Is the prospect of outsourcing one of your business processes, or even the entire IT department, something that keeps you up at night? Does seeing your CEO thumbing through the New Delhi Daily News give you the shivers? (If you dont know why it should, read on.)

Is outsourcing something you and your department should fear, or is it a concept to embrace? Lets face it, there are plenty of tasks that you dont want anything to do with, because they take up too much time and talent from your staff. Guess what: There are plenty of people out there who want to do those jobs. They range from tasks as small as handling the fax system to something as big as operating a data center. But is this something to give away, or something that belongs on your departments to-do list?

The first thing you have to ask is whether this is a core competency, said Craig Lowenthal, first vice president and CIO of the Hartford Financial Group (www.thehartford.com). The next thing is to find out who can do it more efficientlyyou or some other business.