Outsourcing challenges, opportunities in mid-tier.

• Position: NEWS&REVIEWS - Brief article

Information Services Group (ISG), a technology, market intelligence and advisory services company, released research showing unprecedented growth in the use of outsourcing by mid-tier organizations, presenting buyers and service providers with new challenges--and also expanded opportunities.

"Organizations starting on the sourcing journey often don't know what they don't know about defining objectives, selecting a provider and managing a relationship," says ISG Research Services Partner Deborah Card. "This lack of experience presents a risk."

At the same time, she acids, "first-time outsourcing clients can benefit from the lessons already learned in the marketplace, avoiding many potential mistakes."

The research shows that sourcing activity is entrenched in the world's largest organizations, with more than two-thirds of the top 500 companies in the Forbes Global 2000 already engaged in outsourcing prior to 2008.

By contrast, fewer than 10 percent of the remaining G2000 companies entered into an outsourcing agreement between 2008 and 2011.

"Based on discussions with executives, we believe a significant number of...