PepsiCo

 
Joe Sifferman, COP, Co-chair
Global Sourcing Management
PepsiCo

Thomas Smith, Co-chair
Manager
Service Corporation International


Stephen Dunn, Co-chair
Director
Deloitte Consulting

Executive Advisory Committee

Jeff Andrews
Partner
Thompson & Knight LLP

Dr. Beena George
Associated Professor
Cameron School of Business
University of St. Thomas

The Chapter will promote Texas as a hub for outsourcing. The chapter’s primary focus is to bring together customers, advisors and providers, in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors, to foster innovation, outsourcing education and best practice development through a professional network.

Quarterly

Face-to-face (office, meeting room)

All IAOP Chapters adhere to the non-solicitation policy. Click here to view the policy.

Meeting held January 12, 2011

A meeting of the IAOP Texas Chapter, co-chaired by ACS, Pepsico, RTM Consulting, Service Corporation International and Thompson & Knight LLP was held in conjuction with the IAOP Outsourcing Tools & Technology Innovation chapter, co-chaired byAmex, AT&T, Beyondcore, GSOS, Wipro and Zensar Technologies, on Wednesday, January 12, 2011, at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX. This session was also available via webinar.

Advanced Tools & Technology Reshaping the Global Outsourcing Industry

Kodak Case Study – Using Tools & Technologies to Help Assess the Health of Existing Outsourcing Relationships
Teresa Harris, Global Partner Mgr., Kodak
Matt Shocklee, IAOP Global Ambassador and President/CEO of GSOS

“Future of Tools & Technology In the Outsourcing Industry” 
A panel comprised of leaders from the key communities within the outsourcing industry discussed the future use of tools & technologies in the outsourcing industry and the potential impact on outsourcing business outcomes.
Dr. Beena George, St. Thomas University
Jeff McCauley, Blazent Software
John Sandry, EquaTerra
Michael Ford, UnitedLex
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Meeting held Wednesday, June 2, 2010

A meeting of the IAOP Texas Chapter, co-chaired by ACS, Pepsico, RTM Consulting, Service Corporation International and Thompson & Knight LLP was held on Wednesday, June 2 from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the offices of Thompson & Knight, One Arts Plaza, 1722 Routh Street, Suite 1500, Dallas, TX 75201.

The Dallas chapter, in existence since 2007, has expanded into the Texas chapter, so please look for future meetings in Texas locations outside of Dallas! 

The topic for this meeting was “Outsourcing Consolidation: Trends, Predictions, and Impacts.” We discussed recent industry consolidation in Texas and trends and predictions for the broader market and hear perspectives on the impacts of these changes.

Main Presentation
Don Flores, TPI

Panel Discussion

Moderator: Don Flores, TPI
Panelists:
Trent Thrash, VP, Mergers and Acquisitions, ACS
Jeff Andrews, Thompson & Knight LLP
Thomas Smith, Outsourcing Management Office, Service Corporation International

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Most recent meeting held Thursday, June 11, 2009

The most recent meeting of the IAOP Dallas Chapter, co-chaired by Kirsten Asher of ACS and Joe Sifferman of Pepsico, was held on Thursday, June 11at the K & L Gates offices located at 1717 Main Street, Dallas, TX.

Co-chairs Asher and Sifferman introduced panelists: Michael Debnar, Vice President of Retail Information Systems at Blockbuster; Mike Brito, Partner at Fulbright & Jaworski LLP and Chair of Fulbright’s Technology and Outsourcing Practice Group; and Chad Harris, Senior Managing Director ITO Commercial Solutions at ACS who participated in an interactive discussion entitled “Preparing for the Economic Recovery.”  These industry experts shared valuable information about how companies are positioning and restructuring themselves to emerge from the current economic downturn.

A networking reception, hosted by K & L Gates, immediately followed the meeting.

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Meeting held - January 15, 2009

The most recent meeting of the IAOP Dallas Chapter, chaired by ACS, took place on January 15, 2009 at 7:30 a.m. at the Marriott Quorum Hotel, 14901 Dallas Parkway, Dallas, TX.

This breakfast meeting marked the second anniversary of the IAOP Dallas Chapter and the topic was “Data Security in a Risk Averse Business Climate.”

