When outsourcing efforts go bad--and the number of those that fail is quite startling--companies aren't yammering to tell the details. Yet there are some clear pitfalls that enterprises need to be aware of upfront and practices that can be put in place to avoid outsourcing disasters. Key elements are investigating whether the outsourcing decision will actually save time and money and determining what the tech work is costing internally. Most companies underestimate what internal staff achieve and see inflated value in outsourcing the work. Another common mistake is not planning enough for the management transition involved in handing over work. These are just a few reasons why one in six business IT pros have acknowledged that outsourcing has failed--and why nearly a quarter of companies surveyed about outsourcing efforts end up pulling the work back in house.

For more on outsourcing failure points:
- read this article at InformationWeek