InsightaaS: Phil Fersht’s Horses for Sources is an award-winning source of insight into the outsourcing market. Fersht delivers both excellent research and an informed, sometimes provocative perspective on outsourcing trends and requirements. In this post, Fersht uses research conducted in conjunction with KPMG to illustrate why an industry obsession with the act of sourcing (as opposed to focus on the act of effective management) has made it difficult to understand that the business outcomes and innovation benefits touted by outsourcers are at odds with real-world customer desires to simply move beyond adequate to “better than average.”
“Most providers are tooled up to deliver what was contracted, not what the client really needs. Most large outsourcing deals today were (and many still are) initially negotiated and brokered by different teams, on both the provider and buyer sides, than the teams which ended up running the engagements. Too many enterprise outsourcing relationships, today, were (and many still are) brokered to solve yesterday’s challenges — namely, driving out labor costs, mitigating risks, and achieving a basic level of operational performance…
The problem we have — as an industry — is that we’re obsessed by the act of sourcing, as opposed to the practice of managing it effectively over the long haul. However, as the data insinuates, as buyers become more experienced, and governance executives get more involved in future decisions, the approach from many providers has to change.”
Read the entire post: http://www.horsesforsources.com/beyond_adequate_090113
