Deck 11: Information Systems Sourcing

Question 1

Kellwood, the American apparel maker, decided to consolidate and bring IT operations back in-house in order to reduce costs. Kellwood chose which of the following strategies?

A) Outsource
B) Backsource
C) Offshore
D) Captive center
E) Farshore

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Organizations may shy away from cloud computing because:

A) it does not support multiple time zones.
B) it costs more money than offshoring.
C) of increased data security and privacy concerns.
D) SLAs cannot be established.
E) short term contracts are required.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The initial reason organizations outsourced IT was:

A) Downsizing
B) Innovation
C) Cost reduction
D) Standardization
E) Capacity

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The functions of an entire data center can be replaced by which one of the following cloud computing providers?

A) Software as a Service (SaaS)
B) Application Service Provider (ASP)
C) Platform as a Service (PaaS)
D) Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
E) Outsourcing as a Service (OaaS)

Question 5

Outsourcing to a company located in the same time zone is referred to as which type of sourcing?

A) Farshoring
B) Nearshoring
C) Zoneshoring
D) Insourcing
E) Cloud computing

Question 6

Of the following, the newest sourcing option for today's IT organizations is:

A) Outsourcing
B) Insourcing
C) Farshoring
D) Cloud computing
E) Crowdsourcing

Question 7

The purchase of a good or service that was previously provided internally, or that could be provided internally, is called:

A) Outsourcing
B) Insourcing
C) Inshoring
D) Offshoring
E) Nearsourcing

Question 8

Organizations choose to outsource IT activities for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

A) To realize cost savings
B) To have access to specialists they do not have in-house
C) To create a core competency
D) To infuse cash into the company
E) To support capacity on demand

Question 9

To provide potential customers an idea of an outsourcing provider's development capabilities, the Software Engineering Institute developed what rating?

A) Tier *
B) IaaS
C) ISO9001
D) CMM
E) Six Sigma

Question 10

Which of the following is when an IS organization uses contractor services, or even builds its own data center, in a distant land.

A) Cloud computing
B) Insourcing
C) Inshoring
D) Offshoring
E) Nearsourcing

Question 11

If a company decides to make and develop IS, they are using which type of sourcing?

A) Outsourcing
B) Cloud computing
C) Inshoring
D) Offshoring
E) Insourcing

Question 12

In 1989, Kodak chose a(n) _____ approach to outsourcing IS activities and chose to work with suppliers like IBM, DEC, and Businessland. This approach was soon dominated by other firms.

A) offshore
B) multivendor
C) nearshore
D) centralized
E) full outsourcing

Question 13

Ensuring a cultural fit with an outsourcing provider is especially important when an organization is considering which one of the following?

A) Offshoring
B) Insourcing
C) Onshoring
D) Cloud computing
E) Selective outsourcing

Question 14

Which one of the following needs would suggest outsourcing as an option?

A) Reduced capacity.
B) Ease of transition to new technologies
C) Increase supplier relations
D) Growth of data centers
E) All of the above.

Question 15

All of the following are risks associated with IS outsourcing EXCEPT:

A) Loss of control
B) Dependency on outsourcing providers
C) Inadequate adaption of newer technologies
D) Requiring more training of in-house staff
E) Potential loss of competitive secrets

Question 16

Outsourcing providers have more experience dealing with a large number of IS staff and as a result, are often good at doing all of the following EXCEPT:

A) Marketing IS talent
B) Providing relevant technical training
C) Retaining IT workers for short-term employment
D) Hiring good IT professionals
E) Developing and sharing best practices

Question 17

Which of the following describes the new emphasis on experience-level agreements (XLAs)?

A) They are only required to provide traditional metrics in their reporting rquirements
B) They focus on business metrics and results given the dramatic changes in the IT services industry.
C) They are contracts used only in farshoring options.
D) Such contracts are tightened by not including clauses related to actions in the event of noncompliance
E) All of the above.

