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 Public   Associate  Professional Global Outsourcing 100 - 2007 A Look Back
2007 was the second year for IAOP and Fortune® magazine to collaborate and publish The Global Outsourcing 100. As we begin our application process for 2008, let's look at the comparison of the first two years' applicants and put some light on what the numbers indicate. Although two points don't make a trend, we can put some hypotheses out there for our readers to consider! |
Ensuring Success Through Proper Governance
Best practice firms establish a governance body across organizational, functional and operational levels and ensure continual commitment to various factors throughout the lifecycle of an initiative. The key factors for successful governance include consistent internal commitment, extended/ appropriate role definition and adequate team staffing, governance budgets to name a few... |
Outsourcing Glossary
The Firmbuilder.com glossary has just been updated to include new terms and expanded definitions based on Mike Corbett's upcoming book, "The Outsourcing Revolution." |
The CEO's Role
An outsourcing evaluation and decision process should be on the CEO's list of top priorities. Senior management must take the lead in the entire process – from identifying the objectives for outsourcing to establishing a sound structure for ongoing management of the relationship. A decision to outsource, or not, is a major organizational decision and ultimately the senior manager’s responsibility. It should not be delegated down the management chain. |
Putting Offshore Outsourcing in Perspective
Taking operations offshore, in general, and offshore outsourcing, in particular, are receiving unprecedented attention – in the executive suites of both customer and provider companies, in the reports and recommendations of consultants, in the countries, like India, that are recipients of much of the new business, and in the Western media. |
A Small Business Guide to Successful Outsourcing
For small businesses, the power of outsourcing is not so much in redefining and reorganizing operations for speed and efficiency as it is in enabling them to gain increased leverage from what they are already good at. |
Welcome to Outsourcing
Outsourcing is nothing less than a basic redefinition of the corporation around core competencies and long-term outside relationships. These core competencies and outside relationships are chosen to bring the greatest value to the ultimate customer and the greatest productivity to the corporation itself. |
Government Privatization Trends and Policy
There are many trends occurring within government privatization that help reduce the costs involved with infrastructure while further improving Government services that are delivered. |
Achieving Speed and Innovation through Business Process Outsourcing
The term outsourcing gained common acceptance in the 1980s and is still used today to describe a contractual relationship with a specialized outside service provider for work traditionally done in-house. Although most now recognize that outsourcing relationships are more akin to strategic partnerships than to sub-contracts, the term reflects the fact that the work was seen as moving 'outside' the company, or 'outsourced.' |
Managing Outsourcing Relationships for Value Creation
Thus, the relationship begins... However, making outsourcing relationships work takes a lot more than good faith and committed people. Too few such arrangements actually come anywhere near reaching their desired goals. Even with the best of intentions, relationships can end up in what the authors call a "value-shrinking" loop. Once in such a loop, customers and vendors are headed down the spiral to failure. |
Use EVA to Measure the Benefits
More and more, organizations are approaching outsourcing as a strategic tool for building shareholder value. However, the organization's inabilities to properly demonstrate, in the financial business case, where and how these strategic benefits will be realized often derail these intentions. |
The Copycat Economy: A Sea of White
The subtitle of Oren Harari's latest book is “How to Compete in a Copycat Economy.” When people ask him to explain the Copycat Economy, he often starts talking about why markets have become so fragmented, why so many companies have seen their products become lower-margin commodities and why so many companies are frustrated that their services are being so blatantly imitated by competitors. Lately, he talks about the Copycat Economy as a “sea of white.” |
Energizer and ADP
St. Louis-based Energizer, was spun off from Ralston Purina in April 2000. The spin-off provided an excellent opportunity for the company to reevaluate how it delivered HR services to its employees. |
CSC Expands Outsourcing Agreement with UTC
Computer Sciences Corporation recently established ten-year outsourcing agreements with two units of United Technologies Corp: Aerospace and Industrial manufacturer Hamilton Sundstrand and Aircraft engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney Canada |
Northwest Profits From Enhanced Automated Billing
Everybody likes to get paid, but for Northwest Airlines Cargo division (www.cargo.nwa.com), it was a long and difficult process. Getting invoices out the door took between seven and 10 days. "By the time the customer received our invoice, it was as much as two weeks old," states Patrick Thao, Manager, Cargo Agent and Settlement. "This made it difficult for our customers to pay within our terms and resulted in significant cash flow delay to Northwest." |
Harnessing the Power of Outsourcing's Next Wave - In Europe
Outsourcing has taken on new energy in Europe as the areas being outsourced have moved from the traditional “physical” aspects of the business, such as facilities operations and manufacturing, to the more specialized information technology and process operations. |
Bank of America to Outsource HR to Exult in Innovative Deal
Bank of America announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Exult, Inc., a provider of Web-enabled, integrated services designed to manage the human resources function for large, multinational corporations. The relationship extends far beyond the provision of HR services to include a large ownership stake for BoA and new market opportunities for BoA through Exult's web portal. This innovative relationship is part of a wave of comprehensive outsourcing deals that involve revenue opportunities for the "client" and ownership. |
Chrysler Corporation Shoots and SCOREs
Chrysler Corporation, was named "Company of the Year" for 1997 by Forbes Magazine prior to its merger with Mercedes-Benz. The company has always been a great example of how even traditional corporate giants are reinventing themselves from the outside-in with outsourcing. |
The 2004 India Outsourcing Summit Presentations
India has almost overnight become the preferred destination for offshoring information technology operations, business processes, and, most recently, highly technical functions, such as, medical services, financial analysis and planning, and R&D. The 2004 India Outsourcing Summit provides a comprehensive insight into the current opportunities and future trends. |
The 2004 Outsourcing World Summit - Sub-Conference Session Presentations
The 2004 Outsourcing World Summit is the most important annual event for executives involved in outsourcing. In addition to the thought-provoking keynotes you’ve come to expect, the Summit’s education tracks have been significantly expanded this year, creating conferences-within-a-conference for professionals with specific job responsibilities. Sub-conferences include Human Resources, Information Technology, Manufacturing Services, Finance & Accounting, Real Estate & Facilities, Service Providers and Experienced Buyers.
