Insider Strategies for Outsourcing Information Systems

This book prepares buyers of custom software for the pitfalls inherent in developing a system. It explains why there must be give and take between buyer and developer, and why "tough" contracts offer little protection. I suspect this will come as news to many first-time buyers.

I have never seen such pithy insights into why major development projects fail - and succeed. Rarely does anyone speak to management with such candor about their mistakes. And provide such clear and well founded examples of both success and failure. Anyone in a position to make decisions about new systems development should read this book.

As a consultant involved in strategy change and training, I have seen the fruitless internal conflict over who is to blame when new systems are late or clumsy to implement. Any company involved in or considering new systems development will find Ripin and Sayles an invaluable resource for negotiating with potential vendors and facilitating IS development projects. They stress what is so often forgotten: the critical role of line manager and user participation ... including more realistic trade-offs between costs (and failure risks) and ambitious client wish lists. Their vivid case studies illustrate how client managers obtain new skills by project participation that enable them to make more effective use of these costly new technologies and even to fine tune applications. Outsourcer professionals and client staff and line managers will find Ripin and Sayles an engaging, well documented, and widely useful book on developing and implementing new information systems. A must read!