Question 18

IT organizations will outsource which one of the following IT activities?

A) Programming
B) IT transactions
C) Knowledge-based business processes
D) Data storage
E) All of the above.

Question 19

iCloud is an example of:

A) Offshoring
B) Insourcing
C) Farshoring
D) Cloud computing
E) Backsourcing

Question 20

The most common driver for insourcing is to:

A) Keep employees loyal to the company.
B) Make a system that cannot be bought.
C) Develop internal skill sets.
D) Maintain control over the development of the system
E) Keep core competencies in-house.

Question 21

The reasons given for backsourcing are similar to the reasons given for outsourcing in the first place.

Question 22

____________is the most widely used form of cloud computing.

Question 23

To manage control yet realize the financial benefits that come with outsourcing, firms have created ____________subsidiaries to operate on their behalf and provide services.

Question 24

Outsourcing an IT infrastructure will always save an organization money.
Ans; False

Question 25

Using outsourcing providers frees up a business's employees so that they can devote their energies to core competencies for the business.

Question 26

____________is the formal contract between clients and an outsourcing provider that describes the expected performance of the service.

Question 27

More highly developed countries tend to offer higher levels of skills at lower costs.

Question 28

____________was the first country to make IT outsourcing a total industry.

Question 29

To reduce its dependence on a single outsourcing provider, an organization will seek flexibility and take a "best-of-breed" approach. ____________is the term used to describe this use of multiple outsourcing vendors?

Question 30

Which of the following makes countries attractive for offshoring?

A) English language proficiency.
B) Political stability.
C) Economic stability.
D) Countries with friendly relationships.
E) All of the above.

Question 31

Collaboration crowdsourcing is when social media is used to source solutions to a problem but only a few may be actually used.

Question 32

Only large, multinational organizations pursue outsourcing arrangements.

Question 33

Outsourcing decisions can be difficult and expensive to reverse because of:

A) Cultural differences.
B) Complicated infrastructure and staffing considerations.
C) Data security.
D) Data loss.
E) CMM.

Question 34

In which of the following cloud types is each cloud managed centrally and none of the clouds are integrated?

A) Public
B) Hybrid
C) Multi-cloud
D) Private
E) Community

Question 35

Outsourcing of IT services began in 1949 with Eastman Kodak.

Question 36

The global outsourcing market is growing.

Question 37

What is it called when a company brings IS capabilities that were previously outsourced back inhouse?

A) Backsourcing
B) Insourcing
C) Software as a Service
D) Nearshoring
E) Cloud computing

Question 38

Which type of captive center performs core business processes for a parent company and outsources noncore work offshore?

A) Hybrid Captive
B) Shared Captive
C) Divest Captive
D) Terminated Captive
E) Core Captive

Question 39

From the perspective of outsourcing clients, one of the best things about outsourcing are the 10-year long-term agreements.

Question 40

Because they have an advanced technological foundation, countries in the highest tier are able to focus investments in "cottage industries."

Question 41

How can an organization benefit from outsourcing an IS capability for which it internally has no skills or experience?

Question 42

Explain the options a company has when the quality of work done by an outsourcing firm is no longer satisfactory.

Question 43

Match the IT activity with the cloud computing provider that can satisfy that service.
$$\begin{array} { | l | l | } \hline \text { IaaS } & \begin{array} { l } \text { Using virtualization, networks, and capacity on demand, } \\\text { replaces the functions of a compary's data center. }\end{array} \\\hline \text { PaaS} & \begin{array} { l } \text { Provides computing capacity on needed hardware for a } \\\text { compary }\end{array} \\\hline \text { SaaS } & \begin{array} { l } \text { Provides sofwware application functionality through a } \\\text { web browser. }\end{array} \\\hline\end{array}$$

