As network managers, we need to master the outsourcing game in order to manage emerging services such as QoS (quality of service), VPNs (virtual private networks) and managed firewalls. Not too long ago, we simply purchased some copper that terminated at a demarcation from a carrier; the rest was up to the customer's network department. Now we've learned to manage the pipes with service-level agreements, but SLAs by themselves are not enough. It is more appropriate to view these new high-level demarcations as an outsourcing effort. Within IT, outsourcing traditionally has been the purview of development or operations, not the networking department. It's time for that to change.

It's a mistake to view the outsourcing of technology functions in the same way we look at downsizing or other euphemisms for job loss. For the time being, technical workers are generally in the enviable position of looking forward to what amounts to lifetime employment in their field, although not necessarily at the same job with the same company.

Furthermore, in this era of distributed systems, every design decision for a system that shares data between two companies involves an implicit and often subconscious allocation of tasks to the partner. Go ahead, examine your operations--you'll probably find more examples of outsourcing than you expect.

And it's important to note that it matters not whether your organization is small, medium-sized or a member of the Fortune 500. Everyone participates in outsourcing these days.

So outsourcing is not something intrinsically new and debatable, nor is it something that, in and of itself, differentiates your organization from a competitive standpoint. The issue is simply how well it works for you. In other words, what level of quality are you receiving from your outsourcing deals? You can only differentiate your outsourcing plan from the next person's outsourcing plan by the quality of your outsource vendor. That quality isn't something you can buy, but rather something you create through active management.

Should I Outsource? To achieve a quality outcome from any process, there must be a free discourse of ideas within that process. In our business, outsourcing is not something that gets done behind closed doors in some management coffee klatch, a process that rarely produces original thought. Instead, square your shoulders, keep your chin down and prepare yourself to deal with outsourcing in an open forum.

Most discussions of this sort start out with the "as is" versus the "to be." How does your current inventory of skills compare with the repertoire of assets you'll need to meet future challenges? Typically, the selection of what to outsource boils down to either legacy systems that, while necessary, have outlived the skills necessary to support them, or applications for which the organization may have an appetite that are beyond its delivery capability. Add to this the usual mix of conflicting priorities and demands on resources. Somehow, a consensus strategy emerges on what to outsource.

Given that the decision falls into either the legacy-systems or emerging-technology category, one is left with distinct issues that are often overlooked in the legacy arena.