the factors affecting their selection of IT/IS outsourcing service providers. Based on our results, providers should not only enhance their professional knowledge but also improve the quality of their service. First, considering that SMEs possess limited capital and IT/IS implementation and maintenance require considerable resources, the result of an IT/IS introduction plays a crucial role in the enterprise as a whole. In order to reduce the risk of failure, it is worth considering providers with excellent skills and customer service abilities as important parts of the process. By using the results from this study, SMEs can understand and control critical factors affecting the selection of IT/IS outsourcing service providers in Taiwan. Additionally, a government agency can improve the critical factors affecting its outsourcing service. The government agency can also establish policies promoting IT/IS outsourcing activities of the local SMEs and enhancing opportunities for providers. There were several limitations of our study. It was not able to include all SMEs of Taiwan because of their number, and time constraints. Thus, our findings may have been affected by the selection of the samples and the sample size. However, it showed that a scoring methodology could be used to quantify and justify an IS/IT outsourcing provider selection decision.