Identifying Vendor Risks In Remote Infrastructure Management Services

Abstract

Remote Infrastructure Management Services (RIMS) is a fast growing service in IT which has been outsourced to third party service providers by leading global firms. Service providers in this line face huge challenges because they have to ensure agreed upon service levels by monitoring and controlling the client’s infrastructure from an offshore location. This research paper explores the relatively nascent area of RIMS to identify and categorize service provider risks. The three categories of risks that emerged from this analysis are: (i) Service delivery risks, (ii) Relationship specific risks, and (iii) Macroeconomic risks. There is a close relationship between the first two categories of risks and similar categories of risks in application development. However, dimensions of timeline and requirements uncertainty elicit a different set of risks in RIMS. Relationship maturity, nature of client, contract design, and nature of service are contextual factors which influence the degree of risks in RIMS.

Key Words:

• infrastructure management
• IT services
• offshore outsourcing
• service delivery
• risks
• IT service provider
• RIMS

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Saji K Mathew

SAJI K MATHEW is currently an Assistant Professor at the Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Madras. His PhD work and subsequent academic engagements focused on the role of Information Technology in Management. As a Futcaight Scholar, he studied risk mitigation in offshore IT outsourcing in the Indo-US context at the Goizueta Business School of Emory University, Atlanta (USA). His present research interest covers strategies in offshore IT outsourcing, issues in IT infrastructure management services, and data mining and business intelligence. His articles have been published in reputed international journals. He has about 10 years of work experience in the area of industrial automation with the Indian industry covering private and public sector companies. He has provided industrial training and consulting for companies such as Exxon Mobile, Genpact, HP Globalsoft, Oracle India and Primus Retail. His teaches courses such as Management Information Systems, Data Warehousing and Data Mining, IT Services & Outsourcing and Information Systems Development.

Madhuchhanda Das Aundhe

MADHUCHHANDA DAS AUNDHE did her PhD in Management from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB). Her area of specialization is Information Systems. She worked in the Indian Process and IT industries before taking up research and teaching. She has been doing research related to IT and IT enabled Services, and has handled courses for postgraduate programs and executive management programs. As a Futcaight Senior Research Fellow she worked in the area of Relationship Management in Outsourcing Engagements at Louisiana State University (LSU), USA. Her other areas of academic interest are e-Governance, Software Engineering, and Business Process Modeling.