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... [Read More...]
Another Tale from “When You Don’t Have Vendor Management Governance”
As related to us by a reader. Picture this: Your company has outsourced customer service for some products, but not all products. You have a single vendor with over 1,000 seats dedicated to your operation. These seats are located in several centers located in the USA (for reasons not important to this story). Your vendor management team is made-up of a single person. This person coordinates five different programs, handles contractual issues,... [Read More...]
In the Absence of Outsoucing Governance or Vendor Management
A funny story told to us by an employee of a major US company (which we’ll call XYZ) with thousands of outsourced call center seats (domestic and international): XYZ has two call center programs. One is a major inbound customer service program and the other is a small (about 45 agents) complex inbound/outbound marketing programs that focus on driving customer loyalty and create a significant revenue lift. XYZ’s marketing and customer... [Read More...]
Poll: How did you learn to be an effective vendor manager?
Vendor management is not a traditional discipline, like project management, software development, or operations management. Take a moment to share how you learned to be an effective vendor manager in this poll: Have incentives (bonuses for certain performance targets or milestones) in your vendor contracts improved vendor performance? Yes No My vendor contracts do not have incentives. Loading ... Read More →
Vendor Managers Can Satisfy Internal Stakeholders
Before outsourcing, internal operations teams usually spend significant effort appeasing senior management by explaining every reason why deviations from performance were outside their control. Marketing launched a new campaign. IT’s servers were slow. The telecommunication vendor’s T1 was hit by a backhoe. The competitor launched a misleading campaign. The weather shutdown deliveries in Chicago. Well, have you noticed the change in... [Read More...]
Transformational Metrics: Governing Outsourcing’s Lure
Note from the Author: Today’s article is part four in a series of articles discussing outsourcing metrics. We encourage your to read our other three articles: An Overview on Outsourcing Metrics, Operational Metrics, and Key Performance Indicators. Sustainable, successful outsourcing is all about leveraging other companies’ core competencies. Despite the labor arbitrage low cost country sourcing provides or the abundant availability... [Read More...]
Outsourcing Metrics: Key Performance Indicators
Good outsourcing contracts contain service level agreements, which define performance parameters of the services companies procure from their vendors. In previous popular articles, we addressed the general structure of Outsourcing Vendor Metrics and provided more detailed information on Operational Service Levels and Metrics. However, operations are data rich environments with a multitude of metrics that an experienced vendor manager could use to... [Read More...]
Paying Outsourcing Vendors
Most good outsourcing contracts require the customer to fulfill only two primary obligations: protect the vendor’s intellectual property and to pay for services in a timely manner. While most buyers have little challenge with upholding it’s confidentiality obligation, vendors universally will point to timely payment as the number one problem they experience with their customers after implementation. As an executive managing an outsourcing... [Read More...]
Vendor Management: Quarterly Review Methodology
Performance management is a fundamental aspect of managerial effectiveness. Establishing clear goals with your boss, peers, and employees is essential. With vendors, you have contractual service level agreements. At certain points in the year, good managers check-in with their team members to provide feedback on progress to goals. At the end of the year, employees get final reviews – complete with bonuses and merit increases. With vendors,... [Read More...]
