Outsourcing and Customer Satisfaction —

Outsourcing and Customer Satisfaction — Beyond Service-Level Agreements Myriad reasons underscore a decision to outsource an enterprise's IT functions. Whatever the driving forces, the decision to outsource an IT function impacts an enterprise's internal end users. Whether that impact is positive or negative depends on a variety of factors. In an attempt to minimize the negative and maximize the positive, many enterprises include very detailed measurement mechanisms within their service-level agreements (SLAs) of outsourcing contracts. …

…year-to-year end-user satisfaction. This can be accomplished only when measurement of end-user satisfaction is included in an SLA. Ultimately, satisfaction measures can be instrumental in helping IS organizations determine the best ESP for an enterprise's requirements and for designing an SLA that will address the needs and expectations of all recipients of IT services. It is a strategic instrument that transforms an SLA agreement into a powerful tool that enables a successful SR/ESP relationship.