Global

Sustainable supply chains: do they really benefit my company?

Posted: 04/01/2016 - 19:55

As companies have started to internalise (and for that matter, practice) the triple bottom line concept of sustainability, the focus now has shifted to issues beyond their walls of operations and manufacturing. In the world of outsourcing, globalisation and interdependence of suppliers, companies must look into making their supply chains more sustainable.

Delivering contracts with teeth

Posted: 04/01/2016 - 19:52

All too often, businesses are faced with bold promises about the services they will receive from their outsource providers; they are drawn in by the “ideals” pitched to them and ultimately, find themselves disappointed with the outcome as those services fail to live up to expectations.

Shock, horror as UN bans outsourcing

Posted: 04/01/2016 - 19:43

NEW YORK: The international outsourcing community is in disarray following last night’s shock announcement by the UN Security Council that all outsourcing and offshoring activity has been criminalised “with immediate effect”.

“I can’t believe it,” lamented the anonymous CEO of a major multinational service provider. “Decades of constant, overwhelming, economy-rejuvenating success – give or take a few multibillion-dollar failures – and they do this to us. Talk about a kick in the nuts.”

Advice For The (Outsourcing & Offshoring) Young At Heart

Posted: 03/30/2016 - 22:15

‘Advice For The Offshoring And Outsourcing Young At Heart’
by Fear of Gears[1]

Advice for the outsourcing young at heart
Soon we will be older
How are we going to make it work?[2]

Too many vendors living in a secret world
While they play movers and shakers,
We play digital in a whirl.[3]

How are we going to make it work?[4]

I could be happy; I could be quite naïve
Just labour arbitrage in my shadow, happy in a make-believe[5]

Soon…

Navigating the uncertain new world of outcome-based outsourcing

Posted: 03/14/2016 - 20:28

The days of paying supply chain outsourcers by number of FTEs are on their way out. In that purely cost-based model, the OEM’s interests – keeping hours low to contain costs – are inherently pitted against their managed service provider’s – putting more FTEs on a project to maximise revenue. Instead, OEMs are now exploring outcome-based models, where sellers become partners who share the risks and rewards of achieving their goals.

Integrating retained IT organisations in the outsourced world

Posted: 03/12/2016 - 04:30

While there is a lot of focus and discussion on how to outsource the right way and bring business value, a very common mistake many companies make is around ignoring how outsourced services are orchestrated with the functions of the retained organisation(s) to provide business with a seamless “IT experience”.

TOP TEN: (Yet More) Outsourcing Insults

Posted: 03/11/2016 - 20:59

For all the many successes of outsourcing, it’s not all sweetness and light… As promised a couple of weeks ago, here’s another installment of our Top Ten series featuring some of the most outstanding, damning, incendiary (and at times remarkably poetic) insults from the global outsourcing community. The more sensitive amongst you should look away now…

Shrink an agile business case

Posted: 03/11/2016 - 20:56

There is a fiction that suggests that business decisions are made on purely utilitarian grounds. Psychologists have shown convincingly that people value the avoidance of loss far more highly than capturing gains. There are many and significant implications for those seeking to implement change, particularly in an agile environment.

The Agile Manifesto

Ready, aim... Don't shoot the messenger!

Posted: 03/11/2016 - 20:53

Every once in a while I come across a situation marked with incongruous and unexpected elements that, when summed up, can only be labelled as completely bizarre. One such situation started in the boardroom of Walker Ideas, a very successful inside-outsourcing service provider to the food industry. Walker operates at dozens of facilities dedicated to performing services that their customers strategically exited. As such, Walker is a key partner to their customers, or so they allow themselves to believe.

#LifeAfterCollege: why social and digital media are essential to graduate recruitment success

Posted: 03/11/2016 - 04:38

It’s the first thing millennials see in the morning, the last thing they look at before going to bed, and their constant companion throughout the day. It’s their phone. The younger generation’s dependency on mobile is driven by the considerable role technology plays in our everyday lives. With the touch of a button, these young men and women can do anything from ordering a car or depositing a check to sharing photos, videos and stories with friends and the public at large.

Data warehousing: moving from a T&M to a Managed Service model

Posted: 03/10/2016 - 03:07

I often get asked whether managed service is just hype and nothing but glorified “time and material” (T&M) in a different guise. Usually we understand a managed service to be measured, and paid for, based on a pre-defined effort and output for the work in hand, as opposed to T&M which is a simple calculation of the amount of time taken multiplied by the rate card value, plus the cost of any materials consumed. The simple answer is that it is hype if it is not done properly.

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