Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer
The BPO landscape is changing as fast as the colors on the leaves as summer turns into fall. Why now? Professor Ilan Oshri, Professor of Technology and Globalization at the University of Loughborough, says the maturity of the BPO industry, experienced buyers gained with both captives and third-party service providers, and the providers use of …
Mark Walker, Business Development Director, Ubertas
Fear of surrendering control is probably the main factor holding many IT directors back from realizing the benefits of outsourcing IT services. But if you can find an IT services supplier who will work with you in a genuine partnership, understanding the specific needs of your business, it soon becomes clear that this fear is …
Outsourcing Center, Karthik Nagendra, Business Writer
A wealthy looking woman entered an optician’s shop, pointed to a very stylish frame and declared to the shopkeeper, “I’d like to buy that. How much?” Gauging at a glance her capacity to pay, he replied: “$500.” When she didn’t bat an eyelid, he added quickly, “for the frame.” “And the glass?” she asked haughtily. …
Outsourcing Center, Patti Putnicki, Business Writer
Payroll outsourcing is an excellent way to improve accuracy, streamline processes and offload time-consuming, often tedious tasks to a proven specialist. While the service is designed to simplify life for the client company (and the people in it), without careful planning or adherence to some best practices, the whole thing can get a little complicated. …
Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer
Talk to most outsourcing buyers at the outset of their engagements and innovation is always on their wish list. Talk to them two or three years later, and the one thing they wish they had gotten is innovation. The lack of innovation in outsourcing seems to be one the few things they are unhappy about. …
Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer
The finance and accounting function, along with HR, have traditionally been the BPO processes that companies testing the waters of outsourcing get wet with first. Today “transactional outsourcing has been leveled to a simple commodity,” says Michael J. Alfonsi, Managing Director, BancTec Financial Transaction Services. So what are FAO’s challenges 20 years later? Processes are …
Outsourcing Center, Karthik Nagendra, Business Writer
One of the questions that continue to hound buyers and providers of outsourcing is how to mitigate the risk of failure. This is despite a longer history of outsourcing than you would suspect—outsourcing can be traced back to the Industrial Revolution. For 150 years, until 1900, industry in Europe outsourced its requirements. Functions like accounting …
Frank Usher, Managing Consultant
When considering sourcing alternatives for IT services, buyers must make a fundamental decision on structure. Do you want a single provider or multiple providers? Both have their pros and cons. Neither of the approaches is wrong. But each presents unique challenges, both in operations and in provider management. When IT outsourcing initially evolved, very few …
Outsourcing Center, Patti Putnicki, Business Writer
16th Annual Outsourcing Excellence Awards—Best BPO: International Paper and Aon Hewitt “Instead of communicating by change requests and contract management, we can sit down and talk. That is what makes us successful.” Scott Lacy, Manager of HR Operations, International Paper It was the 1990s and the paper and packaging industry was dramatically evolving. To keep …
Outsourcing Center, Karthik Nagendra, Business Writer
Outsourcing is not a new or alien phenomenon. Almost every organization outsources some aspect of its business. A paint company may outsource the manufacture of its paint cans; a mobile network may outsource its billing activity; a hospital may outsource medical waste disposal; an auto manufacturer may outsource servicing; and an IT company may outsource …
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