The year is over, and the results are in: The most read article in the CIO community during 1999 was Tim Landgrave’s “Think before you outsource.”

Between a shortage of IT workers and the continual need to add functionality to your IT department, outsourcing some of the work makes a lot of sense—but only if your outsourcing vendor meets certain criteria. Our popular article provides a list of questions to ask yourself and potential vendors before you outsource. These questions concern size, cost, and service level agreements.

We also look at the relative values of a large vs. a small vendor, and whether or not to use multiple vendors. Finally, we examine the difference between partners and vendors and which would be right for you.

This popular article was part of a two-part series on outsourcing, so be sure to also check out the second half of the series.
From e-business to XML in the enterprise, TechRepublic presented CIOs with the information they needed to make the most of the IT industry in 1999. The most read articles in the CIO community last year were:

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