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The 2004 European Outsourcing Summit Presentations
The 2004 European Summit examines the growing use of outsourcing to transform existing business operations; in particular its power to enable many other key business initiatives, such as, shared services, pan-European and global market expansion, and offshoring. Through keynote presentations featuring top executives and business leaders and in-depth multi-track breakout sessions, the Summit provides each and every delegate with the insight and guidance needed to craft and execute their organization’s unique approach to outsourcing.
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The 2004 China Outsourcing Summit Presentations
Along with top government and business leaders from China, McKinsey & Co., Accenture, Procter & Gamble, IBM, neoIT, Johnson Controls, Simmons & Simmons, International Smart Sourcing, and more present on the future of outsourcing in the world's fastest growing economy.
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Mapping Offshore Markets Update - 2005
In overall terms India and Canada retain their dominant position in the ITO and BPO industries. However India's weaknesses in certain segments have emerged as growing gains for newer offshoring destinations. Poland, for example has shown remarkable growth as an outsourcing destination in both ITO and BPO.
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Offshore Outsourcing: Key Commercial and Legal Issues
What is "Offshore Outsourcing"?
"Offshore outsourcing" can take many forms but in its basic form, it is the performance of tasks or functions by an external enterprise (the “Service Provider”) in a country other than the country where the customer is located. About 85% of the offshore outsourcing market is dominated by Indian companies and offshore outsourcing has become synonymous with outsourcing to an Indian IT or Business Process Outsourcing (“BPO”) services company. India also boasts vendor sophistication with more than 200 companies being quality accredited and serving the needs of over 255 Fortune 500 companies.
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India: Comparison of Locations
Services globalization has turned the world into a global village, enabling the seamless delivery of IT and business processes across time zones. As a result, traditional and emerging globalization destinations such as India, the Philippines, China and Russia are developing Centers of Excellence. These Centers of Excellence epitomize the best of the four core evaluation criteria that companies look to optimize: cost, control, quality and risk. |
Help Guide Series: Visiting Offshore Suppliers
Risks surrounding offshore outsourcing must be understood and addressed to achieve financial and performance goals that typically drive an outsourcing initiative. This article outlines a best practices approach for ensuring the success of an offshore supplier/industry visit. |
Outsourcing Trends to Watch in '05
There is no doubt that outsourcing is a hot-button issue in boardrooms and at water coolers around the globe. Call it economic Darwinism: For many companies that compete globally, it’s a do-or-die strategy and a natural part of their evolution. |
Global ITO and BPO Trends in 2005
Global sourcing has become a corporate mandate for both leading corporations and global service suppliers. Over the last year we have witnessed the onset of supplier market consolidation through mergers and acquisitions, emergence of new ‘hot’ supplier markets, increased client sophistication and the rapid expansion of more complex BPO engagements. |
Managing the People Impact of Outsourcing
Observations and insights on advancing both people and the organization through outsourcing. Managing the People Impact of Outsourcing is essential reading for every manager and executive involved in crafting and implementing outsourcing relationships. It is not a “how-to” guide with static templates and action-item checklists. It is a detailed discussion of the principles and best practices that must shape these actions.
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Best Practices in Managing Outsourcing at the Customer Interface
Best Practices in Managing Outsourcing at the Customer Interface is an executive report providing specific guidance on successfully creating and managing outsourcing relationships that directly touch an organization’s customers. It is based on executive interviews, independent research and analysis. |
Best Practices for Managing the Public Perception of Outsourcing
Best Practices for Managing the Public Perception of Outsourcing provides a framework for determining, in advance of an outsourcing announcement, the level of risk for a public reaction to an organization’s decision. Second, it presents a set of management principles and a set of best practices that executives can use to shape the announcement of an outsourcing decision.
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Best Practices for Managing the Outsourcing Relationship
Best Practices for Managing the Outsourcing Relationship is a comprehensive guide to setting up and managing successful outsourcing relationships. The report is intended for executives and managers with direct responsibility for outsourcing some or all of their operations. It presents specific recommendations based on extensive research, surveys, and interviews.
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Launching a New Breed of Outsourcing Professionals
As globalization inextricably links the world’s economies, few if any companies are going to be able to meet the challenges they face relying solely on their own internal resources. Working with partners, and getting the most out of those relationships, may be the most effective way for businesses to leverage what they’re best at and compete successfully in an increasingly diverse, dynamic, and competitive global marketplace. |
Tour de Outsourcing's Yellow Jersey
Almost every field, from medicine, to accounting, to real estate, to human
resource management eventually reaches a point in time when its top
practitioners take the lead – don the yellow jersey if you will – to set their
profession’s standard of excellence. That time has come for outsourcing. |
Outsourcing: The Next Ten Years
Will outsourcing continue its rapid growth for another ten years or longer, or are problems developing that could slow this juggernaut? |
Marketing's Role in Value Assessment
Companies make decisions about the outsourcing services they need to serve their market. Sales forces can learn how to position the value of those services, but they need help. A common missing link is in marketing. |
For Providers: Lets Go To The Video Tape - Loss:Win Analysis
As any athlete or coach will tell you, the video tape doesn’t lie. One of the hardest things about being a competitor in a high profile sport, be it the Olympics or Monday Night Football, must be the repeated replaying of your every flaw and fumble for the whole world to see in high definition on the jumbotron. In business, fortunately or unfortunately, spectators don’t pay admission to watch us do our jobs… |
How to Build a Brand that Sells
Does Brand impact selling your Outsourcing solution? Easy answer…yes. People will develop perceptions that become your Brand. The harder question is who will define your Brand: you or everyone else? And will it help, or hinder sales? |
Building the Virtual R&D Organization
Our experience shows us that product development risk is reduced when organizations place their non-core activities into the hands of experts, who have the people, process, and tools focused on the development of high-quality products. |
A Market Driven Approach to Healthcare IT
Michael F. Corbett examines how CIOs can bridge the gap between their vision of an interconnected community and their internal capabilities to get there. One important way is through more strategic outsourcing — leveraging the capabilities of specialized commercial partners in an open, market-driven approach to meeting their hospitals' IT needs. |
Diving into BPO
Compared with traditional IT outsourcing, business process outsourcing can mean greater risk -- and greater reward. Here's how to avoid slip-ups and score high. |
Managing the Complexity of Network Convergence through Outsourcing
The convergence of voice, video and data networks, along with wired and wireless environments, brings unprecedented opportunities for a business that can capitalize on change. When managed correctly, network convergence can enable companies to operate more efficiently, increase returns on technology investments and realize other business benefits. Yet despite these potential gains, network convergence
remains a complex undertaking that creates new technical, operational and managerial challenges.
