Most organizations have to turn to a third party for help with IT needs at some point, whether it's short-term professional staffing to fill a skills gap or handing over desktop support to an outsourcer. But while bringing in contractors can help ease the load, your IT group assumes the responsibility of staying on top of the service provider.

One CIO told me that bringing in a third party in reality makes the job harder. “Not only do we have to manage ourselves, but we have to look after the guests in our house,” he said.

One of the chief concerns these days is security and how to get the contractors the resources they need but not run amok on your network. 

A few Network World resources can help with that: This Network Guardians column offers insight into how to limit what contractors can do on the network, and this column focuses on user access policies. You can also learn how NAC comes into play for contractors in the newsletter NAC concerns for visitors.

Once security concerns are met, the main goal of contract management or program management is getting work done to a satisfactory service level. A successful outsourcing relationship requires ongoing communication. Measure performance and hold contractors accountable to your service-level agreements. Also step back to assess the contractor’s effectiveness. IBM offers some tips.

Finally, be open to new technologies. When writing RFPs, don’t be so rigid to stipulate what technology must be used, but instead emphasize the procurement goal or the problem you’re trying to solve. As detailed in this podcast, contractor Northrop Grumman uses Web 2.0 technologies to make its staff more efficient. (Listen now).

Amy Schurr is the former managing features editor of Network World.