Question 44

Match the scenario with its sourcing option.
$\begin{array}{|l|l|}\hline \text { Insourcing } & \begin{array}{l}\text { Bank One develops and deploys IS services } \\\text { using internal groups. }\end{array} \\\hline \text { Cloud Computing } & \begin{array}{l}\text { Rather than build data centers, Sysco } \\\text { "rents" an IS infrastructure and accesses it } \\\text { via the Internet. }\end{array} \\\hline \text { Onshoring } & \begin{array}{l}\text { A US pharmaceutical firm has established } \\\text { an IT support center in a rural part of } \\\text { Pennsylvania. }\end{array} \\\hline \text { Offshoring } & \begin{array}{l}\text { DHL entrusts 90\% of its IT development } \\\text { and maintenance projects to a large Indian- } \\\text { based company, InfoSys. }\end{array} \\\hline \text { Nearshoring } & \begin{array}{l}\text { Outsourcing giant Tata Consulting } \\\text { provides British customers IS services from } \\\text { Budapest, Hungary. }\end{array} \\\hline \text { Captive Center } & \begin{array}{l}\text { A German-based firm has developed a } \\\text { large subsidiary in India that handles all of } \\\text { its mobile application development tasks. }\end{array} \\\hline\end{array}$

Question 45

Make the argument for why an outsourcing provider may actually provide better data security than an company's IT organization can.

Question 46

How can a government create an environment where companies from other nations will want to offshore work to their country? List several specific examples.

Question 47

If a company decides to outsource to a company in another country that is close in proximity as well as culturally, economically, and politically similar, they are using ____________type of outsourcing

Question 48

Match the various cloud computing forms with their definition.
$$\begin{array} { | l | l | } \hline \text { Private cloud } & \begin{array} { l } \text { Data is managed within the comparyy's existing } \\\text { infrastructure }\end{array} \\\hline \text { Corrmunity cloud } & \begin{array} { l } \text { Data is marnaged for several companies who } \\\text { share a specific concem }\end{array} \\\hline \text { Public cloud } & \text { Data is managed by the cloud provider } \\\hline\end{array}$$

Question 49

Compare and contrast cloud computing with offshore outsourcing.

Question 50

Explain how an IS outsourcing provider is able to derive savings that companies themselves cannot realize.

Question 51

A ____________is a combination of public and private clouds where the services are integrated.

Question 52

____________is the most traditional approach to sourcing.

Question 53

Match the work activity as something that a company would ideally either outsource or insource.
$$\begin{array} { | l | l | } \hline \text { Outsource } & \text { Commodity work } \\\hline \text { Insource } & \text { Confidential work } \\\hline \text { Insource } & \text { A core competerice } \\\hline \text { Insource } & \text { Value-added activities } \\\hline \text { Outsource } & \begin{array} { l } \text { Work based on a skill lacking in } \\\text { the orgarnization }\end{array} \\\hline\end{array}$$

Question 54

An outsourcing organization may not recommend the use of newer technologies. Why not?

Question 55

Cloud computing is a form of outsourcing in which IT services are provisioned over the __________.

Question 56

Determine if the following scenario warrants a make or buy decision.
$$\begin{array} { | l | l | } \hline \text { Buy } & \begin{array} { l } \text { An orgarization would like to venture into social } \\\text { analytics but has no experience or skills to begin } \\\text { the efforts. }\end{array} \\\hline \text { Make } & \begin{array} { l } \text { A retailer wants to upgrade its Web site bidding } \\\text { system; the bidding system is developed internally } \\\text { and it provides a strategic advarnage over other } \\\text { retailers. }\end{array} \\\hline \text { Make } & \begin{array} { l } \text { An irnovative approach to customized } \\\text { maruffacturing needs to be kept a secret; the hope is } \\\text { that this new process will suprise and shakeup the } \\\text { industry. }\end{array} \\\hline \text { Buy } & \begin{array} { l } \text { The internal website designer has linited } \\\text { availability and is always consumed by the } \\\text { marketing department. }\end{array} \\\hline\end{array}$$