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Beyond Technology: Maximizing Return on IT Outsourcing Investments
Today’s competitive environment and relentless pace of change require that every enterprise be able to adapt quickly to changes in the business environment. CIOs are no longer able to meet demands for improved performance and lower costs by simply adding infrastructure and headcount. Whether growing internal IT, or moving to outsourcing, CIOs must look beyond cost-cutting measures and aim at maximizing return on IT investment. In this climate, outsourcing is a method—and an opportunity—to leverage service providers’ competencies to meet the need for flexible IT services.
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Improving Business Communications
You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.This principle is especially true in today’s fast-paced and highly competitive customer messaging environment, where complex, high-value printed and mailed materials must deliver a strong impact.These packages of detailed information – such as welcome kits, customer registration and educational materials, and documents intended to assure regulatory compliance – must make an immediate and positive impression. Otherwise, they fail in their primary mission to solicit a response. But they also must be produced, assembled and distributed quickly and efficiently to keep costs low and achieve the maximum ROI for the organization.
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The Future of Outsourcing – Delivering IT as a Utility
New business models within the Information Technology (IT) sector have been relatively hard to find since the end of the dot com boom a few years ago. However, there has emerged over the last 12 months or so a new buzzword that is gaining a huge amount of interest: “utility computing”... |
Sarbanes-Oxley and IT: An Opportunity For Partnership and Change
Compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) requires more than CEOs and CFOs of publicly-traded companies personally certifying and attesting to the accuracy of their companies’ financial results. In addition, there are clear expectations for internal controls and the need for reporting of material variances in real-time laid out in Section 404 and 409 of the same Act. To achieve compliance, a collaborative effort will be required. |
Market Based Pricing for Shared Services Centers
Many business plans for shared services centers include "market based pricing" as one of the key benefits. However, most of these business plans and proposals do not truly reflect "market based pricing" especially when the center is a captive business unit of a company. So what is "market based pricing" and what challenges exist in setting up a center based upon it? Does an outsourced shared services center really reflect market based pricing? |
Part III - Protecting the Privacy of Information in Offshoring
This article is the last part in a series of three articles by Jagdish R. Dalal, Managing Director, Thought Leadership International Association of Outsourcing Professionals. Part III considers the "lessons learned" from the experience of those who have tackled issues of the overall protection of information in an outsourced environment. |
Strategies for Exit
When developing outsourcing agreements, many companies overlook contractual terms stipulating early contract termination. |
Six Rationales for Early Exit
Although the future is unpredictable, it is likely that every outsourcing relationship will end either through contract expiration or termination. The termination provisions of an outsourcing agreement require some of the most careful thought. |
The Outsourcing Life-cycle – 9 Stages
Outsourcing is strategic decision that is typically developed at senior levels within a business. It may be part of a larger strategy to move the company to a leveraged business model and to focus on core competencies. Or it may be to save net costs or due to a lack of internal resources... |
Outsourcing Strategy: Managing Strategic Risk
Based on extensive research and practical experience, new techniques have emerged to manage and substantially reduce the risks of outsourcing as it moves from tactically-oriented product or component outsourcing to more service and intellectually-based activities with higher strategic impact. This article focuses on pragmatic, tested methodologies and tools for strategic management of outsourcing. |
The Outsourcing Business Plan
The Outsourcing Business Plan, introduced by Jean-Francois Poisson of Bell Canada at The 2002 Outsourcing World Summit, is a management framework to discuss, plan, monitor and transform any business relationship into a true partnership. |
Best Practices for Deciding What Should be Outsourced
Selecting the best candidates for outsourcing is a complex business issue. The decision is at times obvious, at other times constrained by the realities of the economic and political moment, and certainly influenced by the enduring corporate culture. |
Performing the Financial Analysis
When determining the worthiness of an outsourcing decision, it is important to put all financial figures into a model for financial analysis ensuring that the sourcing option with the highest value to the firm will be selected. |
Selecting an Outsourcing Service Provider
Finding the right provider is a key component to effective outsourcing. If a company is not diligent during the selection process, it could be in for some unpleasant surprises. |
Pricing Structure
Once an organization has selected its outsourcing provider, the deal's pricing structure needs to be determined. There are a number of key considerations when it comes to pricing structure. |
Contracting
A rewarding outsourcing relationship begins with clearly defined expectations that can be easily communicated throughout the organization. |
Checklist for the Service Contract
The service contract charts the course of the relationship between the customer and provider. The following checklist is a helpful tool to ensure that the final negotiated contract addresses essential issues and provides the basis for a smooth journey. |
Negotiation Styles
Two distinct styles are often encountered in the negotiation process. Recognizing and managing these different negotiation styles can help prepare an executive for an effective and successful negotiation process. |
Using a Transition Plan to Address Employee Concerns
When an organization announces a decision to outsource, a number of unforeseen employee concerns can arise. Many of these issues may not directly relate to outsourcing, but rather to the whole organizational change process. The importance of an employee transition plan cannot be understated. |
Managing the People Dimension
The top three concerns when outsourcing are technical competence, price, and people. Unfortunately, the people issues are often considered too late in the process. The process organizations use to manage the people dynamics will ultimately make or break the value of an outsourcing decision. |
HR Involvement Crucial in the Transition Process
When Human Resources becomes a part of the outsourcing process, from initial discussions to post transition, the chances of a successful switch-over and a highly productive outsourcing relationship for the organization, its provider, and all employees involved are increased. |
Outsourcing Performance Management
The essence of outsourcing’s value proposition is that it shifts the organization’s focus from managing resources to managing results. Because of this, outsourcing demands a more advanced approach to performance management–one that ensures that the desired results are defined in clear measurable terms. These results must properly reflect the organization’s true requirements. Finally, they must be reported regularly, managed to and quickly adjusted as needed. |
Nine Principles of Good Performance Measurement in Outsourcing Relationships
In order for the outsourcing relationship to be successful, implement a powerful tool for measuring performance management, the balanced scorecard (BSC). The process of developing the BSC is a way to revisit the whole purpose of the relationship, retransmit the vision, revisit capabilities, and remember why the partnership was forged in the first place. |
Program Management Office (PgMO)
Projects are an approach used by organizations to perform work. The Project Management Institute defines a project as a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product
or service. The Information Technology [IT] functions also use ‘projects’ or groups of projects extensively to achieve their objectives. This is because of the nature of work that is undertaken by the IT function...
