FUDBusters: Outsourcing Can Save You Money

FUDFactor: Never outsource just to save money--or so says the old adage. At the end of the day, the time and resources required to negotiate outsourcing contracts, backfill for outsourced personnel, oversee outsourced work and manage outsourcing relationships will more than offset any budgeted savings.

FUDBust: The cry that outsourcing is never a cost-saver is echoed mostly by those who fear being outsourced. Of course, some outsourcing arrangements--depending on the vendor, customer, project and many other factors--make less financial sense than others. But the 28 percent of survey respondents who say they're outsourcing application development to cut costs--compared with 15 percent five years ago--aren't just lemmings marching to the latest trend. Especially when it comes to low-level programming tasks, it can pay to go with a low-cost provider.