QUESTION1. Critically evaluate the competitive advantage that companies can gain through IS/IT outsourcing. Provide a suitable example to support your answer. The phenomenon of outsourcing has significantly affected the information technology or information systems industry in recent decades. This is because the constantly changing modern business environment forces companies to adapt and accept new practices. Outsourcing allows modern companies around the world to focus on their core activities and gain a competitive advantage in the market. Outsourcing basically means asking a third-party vendor to work for you on a contractual basis. Usually, companies outsource mainly to reduce costs, but today IT outsourcing is generally defined as contracting with external vendors to perform various IT functions such as data entry, data center operations, maintenance and application development, disaster recovery, and network management and operations. There are many competitive advantages that the company will gain if it outsources IS/IT, namely: a) Increased IT uptime Usually, companies will increase IT investments to manage operational complexity, but the result is usually a large assortment of IT systems in need of integration. Using an outsourcing approach allows distribution companies to consolidate and rationalize their global IT network. For example, one large operator was able to reduce its servers by half, resulting in savings of up to 5% in IT development costs over three years by outsourcing its IT operations.b) IT/IS outsourcing will control the capital costs Saving money is one of the most compelling reasons why companies outsource IT services. This is because, through outsourcing, the company can create paper-based software protection software and ensure that the software is updated because all the information and data available in the organization is important. Your organization should be sure to update its antivirus software with the latest patches and signature files for maximum security. Antivirus software without the latest update is very vulnerable to attacks from the latest viruses that appear every day.e) Use a firewallUse a firewall. Firewalls prevent the infiltration of hackers and other malicious threats. The organization should maintain a well-maintained firewall between computers and the Internet. If the organization's employees use cable or DSL connections to the Internet, a hacker can try to break into their computer 24 hours a day. Therefore the organization must ensure that it has a properly installed and configured router or firewall.