Making Information Management Outsourcing Work: Success Factors and Best Practices

Outsourcing continues to evolve and proliferate as a strategic approach to information management (IM), although it is no longer a “leading edge” management practice in the special libraries arena. Information professionals have come to regard outsourcing as a useful and necessary way to address certain staffing and budget challenges. At Outsell we continue to get questions from information professionals about the status and effectiveness of IM outsourcing, and this report provides our latest research and analysis, including findings from a study we conducted in collaboration with FreePint Limited. This report contains:

- Data and analysis about current and planned information management outsourcing activities, including reasons for outsourcing and spending on outsourcing;
- Opinions and attitudes about outsourcing;
- Analysis of the IM outsourcing service provider marketplace, including definitions of common categories;
- A look at how respondents evaluate outsourcing programs and service providers, and top obstacles they face;
- Imperatives and recommendations for information managers that are moving into or increasing their outsourcing.