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Keeping the Front Line Motivated
Understanding what motivates FM suppliers is essential to managing a good outsourcing contract. What motivates a provider? Is it contract penalties? Incentives? Profit? Taking risks? Maybe for the account manager it is these things, but for the front-line FM workers, it is probably something else. |
Clinical Packaging Business Making Strong Value Statement in Outsourcing Arena
Contract clinical packaging is showing the way that the outsourcing industry will have to evolve over the next 10 years - by offering superior capabilities that deliver measurable advantages to sponsors. A core group of players are making substantial investments in information technology, global scope and logistical expertise to offer a true value-adding proposition to their clients. |
ASP Providers Hail from a Myriad of Industries
As businesses increasingly seek to outsource both business services and applications, the market for applications hosting and management is growing at a rapid rate. Companies from a myriad of industries want to command their share of the growing ASP market. |
The "Net" Effect of Outsourcing
E-business is changing the way business is conducted. The Internet is driving the requirement to meet customer needs globally. |
From the Archives:
Outsourcing Facilities Management Grows and Outsourcing Satisfaction is High
Facilities Design and Management Magazine, The Outsource Report, and Michael F. Corbett & Associates, Ltd. recently announced the results of the 2000 readers outsourcing poll. Scott Lever, Vice President, Research with Michael F. Corbett & Associates, Ltd. conducted the research and reported on the findings at the 2000 Facilities Management Conference, held November 1st and 2nd in New York. |
Competing For Keeps in The New Economy: Outsourced Sales Channel Strategies and Achieving Speed To Market
The buzz of e-commerce, telecom and other skyrocketing industries has many of us spinning in our seats, wondering how it all happened so fast. Forces like deregulation, the Internet and the accelerating pace of technological development have forever changed the competitive landscape.Today, aggressive companies of virtually any size compete in areas once reserved solely for the traditional economy players. Now immediate sales results more than ever before are critical to the ultimate success of a company and its share of the market. |
Discipline 2: Identifying Core Competencies
Outsourcing is the tool that allows organizations to focus on their core competencies. As organizations outsource those activities that are non-core, it frees management time and resources to focus on the activities that are core. |
Discipline 3: Best Candidates for Outsourcing
Selecting the best candidates for outsourcing is a complex business issue. When the executive is faced with a blank slate the best advice is to begin with the desired end-state in mind. |
Discipline 4: Forming Successful Project Teams
Project teams are usually necessary for any large and complicated undertaking. Forming project teams involves assembling an array of organizational members with wide reaching responsibilities and decision-making authority so that outsourcing contracts will be successfully initiated and executed. |
Discipline 5: Defining Requirements
Defining requirements for providers is key to selecting the most appropriate and effective provider for your organization's outsourcing needs. |
Discipline 7: Selecting Providers
Determining critical factors for the outsourcing relationship and finding the right provider go hand-in-hand with effective outsourcing. |
Discipline 8: Pricing and Contracting
Relationships are created when an organization and its provider's interest stay in step with each other. This really comes down to the way an organization negotiates for services and the way that the pricing structure is defined for outsourcing. |
Discipline 9: Negotiating a Win-Win Situation
Negotiation is an integral part of outsourcing and takes place throughout the process. In order to become a skilled negotiator of outsourcing contracts, there are many guidelines that need to be practiced. |
Discipline 10: Managing the People Dimension
How organizations manage the people dynamics has a lot to do with the ultimate success of outsourcing. Bench marking your organization against the best practices of others can lead to successful can enable you to have a positive impression in all parties' eyes. |
From the Archives:
Formal Risk Analysis on the Rise
Approximately 87% of outsourcing decisions involve some level of risk analysis. This conclusion was reached through a study conducted by Pretium Partners, Inc. Of the 87%, nearly 40% went further and relied heavily on a formal risk analysis process. The decision to outsource should include a careful assessment of the risks involved. |
How Outsourcing Builds Shareholder Value
One of the great benefits to outsourcing is that it builds an organization's shareholder value. We will look at the three main components of shareholder value and discuss how outsourcing contributes to each one. |
Researching Shareholder Value Created through Outsourcing
Tremendous value is created through an organization's outsourcing of activities. Value is created through a shareholder's rise in holdings, when operating costs are decreased, when service performance is enhanced, and when outsourcing creates a strategic advantage for an organization. |
Creating Competitive Advantage with Outsourcing
Usually when we think about improving our competitive advantage in the marketplace we think about doing something internal to change our stance in the marketplace —like mastering a new technology or developing an innovative process. |
Case Study: Home Depot Uses Outsourcing to Manage Content
Managing intellectual assets, an increasingly important component of a successful firm, involves knowing where they are housed and shared, identifying the corporate standards, and coordinating the contributing organizational work-flows. |
Corbett's Core Competencies Test
Select a business function from the list provided and apply the expanded Corbett Core Competencies Test to determine if the function is core at your firm. Then view our results to see how other visitors to Firmbuilder.com rate that same function. |
Key Considerations when Selecting Best Candidates
There are many activities that need to be considered before taking on an outsourcing initiative. By preparing for these internal and external activities, an organization can proactively use outsourcing as a strategic advantage. |
Reengineering or Outsourcing?
When should an organization outsource and when should an organization reengineer? By examining a list of criteria and comparing it to your organization's situation and needs, the decision to outsource or reengineer can be determined. |
Case Study: Employee Concerns Slows Outsourcing at Bell Canada
Bell Canada is Canada's largest telecommunications company serving more than seven million businesses and residential customers in Ontario and Quebec. In 1997 the company tried to initiate outsourcing but was met with strong opposition from its unions, placing the outsourcing on hold until the spring of 1999. |
Sale-Leaseback Outsourcing
With pressure from Wall Street to increase earnings and improve balance sheets, corporate America has been shedding non-core assets and concentrating on core competencies. In the case of real estate, one tool being utilized is the traditional sale-leaseback, which has now been coupled with facilities management outsourcing. This concept of "sale-leaseback outsourcing", is a natural evolution for corporate real estate. |
Eight Considerations when Structuring a Deal
When forming an outsourcing relationship, it is key for the organization and it's soon-to-be provider to agree on a deal structure that is workable for both parties. Similar deal structure preferences help facilitate the relationship. |
Why Companies Outsource
Organizations outsource to address specific business issues and opportunities. Executives need to be conscious of their organization's specific motivations for outsourcing. What business issues are you looking to solve and how will outsourcing enable you to solve them? |
How Executives are Sourcing Today
The sourcing options available to today's business executive are varied and complex. No longer is the only, let alone best way to get the job done to hire people, buy technology and manage the process internally. |
From the Archives:
Outsourcing - Driving Business Outsourcing Justification - Driving Business Crazy!
