The first challenge here appears if no process is in place to measure the existing service provision. The second challenge arises if there is no defined level of performance expectation for the services currently provided. There are many ways the service provider can be managed. Regardless of how it is currently being done, if service providers change, they must be managed differently, requiring different management skills. It is the author's opinion that, in most cases, service provider management should remain in-house.
Competitive organizations embrace change as a necessity for being able to respond to market demands.
External management of these services can present problems when dramatic changes are needed. We have covered the five factors relative to the way things are done prior to any change in the service provision. If a new approach is being considered for providing a service, it is assumed that management has determined there is a problem with the present approach. If the outsourcing process is to be employed, and a different approach to providing the service is to be explored, we must now look at the five factors from a new perspective-the way and by whom things will be done if there is a new service provider. The same questions will have to be asked and answered from the perspective of the potential new provider.