Leader: How outsourcing is like getting married

Signing an outsourcing contract is like getting hitched, according to local authority IT user group Socitm.

It equates the procurement process with courtship - with the European Union procurement rules acting like a strict chaperone.

The wedding ceremony and honeymoon become the signing of the contract and the happy launch period immediately after, making the 'til death us do part' bit everything from then on, when the initial euphoria wears off and the first big problems pop up.

Quite who the mother-in-law is in this scenario we're not entirely sure.

But sadly, just like with real-life marriages, Socitm warns that the divorce rate is rising, with fewer and fewer contracts lasting their full length. Part of the problem is unrealistic expectations on both sides and also a lack of trust.

So why not stay single - keep IT in-house - and do without the heartbreak, you might ask.

Because, according to Socitm, there is great potential for public sector organisations to improve services and get access to new technologies through going into partnership with the private sector.

But you have to work at it and no longer can outsourcing be seen as a way of getting rid of problems.

This publication sees merit in the outsourcing/marriage analogy. Organisations cannot simply outsource IT and forget about it - the whole business needs to be committed and the right partner needs to be sought out (so no leaping into the arms of the first vendor that winks at you).

Most importantly you need to have trust on both sides. The relationship is in trouble if the mindset is always 'us against them'. And this is the way that many of these contracts have been seen in the past.

But surely the days of bashing the vendor are over - and have been replaced with a much more mature attitude of give and take. After all, why battle with someone who is providing such vital services?

Who knows; with a bid of faith on both sides perhaps we'll soon see more organisations sailing off into the sunset with the supplier of their dreams.