The corporate need to maximize the use of outsourcing as a financial, operational and management tool for increased internal value has never been greater. The use of outsourcing has grown, along with the difficulty to build adequate justification models. Little is known about the processes firms use or the justification they require in order to make outsourcing decisions.Pretium Partners, Inc. teamed with Professor Venkat Bendapudi of the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University to conduct a comprehensive, national study of outsourcing justification practices. |
Outsourcing Facilities Management: A Structured Approach for Evaluating the Potential
The desire to reduce costs and improve levels of service has led many companies to review the way they carry out their maintenance work. Such reviews typically begin by defining an appropriate maintenance strategy for the business and then evaluating the most effective and efficient way to resource this strategy. There are two alternative resourcing options: carry out all the maintenance in-house, or outsource all or part of the work. |
Xerox Provides Public Sector Solutions through Knowledge Sharing
Public Sector entities are being forced to think globally and act locally. As their customers become more demanding and more sophisticated, they expect greater access, more attention, better value and more effective service. Devolution is compounding this problem and causing government to reevaluate how best to deliver the services it provides. Greater emphasis on quality and continuous improvement has also made the public sector more customer-focused. From licenses to permits, bills to records, they realize that putting important laws and public information in people's hands is more important than ever. The ability to work collaboratively on documents—across agencies, ministries or departments—and the ability to provide public sector employees with the right information in the right format can reduce time and eliminate duplication of effort. |
The Virtual CFO
As the shape of business changes, so must the way we think about a firm's leadership positions. One such position, the CFO, may well be poised for transformation from the traditional CFO into a new 'virtual' CFO. Read more. |
Secrets of Real Estate Outsourcing
If you are in the corporate real estate business and haven’t seriously thought about how outsourcing is changing your world, you are in danger of falling behind in your profession. |
The Principles of Selling Outsourcing – Part Two
Results of a study of Outsourcing Justification Practices conducted by Pretium Partners, Inc. and The Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University, exhibited several trends by outsourcing buyers that have an impact on how outsourcing must be sold in the marketplace. Read part two of the three part series. |
The Principles of Selling Outsourcing – Part Three
Results of a study of Outsourcing Justification Practices conducted by Pretium Partners, Inc. and The Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University, exhibited several trends by outsourcing buyers that have an impact on how outsourcing must be sold in the marketplace. |
An Executive Discussion on Accounting Process Outsourcing
Michael Corbett, President, Michael F. Corbett & Associates and publisher of Firmbuilder.com, and Stefan R. Bothe, CEO Financial Management Services, Inc. discuss how business process outsourcing is coming to the forefront as an important alternative to traditional software purchasing – especially for the finance and accounting applications used by mid-sized companies. |
Making the Right Outsourcing Decisions
While outsourcing may make more sense for many companies, it is not simple, easy or risk free. Consequently, a critical issue is how can companies make the right decisions about what to outsource or not outsource, and go about the whole process in ways that reduce risk and enhance success? There are basically four key success factors. |
Outsourcing's Next Wave
Business changes come as waves gathering shape, gaining energy and momentum, then crashing across the companies that find themselves in their path. Those companies that anticipate and react quickly to these waves of change can often rise with the tide; those that don't are often crushed by the impact. |
Offshore Outsourcing Options
This article examines the benefits and challenges of offshore outsourcing, the criteria for selecting processes, and the methodology for successfully implementing an offshore outsourcing agreement. |
Outsourcing...The Decision Process
For many companies, an outsourcing decision represents the longest and largest financial commitment the company will make. The selection of an outsourcing partner will directly impact the company’s growth and future performance. In short, the outsourcing decision is critical to the company’s future success. The following factors will impact the success of your outsourcing decision.
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Designing a Performance-based Competitive Sourcing Process for the Federal Government
As the Administration develops its package of reforms to the competitive sourcing process and agencies pursue competitions, it is our hope that these recommendations can serve as thoughtful and provocative slants on what is a difficult, but necessary aspect of federal management improvement. By examining the perspectives and concerns of all stakeholders, the Administration, Congress and the individual agencies can define a competitive sourcing process that is fair balanced, and performance-based. |
What Impedes Process Improvements in SSCs
Businesses have found that at times, internal shared services organizations
find it difficult to sustain process improvement thrust over a period of
time. As a result, some of the businesses have looked to an outsourcing
service provider to take over the responsibility of improving the shared
services center. In fact, some have let the outsourcer actually create the
shared services center with a new process model in place. The article
shares on the extensive experience of Jagdish Dalal who is both an
experienced shared services executive and a noted outsourcing expert. |
Service Integration: The Next Level in HR Outsourcing
Corporate leaders know they need to understand what outsourcing means and stay current with leading edge practices. Of all non-core functions, human resources has emerged in particular as an area of high potential for providing the benefits of outsourcing. |
The Expert Opinion: An Interview with Jagdish R. Dalal
An interview of Jagdish R. Dalal, Principal, JDalal Associates conducted by Dr. Shailendra C. Jain Palvia, Editor-in-chief of the "Journal of Information Technology Cases and Applications" (JITCA), delves into several first-hand experiences from an executive's viewpoint concerning business strategy and business process outsourcing. |
Today's Business Continuity Planning
We all know we should have Disaster Recovery Plans and many of us
think we do, but how many companies have complete plans that include
consideration of operations, suppliers and customers? Business Continuity
Planning is a major step forward from Disaster Recovery, and focused on real
potentials and realistic recovery strategies. |
Top 10 Marketing Techniques to Drive Revenue with Limited Budgets
During these economic times, we’re all looking to do more with less. Emarketing Technology enables savvy marketers to generate demand more cost-effectively than traditional methods like advertising or direct mail. When powerful eMarketing is blended with traditional tools, it’s possible to accelerate revenue while actually reducing overall marketing spending. |
Case Study: Xerox Global Services Automates BP Canada Energy Company
Finding new value, reengineering processes and reducing costs are all essential for growth in the Petroleum industry today where cyclical profit margins, workforce fluctuations and the push for new fuels are the norm. In steps Xerox Global Services to take over the handling of all the non-core tasks that keep a business running smoothly. |
Partnering: A Win-Win-Win Approach
Many corporations enter strategic partnerships to leverage core strengths and enter new markets. Relationships are formed in which organizations compliment each other's capabilities and achieve outcomes that were previously not possible. This article introduces another dimension to partnering -- social benefits. |
Selling BPO
Many, if not most, service providers miss the point: the most important factor in creating a value proposition is managing the risks of outsourcing. This is as important, if not more important than the savings in transaction costs. |
BPO and Relationship Management
Outsourcing deals have been won and lost on the basis of the relationship a service provider builds with the prospective client, and relationship is even more critical in BPO than in the Information Technology field.
