Research & Insight

Research & Insight

cultural fit

Achieving the Impossible in 30 Days

Outsourcing Center, Beth Ellyn Rosenthal, Senior Writer

Hughes, America’s 15th largest ISP, outsourced a call center for inbound direct marketing. Today, half the company’s direct sales come from this outsourced relationship. Sales doubled while costs fell 30 percent. ACS turns 14 percent of these calls into sales, up from three percent. Increasing the conversion rate allows Hughes to do more marketing with the same dollars.

What Causes Outsourcing Failures?

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

Outsourcing Center has been studying the risks and causes of outsourcing failures. This article presents some of the findings from the Center’s 2004 survey on Leading Causes of Outsourcing Failures. This is the first in a series of five articles and several downloadable research papers on the topic of failure.

Consumer Services Firm Relies on Outsourcing for Critical Internal Services

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

No other firms have exactly the same residential services model as ServiceMaster, but the company competes with a myriad of local-market, mom-and-pop operations. It’s a highly competitive market that allows almost no tolerance for cost increases – including the 15% yearly rise in the company’s healthcare benefits costs. So ServiceMaster decided in 2003 to change tactics for its employees’ health and welfare benefits administration.

Outsourcing Conveniently Aligns Retailer’s Operations with Competitive Business Strategies

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

A few years ago, the typical 7-Eleven® store had a myriad of electronic devices that were not connected. For example, cash registers were not linked to the fuel pumps, which forced clerks to manually enter fuel sales into the registers, slowing the process and missing impulse sales. The situation prevented 7-Eleven from maximizing its profitability. Nor could the store managers effectively manage inventory; there was no way to know with certainty which items were moving well and which ones were simply taking up space. Shelf space in a small store is at such a premium that allowing five or 10 items to sit unsold for a week affects the bottom line.

Direct Route to Competitive Advantage

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

One of the first value outcomes resulting from shifting ownership of Michelin North America’s logistics process to outsourcing provider, TNT North America, was a $70Million cash flow increase in just one day. The money was then invested in critical strategic objectives. That was just the start of several transformational initiatives the two successfully achieved.

Blue-ribbon Teaming for Excellence in Outsourcing

Outsourcing Center, Kathleen Goolsby, Senior Writer

This winning relationship broke our awards scoring records and is undoubtedly one of the world’s most outstanding examples of outsourcing at its best. Owens & Minor outsourced its IT to Perot Systems, and O&M now commands the leading position in its marketplace. But that’s not all. The level of openness and honesty between these two companies is rare in outsourcing. So is their risk-reward structure — and the outcomes they’ve achieved together.

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