MIS Research Center Seminar Series
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM
2-207, 2nd Floor, Carlson School of Management

Abstract

Information Technology (IT) contracts are plagued by inflexibility that leads outsourcing deals fail at an alarming rate. Some estimates of failure rates are as high as 70% to 80%. With nearly half a trillion dollars worth of IT services being outsourced every year, there is a lot of room for improvement. A large part of the problem is that the skills necessary to be an IT manager—communication, technology and leadership skills—are very different from the skills needed to negotiate a good contract, which is based on law, economics, and game theory. This presentation answers three fundamental questions about contracting for IT services. Why are we so bad at it? What are the hidden issues? And what can we do to improve our ability to have flexible functional contracts?

Biography

Eric Walden is the James C. Wetherbe professor of Information Systems and Quantitative Sciences at the Rawls College of business at Texas Tech. He holds a master's degree in economics and a PhD in information systems. Eric's work focuses on outsourcing information technology, intellectual property, and lately neuroimaging. His work has appeared in The Harvard Business Review, MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, and various outer journals and books. Eric is an associate editor for MIS Quarterly and the Journal of the Association of Information Systems. He has taught MBA students at the University of Minnesota, Carnegie Mellon University, and Texas Tech University. He has twice been honored as the favorite MBA professor of Texas Tech's graduating class.