The Many Flavors of Application Software Outsourcing
A.B. Maynard - September 29, 2004

Defining the Problem

In the 1990s many companies rushed to upgrade or replace their legacy software prior to January 1, 2000--affectionately known forevermore as "Y2K." There was fear and concern that many legacy software applications would be unable to handle the requirements of a change in the first two digits of a four-digit year in date fields. A large number of companies chose to purchase and implement new software packages that handled most of their business processes in a single, integrated package from companies such as SAP, PeopleSoft, Epicor, Mapics, Intentia, and other ERP providers. Many other companies chose to modify their existing software to handle the Y2K requirements. Regardless of which approach a company decided to take, almost every company was working on its IT applications and demand for resources grew steadily...