Outsourcing contracts: 41% fail to make transition

Outsourcing Contracts: 41% Fail to Make Transition outsourcing deals had been running for under two years - a third had been 11 1 1 ., • going for 5 years or more. 3 4,...,. The survey also revealed that less II ,....'.. than half of the respondents had provisions for a new supplier to undertake prior to transfer, due diligence of the existing supplier's transferred resources. Also, that more than one in three did not have a contractual arrangement for A new report from KPMG transition to a new supplier at the end Management Consulting says that an of the contract. And only 28% had any astounding 41 % of outsourcing con- provision for the transfer of intellectual tracts are failing to make any transition property rights at that time. The report's Principal Consultant or transfer provisions for either the supplier or customer to exit the contract Bob Aylott added that "Outsourcing has rapidly become an accepted way for when due for termination. It seems to be the case, therefore, organisations to focus on core compethat customers felt "locked" into the tencies, obtain the benefit of more speagreement - over a quarter of respon- cialist skills, keep abreast of market dents were critical of their contract flex- developments and reduce costs. But the ibility and their inability to exercise first generation of contracts, many of which are coming up for renewal, are control over the supplier. The research report, entitled "The poor platforms on which to try to Maturing of Outsourcing" is the result establish the strategic partnership of a survey of 123 UK companies, each between the buyer and the supplier that employing over 500 staff and with is now sought. It is plain that both experience in outsourcing IS or IT. The customers and suppliers must prepare industry sectors surveyed included their contracts much more effectively it Banking & Finance, Business Services, they are to reap the full benefits that Insurance & Retail, Manufacturing, outsourcing can bring." Bob Aylott, KPMG Construction & Utilities and Public Contact: Sector. The current state of the market Managernent Consulting, tel: [44] as regards the contract period is shown (0)171 311 8914. Erriail: bob. in the adjacent figure where 44 % of [email protected]

- ''' '.'

Proxima Secures Sign-ons The new Proxima from Memco Software of Tel Aviv, Israel, claims to provide secure single sign-on and enterprise-wide security administration. It consists of two products: Proxima SSO (single sign-on) and Proxima Manager. The SSO provides users with a desktop accessed by a single ID and password. a variety of user authentication methods are supported including tokens and smart cards. From the familiar desktop users then simply point-and-click in order to access any authorised

application or system - behind the scenes, Proxima SSO validates user access by interfacing with the target application. Network traffic from Proxima is secured to avoid the traditional risks of transmitting clear text passwords. The Proxima Manager streamlines security management and addresses the question of who has access to what. It also supplies the network administrator with a central point for managing hundreds or more of user IDs and passwords.

Scanning Tool Slashes Time Wasted on Year 2000 Work icrofocu , the year 2000 tool upplier, h. bunched a date- canning tool \ hich it claim an cut the conversion pha e of year _()()O project . R ather than pecding up the conversion proce , martFind/2000 reduce the number of line of c de that need to be fixed. It can code to find date field and ha extra intelligence which enable it to di ringui h tho e date: that are I urel . co metre from tho e \ hich affect the fun tionaliry of the y tern. 0 metic date: , ay l icrofo us. uch a tho e di played on a creen. can be fixed over time a part of normal maintenance. in read of caking up year 2()OO project time. cording to beta te t on u er code in the U . the number of truly critic. I date in a y tern i .\ wry mall percentage: of the total. typical I w-end mainframe u er, ,ly \ ,ill, year 2000 international bu inc manager at icrofocu . will have about tim.' . to five million lin of code, of whi h about 3%, or 15,000 line. i likclv to contain date: fil'ld ." mart ind /2(0) ut tho c IS,ono line of code to 750, the minimum number that need to be changed," h aid. Beta trial of the tool. \ hich work for obol and PLI I. have: h wn about 2% of f.11 ' po iri e . date which it f.11 ely identific a critical. but only (1.00 I % of f.11 e negative , date. \ hi h it identifie as o men but which arc riti al after all. ndy Kyte, re earch director at the Gartner Group. we: lcorned the tool but warned again t ecing it a a ilver bullet. "Thi i a wry u eful addition (0 the portfolio:' he: lid. "but we wouldn't like to . II it dramatic."

Computer Audit Update· October 1997 • © 1997, $17.00 Elsevier Science Ltd.