Co-chairs Kirsten Asher and Tom Tunstall of ACS were pleased to have you join them for a lively panel discussion on a timely topic.  Peter Vogel with Gardere served as the moderator and TATA Communications hosted the meeting. 
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Meeting held – October 9, 2008

The latest meeting of the IAOP Dallas Chapter took place on October 9, 2008 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the La Cima Club at Las Colinas, 5215 North O’Connor, Irving, TX.

Chapter co-chairs Tom Tunstall and Kirsten Asher of ACS presented a dynamic panel discussion entitled “Outsourcing/Offshoring to China.”   Panel members included: Eric Simonson, managing principal, Everest Research Institute; Grace Chen, CEO, Oceansoft International; Cindy Frie, Senior Vice President, ACS; Eric Lambert, Infosys China; and moderator Shubha Ghosh, professor of law, University of Wisconsin.

The panel explored such questions as:  How do current supply chain relationships affect the safety of products in China?  How will intellectual property reform in China affect the transition for manufacturer to innovator?  What changes in the Chinese legal system are the most necessary for successful reform?  What impact might changes in the dollar-Yuan exchange rate have on China as an outsourcing delivery location or as a market for outsourcing services?  What sort of economic/political surprises might occur in China over the next five years?

A complimentary networking reception sponsored by Infosys followed the program.

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Chairman’s Summary – July 17, 2008

ACS chaired the first IAOP (International Association of Outsourcing Professionals) meeting in Austin, Texas on July 17. The topic was “Outsourcing During an Economic Downturn: Panacea or Placebo. The panel discussion was moderated by University of Texas distinguished professor Prabhudev Konana. Panelists included Sean Fallon, CFO for Trilogy; Kent Bloomstrand, vice president of Engineering, Vignette; Jikku Venkat, CEO, Seven Numerals; former CTO, United Devices; and Emily Summons, vice president for USAA.

Anupam Govil, CEO of Global Equations opened the meeting. Tom Tunstall, then introduced David Zahn, COO of Consero, who provided some background on the panel which sponsored the Austin meeting. Professor Konana then provided an overview of some of his recent research regarding decision criteria that organizations use to determine what areas to outsource. The panel then offered their views about where outsourcing was effective, both from an onshore as well as offshore perspective.

Some key points made included: 

• Outsourcing can be an effective strategy for organizations to respond to recessionary pressures, however the use of outsourcing requires significant effort to manage, whether domestic or offshore
• Offshoring (whether captive or outsourced) requires more management than most organizations initially believe is necessary
• It is important that the outsourcing buyer understand which need is most important: quality or cost
• In many cases, offshoring becomes necessary because the required skills are simply not available domestically
• Cost pressures, whether recession-driven or not, are often a key driver to push work offshore, either on a captive basis or outsourced.
• There appears to be no set migration pattern for organizations regarding captives or outsourced models – organizations can move in either direction depending on loyalty, quality, cost and other issues
• Effective management of outsourcing relationships is increasingly being viewed as a core competency for many organizations
• Team building is a critical component to the success of offshore teams
• Offshore teams often struggle to understand the context of the problems they are trying to solve, so site visits to user locations are a key component to success
• When organizations send work offshore, they often find they have many expatriates within their organization very willing to move back home, which improves the odds of success
• As governance strategies become more mature, buying organizations are seeking to set up networks of suppliers that can respond to changes in market needs, levels of demand or currency valuations
• The use of more extended organizations enabled by outsourcing do not have a noticeable impact on communication costs – in large measure because while more communication is necessary, those costs have been coming down

Small or medium-sized organizations often prefer to work with small to medium-sized suppliers because they get more attention and pricing flexibility

Chairman’s Summary - April 14, 2008

The Dallas IAOP Chapter used a panel format for its April 14 meeting. The discussion focused on what impact a recession or economic downturn would have on outsourcing activity and practice. Chapter co-chair Tom Tunstall facilitated a discussion with three panelists representing the customer, supplier and advisor perspectives to try to gain insight into this issue.