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Research Summary: Global Services Sourcing
This document summarizes the key findings of the neoIT Global Services Sourcing survey by identifying the business and technology trends that affect how services projects are globally sourced, negotiated, and managed. |
Good Riddance to Mundane, Costly Tasks
Good riddance to mundane, costly tasks. That's the mantra for a growing number of companies that are choosing to outsource projects, if not entire departments. And that's where you come in. |
Risk Management for Offshore Deals
Today's corporations are faced with the necessity of significantly reducing their cost of operations in response to decreasing profits due to weakening global economies. Outsourcing, and more importantly, offshoring certain business activities has developed into an attractive option as the global marketplace continues to expand. |
Understanding the Risk and Return Variances in Offshoring
Outsourcing, and more specifically offshoring, has been generating an increasing amount of buzz in the business and IT arenas. Current economic conditions mean that many companies are facing a challenging road to maintaining, much less increasing, sales and profitability. As a result, these same companies are faced with a business imperative to decrease costs. |
Mapping Offshore Markets
To meet the demand for offshoring, developing countries have emerged as havens for new, sophisticated providers to deliver superior IT and BPO services. But which countries are right for you is not an easy answer. |
Creating a Measurement Program for Managing IT Services
Measurements play a key role in managing any function in business, and IT is no exception. However, the nature of managing IT services requires a measurement program to apply where services are both insourced and outsourced. |
FAQs
Get answers to the most frequently asked questions about Firmbuilder.com. |
The 2003 Outsourcing World Summit - Keynote Presentations
The 2003 Outsourcing World Summit was held February 24-26, 2003 at Desert Springs Marriott Resort & Spa, Palm Desert, CA. The Summit's keynote speakers were some of the most important and influential business leaders on the topic.
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Fixing the Information Management Dilemma: The Call for a New Service Architecture
The need for effectively assessing and using information and expertise has never been greater. But, as presented in the executive white paper, Fixing the Information Management Dilemma, with the increased availability of information, the gap in most organizations’ ability to navigate and use this information has actually widened. |
Building Virtual Global Trading Communities through Electronic Commerce Outsourcing
Over the past few years, outsourcing has become an increasingly important part of the business strategy of leading organizations around the world. By strategically outsourcing non-coreactivities, successful firms focus their resources on the things they do best. At the same time, they powerfully leverage the skills and resources of outside specialists to gain a significant competitive advantage. |
The Global Outsourcing Market 2002
Outsourcing spending, including manufacturing, tops $3.7 trillion globally. The Global Outsourcing Market 2002 is a report detailing the continuing restructuring of modern organizations through outsourcing; a multi-trillion dollar industry that continues to expand globally at more than 15 percent a year.
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Learnings from The 1999 Outsourcing World Summit:
Developing new ways to lead and manage for today’s virtual business world.
The use of outsourcing accelerates as executives search for greater value. Learn why companies outsource and the success with defining, measuring, achieving, leading and keeping it.
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Learnings from The 2000 Outsourcing World Summit:
Developing new ways to lead and manage for today’s virtual business world. The 2000 Outsourcing World Summit learnings—including the chairman’s address, keynote presentations and educational track session abstracts.
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Achieving Breakthough Business Success by Leveraging Outside Resources
Achieving breakthrough business success by leveraging outside resources. How America’s Leading Firms use Outsourcing is a comprehensive review of the outsourcing practices of America’s most successful firms. The report is intended for senior executives and managers with direct responsibility for defining and shaping their firm’s strategy for leveraging outside resources. It presents specific examples and is based on extensive research, surveys, and interviews.
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Outsourcing and the Strategic CFO
In today’s challenging business climate every organization needs to get more out of the resources at its disposal. Nowhere is this more true than in the CFO’s office. CFOs have an enormous reservoir of financial expertise that,when strate-gically leveraged, can propel the company forward. In a survey of midsize-company CFOs conducted specifically. |
Outsourcing: The U.S. Business Revolution
Although the term may be new to some, many believe that the basic concepts of outsourcing are not. After all, companies have always "out-tasked," that is, hired special contractors for particular jobs or to level-off peaks and valleys in their workload; they have always partnered -- forming needed relationships with firms whose capabilities complement their own; companies have always contracted for shared access to resources that were beyond their individual reach -- whether it be buildings, people, or technology. Indeed, none of these concepts are new, yet, none of them represent what we today call outsourcing. |
Hints & Tips
Keep the following ideas in mind to improve the value of your Firmbuilder.com registration. |
The 2002 Strategic Outsourcing Study
The 2002 Strategic Outsourcing Study is based on an online survey of four-hundred and ten managers and executives with collective responsibility for $8.3 billion of annual spending, culled from Michael F. Corbett & Associates’ extensive database of outsourcing professionals. Collectively, these executives provided more than 3,000 data points on the current and future outsourcing plans for the functional areas that make up their businesses. |
The 2003 Outsourcing World Summit Breakout Session Presentations - Day Three
Day three Educational Track Session presentations from The 2003 Outsourcing World Summit. These breakouts examined the outsourcing process from end-to-end, explored in detail specific types of outsourcing, and presented case studies by actual executive teams responsible for making outsourcing work at their companies. |
The 2001 Strategic Outsourcing Study
The 2001 Strategic Outsourcing Study serves two purposes. First, it’s a benchmark for executives to compare and contrast their sourcing decisions to those of their peers. Second, it offers customers, providers, consultants, investors and researchers alike an important gauge of outsourcing’s progress – both as a management discipline and as an industry. The study is both global in scope and specific in its examination of individual industries and business functions.
