Inherent risks in ICT outsourcing projects

The mounting competition and global economic recession faced by organizations have made Information Communications Technology (ICT) outsourcing an attractive management tool in order to cut expenses in non-core activities, particularly in overheads of Information Technology (IT) departments. With decision to outsource, there would also be a number of risks associated with it. Therefore, it is important for a decision maker to be aware of these risks before making the decision to outsource. The aims of this research are to determine the ICT services that are currently being outsourced and to describe the risks inherent in ICT outsourcing from the Malaysian public sector perspective. The primary data for this research was collected by means of a questionnaire survey conducted among Malaysian public sector organizations. The findings from the research showed that network services is the most common ICT services activity that is being outsourced and that outsourcers who do not comply with contract has the most influence on ICT outsourcing inherent risks. Through the findings, public sector organizations would be able to identify the most common ICT services outsourced and analyse the inherent risks. In so doing, the potential impact of failure can be anticipated and dealt with accordingly.