After IT Outsourcing: An Exploratory Research of an Agency of Taiwan from the Perspectives of IT Personnel’s Ability and IT Budget Allocation _

Abstract

Building an Information System is essential for achieving the goal of implementing Electronic Government (E-Government). Â Outsourcing has become the strategy for Taiwan government in terms of building the Information Systems. Â Sixty percent of the Information Technology (IT) budget for Taiwan government was spent on maintaining and operating the information systems built by the contracting companies in 2014. Â The ability of IT personnel and IT budget allocation for a government agency may have an impact on the operation of the information system. Â However, there is limited literature about it. Â This exploratory research used in-person observation and In-depth interviews to study an information system inside X agency of Taiwan government. Â This study found that since the IT personnel in this agency did not involve in the development of the system, even though the IT personnel in this agency had sufficient technical skills, the lack of knowledge of technical details of the system weakened their ability to operate and maintain the system. Â This study also found the limited budget made operation cost a priority over system upgrades. Â The insufficiency of technical knowledge of system not only impair the normal operation of system, it also made adequate budgeting for IT department difficult. Â This study provides practical solution and recommendation for future researches.