Michael Bieler represented the supplier side. With more than 16 years of outsourcing experience, Michael has developed a deep understanding of IT and Business Process Outsourcing. He began his outsourcing career with EDS in 1992 with the Insurance Business Unit. In addition to EDS he has also held sales and sales leadership positions with CGI and Capgemini. Currently Michael is responsible for the relationship management of the Third Party Advisory firms within the global outsourcing services business unit for CSC.  Michael has developed not only a domestic view of outsourcing, but has been involved in several large global transactions that required interaction around the world including India, Eastern Europe and China.  Michael resides in Dallas, Texas and is on the Board of Directors for the Dallas Chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Joe Sifferman represented the customer side and is responsible for the Global Sourcing Management function for PepsiCo Business Solutions Group. Histeam is responsible for developing and maintaining sourcing best practices and methodologies and supporting the PepsiCo IT organization in the development and implementation of a long-term sourcing plan. The Global Sourcing Management team sets sourcing strategy, creates and conducts sourcing training, develops and implements service level agreements, monitors vendor performance, and partners with IT leadership and Procurement in vendor selection and competitive bids.  Prior to joining PepsiCo, Joe worked at Accentureon ITO and BPOdeals focusing on contract due diligence, outsourcing planning, and service transition in helping his clients and delivery teams successfully manage the transition to outsourced operating models. He also worked in outsourcing delivery holding both service management and service delivery roles. Joe has a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and a M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University.

Gary Claytor offered the advisor perspective. Gary is an entrepreneur, Business Development Executive and Management Consultant with 26+ years experience working for major providers of Application, Consulting, Outsourcing and BPO services companies delivering large and complex solutions. During his career, Gary has developed Healthcare Practices for major outsourcing and outsourcing advisory organizations.

A few points of comparison between Texas and the rest of the U.S. In 2007, job growth for the U.S. a whole was 1.0% while the job growth rate in Texas was 3.1%. The unemployment rate as of December 2007 was 5.1% for the U.S., while in Texas it was only 4.5%. Texas has a somewhat countercyclical economy, which the Federal Reserve referred to as the global epicenter for a prosperous energy industry. Further, in the past few years, the population of Texas has grown twice as fast as the rest of the country. 

Key Points from the Panel

Michael Bieler – CSC (Supplier Representative)

• Some sectors and industries are affected more than others in an economic downturn, so we should not expect to see a uniform impact across all types of businesses.
• A downturn in economic activity will lead to the increased use of outsourcing.
• Outsourcing activity should increase as executive drive the message to lower costs and improve operations to the organization, and the organizations in turn engage outsourcers for additional activities.
• More outsourcing deals are becoming output/results-based, as opposed to input or wage arbitrage-based. A good measurement of value-add is key.
• An economic downturn is causing some interesting industry restructuring – who would have thought that Blockbuster would make a bid for Circuit City?
• Industry knowledge, domain expertise and innovation will become increasingly important for outsourcing suppliers to bring to the table.
• As India-based companies target the U.S. market, things will get interesting for the traditional established players.
• Customers are increasingly asking for transformation solutions, not lift-and-shift, or your-mess-for-less.
• Advances in technology are speeding up transition times (e.g. getting servers up and running used to take day, but can now be done in 30 minutes).
• Mexico is likely to become a more attractive delivery location for both onshore or offshore suppliers because of similar time zones and language capabilities for the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population.

There is a growing movement by many suppliers to set up or bring back contact centers to the U.S. in lower cost of living areas.

Joe Sifferman – Pepsico (Customer Representative)

• Unfortunately,by strict economic definition,we usually find out that we’re in a recession only either after the fact or when it’s nearly over.
• Due to current perceptions, companies arealready factoring in the possibility of a recession into their planning/budgeting processes.
• At the same time, inflation is also a real concern – the price of fuel and raw materials is rising rapidly. Demand for corn is rising, for example, because of an increase in the use of bio-fuels and overall worldwide demand.
• Organizations will have to get more creative at leveraging partners to gain efficiency, i.e. cost savings in operations.
• Due to increasing demand for building materials, food, and energy, we should expect to see China play an increasing role on the world economy in the years and decades ahead.
• High-end and lower-end market oriented companies may benefit more from a recession than companies targeting the middle-class markets.
• The green movement will likely influence the nature of outsourcing activities.
• Capital intensive industries, along with travel, transport, and construction industries would seem to be the most likely impacted from an economic downturn. Energy companies are likely to continue to benefit.
• Customers would likely view the consolidation of outsourcing suppliers favorably because fewer suppliers may simplify governance.
• Customers are demanding that suppliers bring innovative solutions to the table. Innovation used to be viewed more as something nice to have.
  