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The 2000 Strategic Outsourcing Study
The 2000 Strategic Outsourcing Study because of the detail about sourcing decisions it provides and because of the consistent messages that emerge from two years worth of data. The entire spectrum of executives sourcing options has been studied in depth and at the same time. The insights derived are of significant importance to executives in every field and industry. |
The 1999 Strategic Outsourcing Study
The purpose of The 1999 Strategic Outsourcing Study is to understand, in the face of so many more options, what sourcing strategies executives are employing today, what they expect to do in the future, and, most importantly, why. The details of the study are presented in the body of the report.
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How America’s Leading Firms use Outsourcing
How America’s Leading Firms use Outsourcing is a comprehensive review of the outsourcing practices of America’s most successful firms. The report is intended for senior executives and managers with direct responsibility for defining and shaping their firm’s strategy for leveraging outside resources. It presents specific examples and is based on extensive research, surveys, and interviews. |
The 2003 European Outsourcing Summit Breakout Session Presentations - Day One
Educational Track Sessions detailed the practical application of outsourcing within key parts of the business. In-depth coverage of Information Technology Outsourcing, Business Process Outsourcing, Corporate Real Estate and Facilities Services Outsourcing, and Global Sourcing was presented, as well as Outsourcing-in-Action Case Studies which featured the executive teams, and end-to-end coverage of The Outsourcing Process – making the strategic decision, implementing the deal, and managing the relationship. |
The 2003 India Outsourcing Summit Proceedings
Main session speakers focus on understanding how to do business in India, its unique requirements and culture, how to compare India to other offshore destinations, and how to make and manage your company’s India sourcing strategy. Track sessions dig deeper by looking at specific opportunities and requirements for IT and BPO within key industry verticals. Through case studies and presentations from experienced advisors the specific opportunities within the financial services, technology services, logistics, manufacturing and other industries are explored.
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The 2003 China-America Outsourcing Business Development Summit
The China-America Outsourcing Business Development Summit (OBD) is presented by Michael F. Corbett & Associates, Ltd. as part of The Outsourcing World Summit Conference Series. The Summit is specifically designed to introduce western executives, decision-makers and decision-influencers to the opportunities to provide and source information technology, business process, and manufacturing outsourcing services in and from mainland China.
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The 2002 Strategic Outsourcing Study - Executive Summary
The 2002 Strategic Outsourcing Study is based on a survey of 410 managers and executives with collective responsibility for $8.3 billion dollars of annual budget. Collectively, these executives provided more than 3,000 data points on the current and future outsourcing plans for the functional areas under their control. |
Best Practices for Managing the Public Perception of Outsourcing - Executive Summary
Best Practices for Managing the Public Perception of Outsourcing is an executive report providing specific guidance on assessing and managing the risks of a negative public reaction to an outsourcing announcement. It provides a structured risk analysis framework as well as in-depth case studies of announcements that were and were not successful. |
Managing the People Impact of Outsourcing - Executive Summary
Managing the People Impact of Outsourcing is an executive report providing specific guidance on using outsourcing to both improve an organization’s performance and the opportunities it creates for employees. The report is based on executive interviews, independent research, and analysis conducted by Michael F. Corbett & Associates, Ltd. over more than a decade of work in the field. |
2002 Global IT Outsourcing Study
What's really going on in executive suites where outsourcing decisions are being made? Who's at the table? What are their expectations? And what have they learned from their outsourcing experience? |
Aligning Relationships: Optimizing
Outsourcing changes everything. Not only does it impact a company ’s
relationships,its processes and its technology environment;it also affects
a business ’s very culture (“the way we do things around here ”).
In an effort to crystallize what companies expect to gain from their out-
sourcing relationships,IBM engaged Mercer Management Consulting to
interview more than 300 senior IT and business executives in seven
countries and seven industries. |
Have You Considered Outsourcing Production Equipment Maintenance?
Plant management today faces a myriad of challenges as they try to develop and implement strategies for successfully maintaining their production equipment. “The only way to get things done right is to do it myself” seemed to be the anthem of maintenance and operations managers. The good news is that management now has more options available to help them address these complex maintenance challenges. |
Outsourcing Equipment Maintenance in a Down Economy
In recent years, the concept of outsourcing has gained significant acceptance in United States businesses. Outsourcing has ascended from being considered a dirty word, spoken only in the privacy of corporate boardrooms to being viewed as a dynamic management tool that can help reduce costs and improve productivity. This has been especially true in manufacturing companies where strategic planning has determined that limited company resources must be allocated only to those business processes that are absolutely core to the success of the business. These strategic processes have been labeled “Core Competencies”. Business processes that do not meet this definition of core have become likely candidates for outsourcing. |
Role of Outsourcing In Production Equipment Maintenance
Plant management today faces a myriad of challenges as they try to develop and implement strategies for successfully maintaining their production equipment. The need for machines to be ready to run when production needs them is becoming ever more critical as plants implement advanced manufacturing practices such as “lean” and “quick response” manufacturing. Traditional approaches to addressing these challenges have included decisions to... |
On demand capabilities for strategic outsourcing: Architecture and Anatomy
Outsourcing has proven to be an excellent option for companies with a mandate to align IT capabilities with increasingly demanding business requirements and, at the same time, cut costs. Through outsourcing, organizations delegate the entire IT organization, the data center or select activities such as CRM, HR or data warehousing—to an expert service provider, with the goal of reducing costs and focusing limited resources on core business strategies. |
Strategic outsourcing on demand: A new capability for IT outsourcing
Strategic outsourcing...business transformation outsourcing...business pro-cess outsourcing...e-business HostingTM services. Today, companies can choose from a wide range of outsourcing capabilities and engagement models that answer to an extensive array of business- and IT-level issues. While there are differences in deployment practices and benefits, an overarching definition is common across outsourcing options. Simply put, outsourcing enables com-panies to delegate all or part of their IT operations to an outside vendor with proven expertise in running cost- and process-efficient IT. |
Press Room
Michael F. Corbett in the news, press releases and general media information. |
Outing Outsourcing
