How to tell if you can trust your critical SAP data with an external company

During some point at the helm of your IT Department you will come to a torturous crossroads. Do you keep hiring people internally to meet your SAP needs…or, do you outsource?

No doubt you’ll sit down and pencil out a business case for both. Often, the outsourcing option can come out miles ahead in every important category, especially in slashing your costs. But something holds you back.
Trust.
With people in your office, you have control. You can march down the hall to look your team in the eye, or put your hands around their necks if things go wrong. But there’s an even deeper angst. It’s the gut wrenching idea of giving someone else the keys to your SAP data kingdom.

You don’t need blind faith

When making outsource decisions, companies cling to bizarre extremes. “We either need to have blind faith and total trust in the outsource company to go forward, or we need to micromanage everything they do so they don’t rip us off.”
Both approaches can feel like you’re walking on a razor’s edge. Blind faith exposes you to being taken advantage of with pricing and deliverables. Zero trust leaves you exhausted, managing another team with an iron fist.
So what’s an IT director who’s never outsourced before to do?

Prudence is how savvy IT directors build trust

Prudence is the ‘middle-way’ between those two extremes. It allows for trust to be earned, without it being gripped like Scrooge does with Tiny Tim’s schedule. It allows you both to build a foundation for a mutually profitable long term relationship.

Take these small steps to start building trust with your outsource company

Start with non-critical support activities to be solved by the partner company such as: new reports, enhancements and form changes.
Gradually provide them tickets which are important, such as direct user issues, configuration related issues and advanced enhancements.
Find a way to get your business users involved in situations you can easily observe. Get their feedback. Then, let your provider know what worked, and what could use improvement. How they respond to and fix these things will speak volumes.