J Ben Trowbridge
Unlike most auctions, both buyers and service provicers in an IT outsourcing transaction pay if the winning service provider offered an irrational price to get the deal. Stephen Dunn offers tips to buyers on how to avoid the winner’s curse.
Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer
Outsourcing rookies, of course, face many challenges in achieving their desired return on investment because their deals often lack one or more elements that are foundational to success. And all outsourcing relationships encounter challenges that arise in unanticipated situations. But what about experienced buyers and relationships that are more mature? What issues arise in their …
Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer
At the point where outsourcing service providers or their customers have financial conflicts 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 …
Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer
Industry media, especially over the past two years, often points out that a significantly high number of outsourcing arrangements do not deliver the promised cost savings due to “hidden” costs associated with managing the relationship. This is especially true, the reports state, in outsourcing relationships with an offshore delivery component, where administrative costs increase due …
Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer
You know the feelings that surround a day you’d like to forget. Stress. Anxiety. Embarrassment. Regret. Revisiting a decision. Now place all of that in the context of an outsourcing relationship on a day when something goes wrong – really wrong. And you’re doubting your service provider selection criteria. A revenue-generating, ERP, or payroll system …
Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer
Cost and price. It’s crucial that buyers understand both when it comes to outsourcing. What is the cost of providing business services internally? What elements comprise that cost? What is the price for comparable services from an outsourcing service provider? What cost elements affect the provider’s price? For the service levels it commits to perform, …
Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer
Lynda Gratton at the London Business School has studied teams for the last five years. She explains how to encourage hot spots, a business environment where ideas and excitement ignite teams, who then solve problems and innovate.
Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer
How do you hire 1,000 human resource employees ASAP when you’re the untested new kid on the block? That was the challenge Visteon Corporation faced right before Ford spun off the automobile parts manufacturer. Manpower Business Solutions helped the newcomer fill its roster and cut its time to hire 50 percent.
Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer
Outsourcing cannot succeed unless both parties’ interests are aligned and they can manage to overcome inherent conflicts. In deals with government clients, there will always be an inherent conflict of interests. We studied a highly successful Canadian government relationship. This article shares their relationship best practices and framework that keeps their interests aligned.
Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer
The insurer’s sluggish processes and aging technology made it nearly impossible to introduce new products quickly. And its expense-to-premium ratio was 65 percent when the industry norm was closer to 20 percent. Outsourcing included a transformation. The result: In the last 18 months, Channel Life took on 450,000 new policies, four times the number of policies it had.
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