Having specialized in the topic of outsourcing for almost fifteen years now, it seems that for most of that time I had to first introduce myself and then explain at length what the heck outsourcing was. Not any more.... |
Outsourcing of Insurance Business Monitoring
In its pursuit for reducing the risks inherent in the IFAs business and to improve service levels in its turn around time, Sesame, a wholly owned subsidiary of Misys Plc, UK partnered with NIIT SmartServe Ltd, the BPO subsidiary of one of India’s leading software and training major NIIT Ltd. The challenges were to complying with insurance regulatory framework and improve quality of new business. |
Outsourcing for Small Businesses
A day hardly goes by when the media does not cover a story related to outsourcing. Most of the media focuses on large companies outsourcing jobs abroad. This raises many questions among small and mid-sized business owners about whether they too should look into outsourcing? They want to know: Is outsourcing right for my company? Where do I begin? What are the risks and rewards of outsourcing? What are the key success factors? |
Sourcing Management Office
The Sourcing Management Office is rapidly emerging as the preferred process solution for organizations looking to align their sourcing activities and derive lasting value from their sourcing relationships. This paper provides an overview of the sourcing life cycle, critical success factors and the value of an SMO in addressing these critical success factors. Further, the paper also describes the learning derived by Satyam from supporting global organizations in establishing processes for entities like an SMO... |
"Offshore" Versus "Onshore" Outsourcing
In this increasingly competitive global market place, leading-edge companies are evaluating the potential to significantly raise shareholder value by establishing business process outsourcing relationships. Pursuing this path offers the potential to dramatically raise business performance, but it is also a path surrounded by risks. |
Offshoring by Industry Leaders
Dell, Lehman Brothers and British Airways are each top-notch companies at the peak of their games in their respective industries. Each has thrived over the years and endured the recent, lean economic times by developing and implementing an offshore sourcing strategy that enables them to establish a truly global cost structure while providing access to new capabilities that effect both top and bottom-line competitiveness.
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Healthcheck on Global Operations
Has your company been operating in an offshore location for some time, yet you are unable to clearly measure its performance against specific objectives? Whether through a joint venture, a wholly owned captive center or in partnership with a supplier, your services globalization strategy may not yet have provided an optimal return. |
Mapping Offshore Markets 2004
neoIT initially published Mapping Offshore Markets in April of 2003. Since then, the concept of offshoring has become a mainstream reality. As a matter of fact, it is now part of the standard economic ecosystem between developed and developing countries. This follow on issue examines how the offshoring ecosystem has morphed during the past year and how various nearshore and offshore markets have evolved to take advantage of rising demand by US and Western European clients. |
Outsourcing 2010
For the past 18 months, and with the help of Accenture, IAOP (International Association of Outsourcing Professionals) has been regularly surveying its members to identify key trends and developments in this highly robust and diverse global industry. Our goal has been to benchmark how companies’ outsourcing programs have changed in size, make-up, and impact. The goal of this survey is to better understand the outsourcing profession itself, where in excess of 100,000 people lead the design, implementation, and management of these complex, cross-company relationships. |
A Balanced Talent Portfolio
A Talent Portfolio could be defined as an appropriate mix of or collection of talent resources leveraged by a corporation or entity. The talent resources in the portfolio could include local or non-local employees, on-site and off-site temporary workers and/or independent or vendor managed consultants; or any other resource that may add value or risk to the corporation’s talent valuation. In this presentation, as seen at the July 18, 2008 meeting of IAOP's Global Human Capital Chapter, Lori Blackman of DNL Global, and Julia Santos of Johnson & Johnson, discuss talent portfolio management. |
Bundled Outsourcing
Accenture and the London School of Economics present the findings of a major new research study by Dr. Willcocks on the growing trend towards “bundled” or “multi-tower” outsourcing. |
State of the Outsourcing Profession
One of outsourcing’s greatest visionaries, Michael Corbett, welcomes delegates and discusses how outsourcing will be instrumental in rebuilding the global economy. Highlighted will be results from IAOP’s latest Member Survey. |
The Management Science of Outsourcing
Outsourcing is increasingly recognized by businesses, universities and economists worldwide as a new management science. It is not only dramatically reducing business costs, but is spurring innovation and economic activity around the globe. Jag Dalal explores what this means for outsourcing professionals and the business in which they work. |
Long Distance Innovation: Overcoming the Hurdles to Value Creation in Global Relationships
As traditional U.S. and European providers deepen their presence in India and China, and as the more traditional offshore providers expand their footprints around the globe, the distinction between “outsourcing” and “offshoring” seems to be a thing of the past. What does that mean for retained organizations and how they must be prepared to manage outsourcing relationships from both near and far? What are (or should) providers be doing to help manage relationships across great distances and across differences in culture and time zones? More... |
The Effect of Data Privacy & Security Regulations on Services Globalization
Services globalization has turned the world into a global village, enabling the seamless delivery of IT and business processes across time zones. As a result, traditional and emerging globalization destinations such as India, the Philippines, China and Russia are developing Centers of Excellence. These Centers of Excellence epitomize the best of the four core evaluation criteria that companies look to optimize: cost, control, quality and risk. |
Outsourcing and the New Global Economy
Executives around the world are trying to map new strategies for their companies in a period of unprecedented turmoil. Changes on Wall Street, Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue are shaping the future of outsourcing as a management practice, profession and industry. |
Navigating Economic Uncertainty: Leveraging the Services Globalization Advantage
As the US faces an economic downturn in 2008, many corporations are still running their globalization initiatives as if there was no sub-prime meltdown, as if the housing bubble had not burst, or as if inflation and unemployment rates weren’t beginning to tell a story of difficult times ahead. Corporations have not yet aligned globalization initiatives to economic reality.
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Predictions for Top Outsourcing Trends for 2008
Socially responsible outsourcing, global competition for talented employees and a power shift among outsourcing players will be among the key trends in the coming year, predicts the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals (IAOP).
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Career Mapping for Outsourcing Professionals, Phase II
One of the major IAOP initiatives is to establish outsourcing as a profession, and the career mapping effort is defining the jobs, careers and requirements for positions through the entire lifecycle of outsourcing. This is to form the basis for defining the roles of outsourcing professionals.
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