CIOs who consider cultural fit to be as important as cost savings have the most successful outsourcing relationships. In fact, experts say there's a direct correlation between a successful outsourcing arrangement and how well the two companies mesh culturally. This is particularly important in offshore relationships.
"Those that are dissatisfied are focused on only the cost," said Lance Travis, vice president, research, at Boston-based AMR Research Inc. "They went into this relationship trying to get the cheapest price. To those that were satisfied, cost was important, but so was cultural fit."
The irony, said Travis, is that in terms of actual cost savings, businesses that gave weight to cultural fit saw the greatest return.
