Tips to Deal with Liability when Outsourcing to Multiple IT Vendors

“In theory, a multi-provider service delivery environment should not create additional complexities in terms of liability. The contracts -- entered into separately between the customer and each supplier -- should, if well-constructed, clearly delineate the liabilities between the parties,” said Mario Dottori, head of Pillsbury’s Washington, D.C. global sourcing practice.

He stressed the need to define the lines of responsibility and accountability between vendors and make those lines “clean and bright.”

Discussing the importance of operating level agreements (OLAs), he explained that OLAs state how particular parties involved in the process of delivering IT services will interact with each other in order to maintain performance, and can help all parties “see the forest for the trees.”

Dottori also suggested creating a common framework for measuring performance to reduce the likelihood of finger-pointing. In addition to shared software tools that monitor infrastructure components, require each provider prepare a root cause analysis for each issue, incident, or problem, he advised.