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Mobility Shifting the Wave from Brand-centric to Customer-centric Retailing | Article

Outsourcing Center, Karthik Nagendra, Business Writer

Two things are of key importance in the retail industry today: margins and customer loyalty. While better sourcing, operational efficiencies and market penetration can check margins, the answers to improving loyalty or even maintaining them are complex. Retailers are increasingly being forced towards tactical solutions, rewarding customers with “money-off” deals. Much of the concept of …

Mobility’s Coming of Age: All Grown Up and Changing Business for the Better | Article

Outsourcing Center, Patti Putnicki, Business Writer

Before cloud, mobility was in its infancy—a means of obtaining email, calendar and contacts on the go. People who relied on desktop computers for communication were unchained. For salespeople, this was awesome. But, for the rest of us, the business apps we needed required too much processing power to travel with us. Then, along came …

Business Applications Get the "Cool" Factor | Article

Outsourcing Center, Patti Putnicki, Business Writer

Admit it. We all loved getting emails on our Blackberries when mobility first burst on the scene. And back in the day (maybe four years ago), most of us thought of our smartphones as portable computer Mini Me’s, giving us things like mobile banking, mCommerce and a means to book a reservation or check for …

How Cloud, Competition and a Maturing Market are Transforming ITO

Outsourcing Center, Patti Putnicki, Business Writer

In the world of IT, Cloud has been the media darling, taking center stage in every conversation and publication. While it’s true that Cloud is a major trend in and of itself, its adoption has caused a domino effect in the industry as a whole. The advent of utility-based pricing, in combination with a more …

The Retail Revolution: Big Changes in Store for 2012

Outsourcing Center, Patti Putnicki, Business Writer

The past few years have not been kind to retailers. Sluggish economies, shrinking margins and a more cost-conscious consumer have taken their proverbial toll. “We’ve seen retail sales increase by 5 percent to 6 percent, yet profits declined from 3.5 percent to 2 percent.  So, even though stores are selling more, they’re making less,” explained …

Trends in Transportation: Driving Innovation Through Outsourcing | Article

Outsourcing Center, Patti Putnicki, Business Writer

Can outsourcing be a catalyst for innovation? In the case of the transportation industry, the answer is a definite “yes.” Today, transportation organizations are partnering with outsourcers to do more than reduce cost. Together, they’re finding creative ways to decrease congestion, improve safety and protect the environment, all while positioning to respond to the needs …

Small U.S.-Based Finance and Accounting Outsourcer Delivers Value of Large Providers | Article

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

The bulk of most companies’ operational costs are in manpower, says Ragu Bhargava, CEO of Global Upside, Inc., a finance and accounting (F&A) service provider. That’s one of the reasons companies in all industries are increasingly bucking the long-held practice of retaining full-time F&A staff in house. Mountain View, Calif,-based Global Upside, Inc. provides services …

Ten Pitfalls in Outsourcing Transitions | Article

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

There’s no shortage of methodologies and advisories on best practices and risk mitigation strategies for the transition phase of outsourcing relationships. Even so, many buyers encounter situations they didn’t foresee when structuring their arrangement, which cause costs to rise and delay time to value. Outsourcing Center studied these types of situations by surveying companies nominated …

Seven Examples of Resolving Financial Conflicts between Buyers and Providers of Outsourced Services | Article

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

At the point where outsourcing service providers or their customers have a conflict that will result in a monetary loss to either party, they’re walking a fine line. If they manage to resolve the issue with a mutually beneficial solution, their relationship will be even stronger than before the conflict. If not, the party that …

What Happens When the Outsourcing Business Case Stops Working? | Article

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

Organizations that turn to outsourcing to achieve their business objectives first develop a business case that includes such components as cost savings and avoidance objectives, business value benefits, and risk assessment of potential negative impacts. But what happens when the initial business case stops working because of unanticipated impacts? Both a Deloitte Consulting study and …

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