SAN DIEGO – Credit unions and all organizations that want to make the most of their outsourcing arrangements should be flexible and pro-active in their management of the deals, according to specialists at Gartner Inc. Fully half of all such arrangements will be considered unsuccessful this year because senior executives believe they did not deliver their anticipated value. That's the take from Gartner analysts in a report delivered at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2003 in San Diego, where more than 10,000 IT executives from a wide range of industries gathered this week, the research and analysis firm said. "The service receiver and the service provider should commit to regularly scheduled, formal meetings to review the progress and achievement of objectives to ensure mutual benefit," said Linda Cohen, managing vice president for Gartner. "Failing to do this, the relationship can be seriously compromised because corrections are not made in a timely fashion." She also said that while fewer than 30% of enterprises now have formal plans for managing their long-term relationships with external service providers (ESPs),that is expected to change. She said large companies also have begun outsourcing the management of their outsourcing. By the end of next year, Cohen says, about 40% of "large enterprises will adopt a prime or general contractor to manage the ESP chaos."