For complex IT problems, uncovering and validating the root cause can be challenging.  This is especially the case when coordination between multiple IT departments is required (e.g., it’s unclear whether the root cause lies in the infrastructure or application support space).  It can become even more challenging when some of those support services are provided in-house and some of them are provided by different outsourcing service providers.  The outsourcing buyer has brought in the expertise provided by the outsourcers, but their experts have differing opinions…

As an outsourcing buyer, has your company’s IT operations ever run into this situation?

Provider 1 is missing its SLAs and identifies the root cause as Provider 2’s performance.  Of course, Provider 2 has the opposite view.  When working with two or more outsourcing service providers that propose completely different hypotheses of a Root Cause of a problem, the answer is: “They both can’t be right.”

Continue reading "Solving the Root Cause Finger-Pointing Conundrum"

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