For the past decade or so, IT organizations looking to lower delivery costs have outsourced day-to-day IT operations activities to IT suppliers who in turn send the work to low cost locations (primarily India). Typically, this is done by executing a knowledge transfer process whereby the IT suppliers capture the…
There’s a small, but growing, group of people that are willing to purchase their own computing devices and software required to be compatible with their Windows-based colleagues, forego most of the help provided by their employers’ IT service desks, figure out how to gain access to exposed enterprise services and…
When I was a kid, the future to me revolved around flying cars. More than a few years later, we still don’t have flying cars (albeit DARPA is trying to develop one in its Transformer program), but given how most people drive, I’m not sure I really want to see…
So the pendulum swings the other way and HP has decided to keep its PC division. HP Press Release. Good for HP, there is no shame in reversing a prior decision – especially one that could have significant repercussions. It is a little odd that the review under Meg Whitman’s…
There have been numerous articles written over the past couple of years linking productivity gains with the anemic jobs recovery. This spring USA Today ran a story that focused on the US being out of step with the rest of the industrialized nations by having a faster growing economy, but…
A group of health clinics representing dozens of health care providers recently decided to migrate to an electronic health record (EHR) solution. The clinics selected a system that others in the area had recently adopted and negotiated a software license and hosting agreement with the vendor. When the negotiations were…
Current economic conditions require companies to realize cost savings quickly, and existing outsourcing relationships are a popular target. In most cases it should be faster and cheaper to re-negotiate an existing deal than it is to engage in a traditional competitive procurement. This approach allows a company to leverage the…
In Part 1, addressed managing and mitigating risks during the supplier selection process and in Part 2, I addressed the risks associated with contract negotiations. In this Part 3, I will discuss relationship management as a key component of successful outsourcings. Successful outsourcing requires effective contract management. While you can…
In Part 1 of Managing Risks in Outsourcing, I focused on managing and mitigating risks during the supplier selection process. I will now look at the risks associated with contract negotiations. If poorly planned and executed, the negotiation of an outsourcing contract can be a long, tiring and frustrating affair.…
Outsourcings can offer organizations significant commercial benefits but they also present challenges and risks throughout the outsourcing life-cycle for the outsourcing organization whether during the supplier selection process, in the course of contract negotiations, during the implementation and day to day operation of the outsourced services, and on exit from…