Outsourcing and third-party service providers

Outsourcing services to a third-party vendor is a widely accepted practice in today's world for two major reasons. The first is the tremendous savings in cost, while the other is to avail the services of experts in the field.

CISM aspirants should be aware of the following important terms concerning outsourcing:

• Insourced: Activities performed by the organization's staff
• Outsourced: Activities performed by the vendor's staff
• Hybrid: Activities performed jointly by staff from both the organization and the vendor
• Onsite: Staff working onsite in the IT department
• Offsite: Staff working from remote locations in the same geographical area
• Offshore: Staff working from remote locations in different geographical areas

Evaluation criteria for outsourcing

CISM aspirants should understand the evaluation criteria for outsourcing any function. Certain functions cannot be outsourced, as depicted...