Outsourcing Governance and “Who Owns Supplier Performance Management?”
What the $^^@#$ is supplier performance management? Procurement? Operations? That’s exactly the discussion Tim Cummins relates in his latest discussion on relationships and vendors. Evidently, at the close of International Association for Contract & Commercial Management (IACCM), the final executive roundtable debated this issue. As Tim says, they “questioned whether it is a role that Procurement groups are equipped to perform.”...
Commitment Matters: Outsourcing Contracts Are Worthy of More Thought
Tim Cummins’ blog, Commitment Matters is full of fascinating ideas. What else could one expect from the founder of the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management and someone who has been in the trenches. Tim’s article on the complexity of contracting exactly relates to what I’ve seen in outsourcing: a basic legal framework with innumerable details memorialized in hundreds of pages of schedules. The schedules...
Offshore Outsourcing Vendor Governance Organizations
Does Your Offshore Outsourcing Governance Organization Design Support Your Organizational Objectives? So, I’ve definitely been stirring the pot over the last few weeks. I’ve exposed the errors in the much celebrated Black Book of Outsourcing, shown that the business of outsourcing certification is big business, and explained why vendor management organizations are a bad idea. This much skepticism could be a bit karmically unhealthy,...
The Horse’s Forecast for Outsourcing in 2010
While there is no way Phil Fersht, the leading BPO analyst-turned-vendor, is correct about England winning the 2010 World Cup, there is a good chance many of his other thoughts could come true in 2010. Read his predictions for the outsourcing industry here. There are over a dozen comments on analysis, so the conversation is indeed interesting. Right from the horse’s mouth, as one would say. Read More →
Vendor Management Organizations Are a Bad Design
Does Your Vendor Management Organization's Design Serve the Enterprise? For some, vendor management organizations are a silver bullet that solve all problems. For others, vendor management organizations are the source of internal strife. Bottom line, for many organizations, they are a terrible solution. They hoard decision-making ability, distance ownership of execution and delivery from stakeholders, and focus on narrow contractual goals...
The Business of Outsourcing Certifications
Outsourcing Education is a Big Business It is highly likely that you’ve sought professional development to improve your vendor management and outsourcing management skills. There are very, very few resources available to vendor management and outsourcing professionals. As a result, you’ve probably encountered a few companies out there that specialize in training for vendor management professions. Have you noticed the pricing? Developing...
IT Outsourcing Metrics: A Good Example of Management Controls
Nick Krym of Pragmatic Outsourcing Provides a Great Example of IT Service Levels In the world of Service Level Agreements and IT outsourcing, contractual metrics are difficult to conjure because the work is intangible, with the exception of uptime, help desk/desk side services, and application development milestones. However, metrics are the dashboard by which effective vendor managers can effectively manage outsourcing vendors. Today, Nick Krym...
The Black Book of Outsourcing – Invaluable Resource or Red Herring?
How useful is Datamonitor's 2009 Black Book of Outsourcing Report? During this short week, I took the opportunity to take a hard look at the 2009 Black Book of Outsourcing, the source of innumerable vendor press releases touting so-called market leadership based on rankings provided by Brown and Wilson. In Scott Wilson’s own words, “The Black Book is known as the leading independent unbiased ranking of vendors as it surveys qualified users...
Outsourcing DIY: Less Expensive, Less Scary, More Effective
Manage Your Own Outsourcing Project Stephanie Overby’s CIO/Computerworld article is certainly thought-provoking. Essentially, Overby eschews spendy consultants for analysts and independent consultants, pumps up the smart employees already working for a company, recommends companies take advantage of less expensive templates available online, and finally suggests companies start with smaller projects where vendors get the opportunity to prove...
Desperate Measures Include Outsourcing?
Do Budgets Cause You to Outsource for the Wrong Reasons? The Wall Street Journal ran an interesting article this morning in which Infosys’ COO says, ”Past patterns suggest that when budgets are under pressure, clients do all kinds of things to get more with less, like outsourcing and offshoring.” Ah, Shibu, we love your honesty and we are certain you are right. Sadly, “budgets” do more to drive outsourcing than they...
