SemOutQuote: Using semantics for innovation offshore outsourcing management

Abstract

In an increasingly globalised world, changes in organisations have also affected innovation processes. In the Information Technology (IT) domain, corporations are adopting outsourcing ad offshoring models for innovation, each time more carefully. The benefits of the combination of both practices, which demonstrate a decrease in corporate costs, indicate an incentive for the adoption of such practices as corporate strategies. In such a scenario, a two-sided challenge presents itself. In the first place, the companies contracting must establish selection measures and strategies for control of their suppliers. Secondly, the business offering outsourcing services must adopt appropriate measures to develop themselves as reliable partners in these types of relationships, a crucial aspect for both parties. The current work presents SemOutQuote, a semantics-based environment for the selection of stable partners for trustworthy innovation processes. The fusion of the capacities of interconnection and communication provided by the internet with the functionalities of the use of semantics represent a novel approach to the management of innovation in organisations