You can’t fix IT contracts if you haven’t defined what you’re buying.
Organisations try to move to outcome-based contracts.
But the services underneath are never clearly defined.
Without that, nothing changes.
Most organisations change contracts. Very few fix what sits underneath.
See how leading teams define services before shifting to outcome-based models.
THE PROBLEM
Why contract transformation stalls
Most attempts to move from effort-based to outcome-based contracts run into the same wall. The services underneath them have never been properly defined. Without that structure, there is nothing concrete enough to contract around. No unit. No boundary. No consistency. So contracts fall back to what can be measured: time, effort, and headcount.
Renegotiating commercial terms doesn’t fix it. Defining the service does.
01
Clearly defined
Named, scoped, and documented, not a catch-all activity or a bundle of tasks.
02
Modular
Self-contained and composable, so services can be bought, benchmarked, and replaced independently.
03
Priced as units
Attached to a measurable unit. per instance, per user, per transaction, not per hour of effort.
A service needs to meet three conditions before it can be contracted
THE THREE CONDITIONS