Reframing outsourcing through social networks: evidence from Infocert’s case study

In an over-connected world where ICTs dominate firms' development and evolution, outsourcing is an increasingly adopted practice by IT firms facing a third-generation of inter-firm interactions. Notwithstanding some relevant contributions to the literature about IT outsourcing, still few is known about how coordination between client and supplier can achieve superior outcomes through the development of collaborative practices. This research provides insights about how a company can change attitudes and behaviors of client and supplier thanks to an IT tool deputed to collaboration: the social collaboration system. Through an explorative case study, our paper provides two main contributions: (i) we show how the adoption of a social collaboration system improves ITO governance and performance; (ii) we show how the introduction of a social collaboration system in outsourcing management can influence and change the building blocks of its life-cycle.