is the transfer of an outsourced function to an internal department of the customer, to be managed entirely by employees. (See backsourcing and competitive insourcing).

Insourcing is the transfer of an outsourced function to an internal department of a company, to be managed entirely by employees. The term has also been used to describe foreign companies locating facilities in the United States and employing U.S. workers.

Performing in-house, under a SLA, usually following a competition or another equally robust value for money appraisal, work which was previously outsourced.

Insourcing is the opposite of outsourcing; that is insourcing (or contracting in) is often defined as the delegation of operations or jobs from production within a business to an internal (but 'stand-alone') entity (such as a subcontractor) that specializes in that operation. Insourcing is a business decision that is often made to maintain control of certain critical production or competencies.