Business Challenge Archives

Outsourcing Alliances in a Knowledge-Based Economy

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

The emergence of the new economy is likely to drive outsourcing in new directions. The ability to manage alliances may be the key to outsourcing success in a knowledge-based economy. That’s how Robert Klepper reads his crystal ball. Klepper, a professor at the School of Business at Southern Illinois University’s Edwardsville campus, and Wendell Jones authored Outsourcing Information Technology, Systems and Services……

Erin Brockovich Meets Top Gun Sales

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

The Every Woman’s Company needed 30 top salespeople nationwide for the roll out of its financial seminars for women. The company signed Erin Brockovich (the real person, not Julia Roberts) as its spokesperson. But the company found out quickly putting together a sales force was as easy as, well, as battling a big California polluter.

The Pitfalls in Becoming a BPO

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

ASPs have proven they are an efficient and cost effective way to share expensive applications. The most successful ASPs have made customer service a bedrock of their business. So it’s natural when a good client asks an ASP to help take on a related business process, the supplier wants to agree.

Anatomy of an Outsourcing Decision

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

Why do companies outsource today? Until the arrival of the Internet, the answer was clearly cost. But the new economy is making new demands. How has a world moving at Web speed altered the way companies decide to outsource? (outsourcing)

Seamless International Outsourcing

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

The buyer and the supplier are just five hours apart by car. But from a business standpoint, they couldn’t be farther apart. The customer’s management grew up in capitalist western Europe. The suppliers’ formative years were spent in Communist eastern Europe. How do you fashion an outsourcing relationship that works?

Email, Not Phone Home

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

Today cybercafes allow the kinder to email home from anywhere. Ryan Byrne formed Globe Drifters in September, 1999, to make it even easier for student travelers to keep in touch…

Getting Ready For Tomorrow

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

Dr. Han T. M van der Zee doesn’t own a crystal ball. Yet the director of the Nolan Norton Institute in De Meern, the Netherlands conducts research to predict the future. Companies look to the Institute to help them determine what they have to do now to get ready for tomorrow.

What Exactly Is BPO?

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

What a great question! Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has generated a number of definitions. Before I tell you my definition, I want to describe the history of outsourcing to show how the term business process outsourcing came about.

How to Find Millions of Dollars in a Hurry

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

If you don’t know whether your local city, county or state governments spend more than they take in, or whether they are able to pay the costs to maintain their assets, you’re not alone. Most people can’t figure out how to read governmental financial statements. The Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) has been pushing for reform and has issued GASB Statement 34s.

Just Arrived

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

The Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) is responsible for establishing accounting principles for governmental agencies. The GASB Statement 34 redefines the basic financial reporting framework that governmental agencies currently use, requiring them to conform to accrual accounting. It also requires infrastructure asset valuations to be included in the financial statements of the reporting agency.

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