Is Outsourcing a Silver Bullet?
Don’t overlook transaction costs. As the cost of negotiating a contract and monitoring the performance of a contractor increases, the added value of outsourcing has to be discounted. High transaction costs tend to exist when the service is complex or poorly understood, when the assets used to deliver the service are nonstandard and cannot be used for other purposes, or in any instance when there is a mismatch between the vendor’s and the purchaser’s knowledge. Like printing.
Ray Chambers, CGCM, MBA, has invested over 30 years managing and directing printing plants, copy centers, mail centers and award-winning document management facilities in higher education and government.
Most recently, Chambers served as vice president and chief information officer at Juniata College. Chambers is currently a doctoral candidate studying Higher Education Administration at the Pennsylvania State University (PSU). His research interests include outsourcing in higher education and its impact on support services in higher education and managing support services. He also consults (Chambers Management Group) with leaders in both the public and private sectors to help them understand and improve in-plant printing and document services operations.