  

Gary Claytor – BDP Partners (Advisor Representative)

• How the government and innovative thinkers in industry react (or over-react) will determine how deep or how long the recession turns out to be.
• Recessions have in the past caused an increase in outsourcing activity. Companies use outsourcing both to save money and improve quality.
• The weakness of the U.S. dollar has the potential impact the marketplace.
• People will respond creatively to an economic downturn and likely develop creative solutions to cope.
• A lot of outsourcing deals are coming up the 2^nd time around, and there is less focus on cost savings and more emphasis on innovation.
• Outsourcing suppliers have been and will continue to consolidate through an economic downturn. There is also increasing interest from offshore organizations to purchase stable small-medium outsourcing companies in the U.S.
• Many mid-cap companies rely on outsourcers because suppliers can more easily keep up with advances in technology and provide capital for new technology.
• Outsourcing suppliers will continue to pursue work-at-home models for service delivery as a way to deal with wage constraints, higher commuting costs, as well as staff absenteeism.

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Chairman’s Summary – January 15, 2008

The meeting was held at the University of Texas at Dallas School of Management. This meeting marked the first anniversary of the DFW area chapter.  Many thanks to the UTD School of Management for hosting the event!

The theme of this quarter’s meeting was Outsourcing Strategy. Jag Dalal, Managing Director for Thought Leadership at IAOP was the keynote speaker. Jag provided his thoughts about why service providers will have to take on more risk and essentially become risk mitigators for clients. The challenge service providers have often faced is their tendency to be focused on the present or the past, while C-level executives are always looking forward. Similarly, cost savings is a transitory advantage that only lasts for a single fiscal year. In order to win the long-term confidence of buyers, service providers will have to go beyond faster, better, cheaper. They will have to provide service offerings that decrease risk and provide sustainable change to organizations.

The second speaker was Usman Ghani, who not only teaches at UTD, but is also a management consultant, Executive Trainer, Author and Chairman of ConfluentC.  Usman discussed the current role of strategy in corporate America and what part outsourcing plays. He talked about where outsourcing is positioned today and how it will change in the future. He also discussed what organizational challenges outsourcing suppliers face and what opportunities exist for them. The presentation provided an overview of the current and future state of outsourcing in the context of organizational strategy.

The customary networking reception followed the meeting. Chapter Chair, Tom Tunstall, thanked the 45 attendees for their participation at the first anniversary meeting.

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Chairman’s Summary – October 16, 2007 

The main speaker was Bill Perry, partner and co-lead for Accenture's Negotiations Center of Excellence, which is responsible for leading and training the company's business negotiators while also taking an active role in negotiating Accenture's largest and more complex contracts.

Since 1988, Bill has successfully sold, managed, and negotiated over $12 billion in outsourcing transactions in N. America, S. America, Europe, Asia and Australia/New Zealand. Accenture is a $17 billion revenue company with 158,000 employee enagaged in global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company with operations in 49 countries.

Bill discussed why it is key for suppliers to focus on how to solve the client’s problem when negotiating, rather than on tactics to gain advantage. He also stressed that any formal authority in a negotiation or re-negotiation should be used as an opportunity to influence instead of coerce outcomes.

Robert Joslin, a Principal with the Everest Group was the second speaker. Robert is the focal point for ensuring successful outcomes across multiple complex projects for clients in IT, telecommunications, financial institutions, customer care, call center, utilities and aerospace arenas. Robert’s background spans 20 years of diversified experience on the outsourcing provider side and as an advisor to buyers of outsourcing services. He possesses comprehensive knowledge of HR and finance/accounting (F&A) processes, as well as cost modeling, data center installations/migrations and project management skills.

Robert discussed how clients and suppliers can best maximize value in the renegotiation process. Both parties should avoid an adversarial relationship, which is invariably unproductive. Robert also talk about how renegotiation can provide an opportunity introduce a larger offshore component in a contract in order to have a significant impact on costs.

Tom Tunstall, chapter co-chair closed the meeting by thanking JonesDay for hosting the quarterly meeting. A networking reception followed.