Abstract
The purpose of this article is to describe the challenges of outsourcing services and provide lessons regarding how they can be managed. The literature on the outsourcing of services has mostly focused on strategy and has tended to neglect the challenges associated with the outsourcing process. One in-depth longitudinal study of a leading European systems provider has been carried out and data from between 1997 and 2003 has been used. Three main lessons learned during the research are described. First, the change process should be interactive and reflective. Second, all outsourcing and partnering initiatives should be coordinated. Third, the customer-relationship should be nurtured constantly during the outsourcing process.