The Outsourcing Sector

There is some confusion over the definitions of outsourcing and facilities management both in industry and academia. Outsourcing is a business model where an organization decides that it will no longer carry out a function in-house. Instead, this function will be provided by a third party. Outsourced functions could include manufacturing, IT, accounting, HR and facilities management (e.g. site security, buildings maintenance, cleaning, etc.). The decision to outsource is based on business imperatives such as concentration on core activities, cost savings, risk mitigation and access to resources. Resources such as personnel and facilities may be transferred from the customer to the provider.