Opportunities and risks presented by the convergence of social, information, mobile and cloud technologies must be factored in by sourcing managers while evaluating such options, according to technology researcher Gartner, Inc.

"Social, information, mobile and cloud shouldn't be considered in isolation as market forces," said Linda Cohen, vice-president and a distinguished analyst at Gartner. "The convergence of these forces, which Gartner calls the Nexus of Forces, is what drives real business value".

"To establish the most appropriate sourcing approach for 2013, sourcing managers must take a more holistic approach and understand wider IT service market trends," said Frank Ridder, Vice-President (Research) at Gartner.

Growing cloud adoption will force sourcing managers to reconsider sourcing governance techniques and contracting practices, Gartner said.

Revised mobile strategies, such as Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) and mobile applications availability, will expand IT service sourcing requirements as users demand new services.

New information channels,coupled with data management and reliability issues, will make sourcing options analysis and vendor evaluations more complicated and more critical.

Social technologies will change the way that sourcing organisations interact with suppliers and customers, from requirements definition, through contract negotiation and vendor performance evaluation, it was stated.