Critical Success Factors to Evaluate Information Technology Outsourcing Projects

Nowadays, a large number of companies delegate their tasks to third parties in order to reduce costs, increase profitability, expand their horizon, and increase their competitive capacity. The level of success of such contracting and related agreements is influenced by a set of critical factors that may vary depending on the type of project addressed. This article proposes a model of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) to evaluate Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) projects. The model is based on the ITO state-of-the-art, related technologies and different aspects that affect ITO project development. Altogether, 22 CSFs were formulated for data center, network, software development and hardware support technologies. Additionally, the model proposed was evaluated using the Features Analysis Case Study Method proposed by DESMET. The methodology applied for this research consisted of an adaptation of the Methodological Framework for Research of Information Systems, including the Goal Question Metric (GQM) approach. For model operationalization, 400 metrics were established, which allowed measuring CSFs and ensuring model effectiveness to evaluate the probability of success of an ITO project and provide guidance to the parties involved in such service.