Like a huge minority of Britons I woke this morning deeply saddened by the news I had been dreading ever since the referendum on leaving the EU was announced: our four-decade-long participation in one of the most remarkable – and, perhaps, noble – political ventures in history will soon be coming to an end.
Most companies recognise outsourcing as an attractive way to efficiently complete software development projects, especially for companies that are experiencing skills gaps, time gaps or budget gaps. When this happens, outsourcing can be a viable solution – but only if the company trusts the vendor to protect proprietary code, follow through on promises, be accountable, and deliver quality work on time. But trust isn’t the only consideration when it comes to outsourcing software development.
Crisis is now an everyday occurrence, and is a risk that can be mitigated but never truly eliminated. In a world that seems to be increasingly prone to crises of every conceivable type, a recent survey from Deloitte – A Crisis of Confidence – finds a broad “vulnerability gap” between the awareness of threats and the preparations to actually handle them.
Throughout the last ten years of my career as part of Capgemini’s BPO unit I have seen digital innovation transform our personal lives exponentially in terms of smartphones, streaming services and access to real-time information updates. The natural consequence is that we now expect the same level of responsiveness, quality and dynamic interaction in our professional lives as we’ve become accustomed to outside of work. This has resulted in a plethora of changes in terms of what is expected from outsourced services
To read the first part of this interview, click here.
O: With all of that in mind, what are the implications for the global business services model? Where do you sit on global business services (GBS)? Are you a fan?
The transition period of bringing a new provider into an environment is critical to the success of an outsourcing initiative. An effective transition sets the stage for a long-term partnership, while a poorly managed one can damage the relationship beyond repair.
Those of you who were unable to attend yesterday’s Outsource Talks webinar – and, sadly, there are well over 7 billion of ye poor unfortunates – missed possibly the best installment yet, with four of outsourcing’s finest coming together to discuss our writing competition, GBS, the value of education and networking, analytics – and, mostly, RPA and its transformative impact upon the global outsourcing space.
“You are your words.” - American Heritage Dictionary
“Being forced to write clearly means, first, you have to think clearly . . . the two processes are inextricably intertwined.” - Fareed Zakaria, In Defense of a Liberal Education
The ability to communicate in a clear, compelling and concise manner is a challenge for businesses worldwide. In the realm of marketing, the need is particularly acute as the efforts of marketing are among the first to impact the customers’ perception of your company and its products or services.
Haitao Qi is the CEO and founder of Devott, the leading Chinese research and advisory firm focussed on the country’s technology markets and business services, whose annual Devott Global IT & Sourcing Summit (DGITS) is now the largest of its kind in China.
The hybrid cloud model is here to stay for the foreseeable future. While a full public cloud infrastructure has worked well for some pure-play digital companies such as Netflix, most enterprises are finding that in spite of the benefit, not all workloads should move to the cloud. In fact, not all workloads can.
One of the most famous figures in the global outsourcing arena, Kate Vitasek is also – not coincidentally – one of Outsource’s most popular contributors, having graced our pages with both her regular column (examining lessons to be learnt by the sourcing and outsourcing community from renowned academics and thought leaders from elsewhere in business) and standalone articles for over five years.
Levels of concern in business appear to be rising, as the date for the roll out of the new EU Data Protection regulations, known as GDPR, was announced (May 25, 2018, by the way). Social media were alight with comment and speculation and many people were questioning if a potential Brexit could impact the uptake of the regulations in the UK. The bottom line is, we have our own Data Protection Act, which will remain and it is not possible to rule out the adoption of best practice guidelines, regardless of any potential Brexit outcome.
It was a rainy day in Goa, India and I had just got back to the hotel in the evening after meeting customers. As I walked through the corridor of the hotel I saw a lot of people from the Middle East sitting at the lounge and enjoying a drink as they chatted and gazed out over the Arabian Sea and the rains. I asked the lobby manager as to why so many people came in from the Middle East during monsoon times. He smiled and told me that his hotel marketed what they called “Monsoon Tourism”.
The data and cyber regulatory regime in the EU – which includes, for the time being at least, the UK – is undergoing a very significant shake-up. The new General Data Protection Regulation which will come into force on 25 May 2018 will bring a number of new measures into play such as much increased fines (up to the higher of 4% of annual worldwide turnover or 20 million euros, in some cases) and mandatory reporting of most data security breaches.
It seems like there isn’t a day which goes by at the moment without a new robotic invention in the news, with promises around how these inventions will not only revolutionise our lives, but threaten our jobs.
In the outsourcing sector robots are most definitely on the way, or in some cases, already here. And it is, therefore, vital that businesses operating in this sector seriously consider how some robotic processes can enhance their operations – there’s no doubt competitors are also considering the same issue.
