Managing Outsourcing in IT Software Services: A study of 3 Perspectives and 3 Industries in UAE

Abstract

Depending on outsourcing software services is increasing so it became important to understand the idea fully and know how to manage it. This paper aims to identify and prioritize software outsourcing problems facing organizations in the UAE and to propose a solution for keeping these services under control. Thus, to meet project’s objectives and answer research questions, qualitative research approach was used to cover “what” and “how” questions of the paper. The research’s data were collected through employing semi-structured interviews done with IT managers, business managers and vendors from three organizations and three service providers so a total of nine interviews were conducted. The results indicated that organizations are outsourcing their software services because of some common reasons and in the same time they are facing issues with their service providers. The discussion revealed shared problems among participants and prioritize them according to their repetition. The value and originality of this research comes from revealing the set of problems facing each one of three studied groups: IT manager, business manager and vendors to provide a clear image of the reality of software outsourcing in the UAE and to help future researches about the topic. Based on findings and relevant literature a set of practical implications were suggested to control software outsourcing services and eliminate their risks on clients and vendors.