Harold van Heeringen

Outsourcing (parts) of the ICT organization is for many organizations a hot item these days. In some cases the entire ICT department is outsourced to a domestic or to a foreign ICT supplier, but most organizations outsource only part of their ICT operations. In many cases this part is either the development part or the enhancement part, but nowadays also a trend can be watched with regard to the outsourcing of all system testing activities. One of the most common drivers in outsourcing is the possibility to realize cost reductions. When outsourcing development activities, these cost reductions are measurable. It is possible to calculate the costs per function point for the development activities in-house and also the price per function point of the outsourcing partner(s) and the difference indicates the amount of cost reductions that can be realized.