As noted in our previous blog posting on the subject, the most prevalent model for pricing applications outsourcing services involves the following components: (1) a fixed monthly charge for applications maintenance; (2) a fixed monthly charge for a baseline number of application enhancements hours (typically included as part of the…
In April, we wrote about what we were seeing in the cloud space, including the impact of cloud computing on the CIO agenda. Since then, Savvis published an independent survey of 550 CIOs and Senior IT personnel from large global enterprises concerning their IT outsourcing strategies, including those around cloud…
It has been six weeks since the SEC issued final rules relating to the reporting of conflict minerals. The rules apply to public companies that are subject to reporting requirements under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (so-called “issuers”). Issuers must report on the use of conflict minerals in their…
Historically, outsourcing agreements included terms typically lasting five to seven years or even longer – with additional years tacked on as options exercisable only by the customer. But several factors suggest that a customer should think twice and at least consider shorter term deals with its service providers: The Deteriorating…
The pricing structure of outsourcing transactions often reflects a balancing of competing objectives. In the case of applications outsourcing services, most customers want the pricing structure to provide predictability and proper financial incentives for the supplier to continually increase productivity and efficiency in service delivery. At the same time, both…
London has just witnessed an amazing summer of sport, with the Olympics and Paralympics having come to a close. Yet the impact of the Games may be broader than simply having provided Londoners (and the world) with a brilliant injection of morale and amazing photo opportunities. There are many chances…
Recent news that General Motors plans to insource the vast majority of its IT support positions caused shockwaves through the IT outsourcing industry. Client satisfaction with outsourcing deals has always been mixed, and one can speculate that after a twenty-plus year wave of outsourcing deals, perhaps it’s time for the…
Judging from my 25 years of experience as an outsourcing practitioner, I believe there is widespread consensus among suppliers and customers that, promptly upon their execution, outsourcing contracts should be locked away in a file cabinet never to be looked at again until it is time for them to be…
On 16 August 2012, the ICO published guidance on deleting personal data under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). The guidance describes how organisations can ensure compliance with the DPA when they delete or archive personal data, and explains what the ICO means by deletion and archiving and introduces the…
When customers sign a contract with a service provider that will be holding the customer’s confidential data (for example, the customer’s business records, human resources data, personally identifiable information, protected health information, payroll data), in addition to laying out the service provider’s responsibility for protecting the data, customers focus on…