ICT Sourcing Choices and Change: Evolutionary Paths and Change Management Levers

This paper aims at providing a description of how different ICT Sourcing models can change in time, according to technology market evolution and enterprises changes/innovation process. ICT Sourcing choices, as a way to obtain more flexibility to deal with both technologies and business changes, are a lever enabling the whole change/innovation process of the enterprises. But to be effective, each model has to be coherent in terms of strategic objectives, organizational characteristics of the ICT function and ICT competences management. Only with coherence ICT Outsourcing can be a real source of enterprise dynamic capabilities. In relation to ICT model specific evolutionary paths, particular change management activities have to be applied to guarantee coherence between the ICT model variables. There are different change management levers that can be used in the whole process of change and innovation but this specific topic have not received sufficient attention, in literature and practice: ICT Outsourcing allows to increase enterprise innovation and change capabilities, only if managed accurately. This study is based on an empirical research involving 62 case studies, 10 international suppliers and 3 of the main associations of CIOs in Italy.