Global

Outsourcing realities: What business executives need to know

Posted: 03/07/2017 - 07:26

Congratulations! It’s been three years since you decided to outsource accounts payable. Or, accounts receivable, or customer care, or payroll, or HR, or procurement, or any one of a dozen business process functions typically outsourced, in part or in full. You’ve finally stabilised operations, established consistent market standard processes, addressed the fears from the field, started realising those projected savings, and convinced IT that it is possible to improve response time without creating a horrific security breach.

Unlocking the value of Accountable Care Organizations by choosing the right contractual approach

Posted: 02/28/2017 - 09:34

"There has got to be a better way!" That’s the common lament from all aspects of the healthcare industry from providers, payers, and patients alike when talking about the relationship between those three parties. It not unusual to hear complaints like, “misaligned financial incentives”, the “tyranny of the 15-minute visit”, or it’s an “unsustainable system”.

What your suppliers aren’t telling you (and why you should worry)

Posted: 02/28/2017 - 07:20

In a multi-partner service delivery model, transparency and visibility are essential to an effective security and supplier risk management (SRM) strategy. Yet a wide range of evidence suggests that this transparency is sorely lacking in many cases. According to a study by the independent Ponemon Institute, 73 per cent of suppliers that experience a data breach don’t notify other vendors in the supply chain, while more than a third (37 per cent) of suppliers don’t notify their customers.

Does US outsourcing have a Mickey Mouse future?

Posted: 02/18/2017 - 02:50

Ever since the 2016 elections, America’s outsourced manufacturing has consistently been front-page news. Now news stories are shifting towards the larger world of foreign imports, rather than just outsourcing. That means new policies and taxes that will impact, well, just about everything! That means all consumer goods, cars, electronics and a lot more. But what about... cartoons? Yeah… what about the Saturday morning ghetto, Hanna-Barbera, The Simpsons, and the Cartoon Network?

Sustainable procurement: a necessity for businesses of the future

Posted: 02/18/2017 - 02:02

As regulations and consumer pressures shift and organisations are increasingly exposed to risk – reputational and beyond – the procurement industry faces a critical juncture. This dynamic has created a business environment where sustainable procurement programs are no longer just nice to have, but an integral organisational function that is responsible for protecting and improving brand reputation, driving revenue and mitigating business risk.

The X-factor for successful offshore delivery

Posted: 02/14/2017 - 05:24

Over the last two decades I have had the opportunity to work with some of the largest (as well as mid-sized) enterprises who had outsourced their IT work to offshore based teams. The offshore teams themselves were either part of service providers who were domestic companies out of North America/Europe, or part of providers who were headquartered out of India (with largely a sales presence in North America/Europe).

The future of outsourcing: through 2017 and beyond

Posted: 02/07/2017 - 10:00

This year will see the BPO industry transform itself in a multitude of ways, meaning that businesses must adapt or face the prospect of falling behind their competitors. With a month of 2017 already behind us, what can we expect to come to the sector over the course of the rest of the year – and beyond - in terms of new services and advances in the technology at the heart of the industry?

Q&A: Raleen Gagnon, ManpowerGroup Solutions

Posted: 01/20/2017 - 03:19

Outsource got together with Raleen at last October's SIG Summit in Carlsbad, California, to hear about some of the key developments in the global labour market - and how procurement departments need to refine their approach to procuring people...


Outsource: Raleen, let’s begin with an introduction… Can you tell our readers what you do at ManpowerGroup?

Digital strategies without the hype: fundamentals for effective implementation

Posted: 01/20/2017 - 00:42

Undoubtedly, digital has huge potential: to fundamentally transform the business operating model; to unlock the “impossible challenge”; to greatly accelerate change; and to intimately connect a company to its customers in real time. However, digital can also expose a company’s inner contradictions, reveal hidden pockets of poor performance, and even lead to perceived core capabilities being seen as critical weaknesses.

The silver bullet: trust in negotiations

Posted: 01/19/2017 - 00:25

Most businesses like to blame failed or protracted negotiations on an inability to reach agreement on the financials, contract terms, legal issues or some other business measure - but after 30 + years of contract negotiations experience, I’ve rarely seen a deal lost on these items. Negotiations are far more likely to falter due to lack of trust, or due to a weak relationship amongst the parties.

Black swans - and the price we're paying today

Posted: 01/17/2017 - 00:20

The sourcing industry has so far had a spectacularly wonderful run. Twenty-five years of constant change, dynamism, technical competencies; business-aligned, people-centric, and bottom-line focused; intrinsically able to deliver on all promises made. As with any journey, bumps and roadblocks are expected. Navigating them painstakingly has created heroes of many an organisation, spilling over benefits into the developing world, and capital markets.

How to minimise massive turnover of IT professionals

Posted: 12/14/2016 - 00:52

The IT and tech sectors have long suffered from an epidemic of high turnover rates, shared by businesses that are great at acquiring, but terrible at retaining, these professionals. Prior research has found that factors such as low job satisfaction, poor organisational commitment and an abundance of alternative jobs on offer globally have contributed to an above-average rate of the movement of talent within these spheres.

TOP TEN: (More) Outsourcing Acronyms

Posted: 12/09/2016 - 21:00

A couple of months back, we published our Top Ten Outsourcing Acronyms – a piece that had been a long time brewing, after we’d initially put out a call for entries the previous year. Well, as seems frequently to be the case with this series, that publication prompted a flood of new submissions, and we’re delighted to be able now to unveil a hilarious – if somewhat potty-mouthed – sequel.

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