It's a continuing question that manufacturers ask themselves: Which operations and services should be outsourced and which make sense to keep internal? Professional services firm Deloitte & Touche LLP has launched the Shared and Outsourcing Advisory Services (SOS) practice to assist companies answer that question. "Organizations and their decision-makers are under great pressure to reduce operating costs and do whatever it takes to stay profitable during these extremely difficult economic circumstances," says Mark Delane, a leader in the advisory practice. "Companies need to focus and understand which processes and operations they do best and which can be performed more cost-effectively by other organizations." Deloitte & Touche says its SOS practice can help companies develop vendor evaluation criteria, facilitate the evaluation process and evaluate non-legal aspects of proposed vendor contracts.