Deck 11: Information Systems Sourcing

Question 1

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

Answer 1

B

Question 2

The initial reason organizations outsourced IT was which one of the following?

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

Answer 2

C

Question 3

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

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

Answer 3

E

Question 4

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

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

Question 5

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.

Question 6

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

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

Question 7

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 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

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 10

A small cluster of three countries (China, Malaysia and Korea) are creating a reputation for this type of outsourcing.

A) Farshoring
B) Nearshoring
C) Cloud computing
D) Captive center
E) Full outsourcing

Question 11

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 12

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 13

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 14

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

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

Question 15

This 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 16

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 17

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

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

Question 18

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 19

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 20

iCloud is an example of which one of the following?

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

Question 21

This is the most widely used form of cloud computing.

Question 22

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

Question 23

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

Question 24

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

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

Question 25

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 this type of outsourcing

Question 26

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

Question 27

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

Question 28

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

Question 29

This is a type of captive center that 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 30

The global outsourcing market is growing.

Question 31

Outsourcing an IT infrastructure will always save an organization money.

Question 32

Outsourcing of IT services began in 1949 with Eastman Kodak.

Question 33

Only large, multi-national organizations pursue outsourcing arrangements.

Question 34

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

Question 35

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

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

Question 36

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

Question 37

This was the first country to make IT outsourcing a total industry.

Question 38

This is the most traditional approach to sourcing.

Question 39

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

Question 40

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 41

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

Question 42

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

Question 43

Determine if the following scenario warrants a make or buy decision.

Question 44

Match the region/country with its development tier.

Question 45

Compare and contrast cloud computing with offshore outsourcing.

Question 46

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

Question 47

Match the IT activity with the cloud computing provider that can satisfy that service.

Question 48

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

Question 49

Match the work activity as something that a company would ideally either outsource or insource.

Question 50

Match the decision made to mitigate outsourcing risk with the major decision area it represents.

Question 51

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

Question 52

Match the various cloud computing forms with their definition.

Question 53

Match the scenario with its sourcing option.

Question 54

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