Why is it always the Americans at the head of the queue when it comes to increasing quarterly profit margins? But, even more intriguingly, why are they also leading the way when it comes to attempting to improve their capabilities when they outsource? Our recent State of Outsourcing Study 2013, conducted with the support of KPMG, clearly shows the differing mission-critical business motivations across the main three global regions, when it comes to outsourcing
ITO maybe a commodity business, but a new wave of collaborative BPO services is beginning to show the way
When it comes to outsourcing, dealing with the middle-market has been somewhat akin to dealing with the mother-in-law: can be awkward to deal with, very hard to please, and always has complex demands on your patience and resources.
The official definition of insanity in sourcing: recounting how many times a service provider has said to you, “We’ve got to get to the C-suite to pitch innovative ideas because middle management is too risk adverse.”
Whether you buy, sell, advise or analyze outsourcing services, YOUR opinion is critical for our seminal annual study as we crowdsource the industry’s direction.
In terms of business understanding, initiative, innovation and culture, non-US staff are miles behind local staff. For example, only 43% of outsourcing customer feel their non-US staff understands their business, when compared to 88% of local staff. Yes, this gap will surely close as the industry matures, but I find this talent-chasm unacceptable in today’s global marketplace.
We are inviting you to participate in a brief survey to explore today’s talent management challenges facing both your executives and staff – and you could win an iPhone 5 into the bargain, in addition to a complimentary copy of the study findings.
It’s time for YOU to have your say, whether you buy, sell, advise, analyze or influence IT or business services
It’s high-time to segment the industry so we can all focus on delivering value, and not solely cost-cutting
At the end of the day, it’s not all about outsourcing and it’s not all about shared services; it’s about focusing on how to globalize processes, how to transform finance (and other) functions, and how to govern it all in a global business services context. There is no dominant model, it’s more about achieving the right balance across all delivery models to achieve the best business goals. In conjunction with global accounting body ACCA, We spoke to 682 large organizations currently running finance in either an outsourced or shared service framework (or both) – and the results are emphatic: those organizations relying predominantly on outsourced delivery, or predominantly shared services, are viewing their finance delivery performance much more skeptically
Service providers are in pole position to provide the value clients need, however, there needs to be some give-and-take on both sides to move beyond mere “augmentation”
Secular changes to industry environments are crystallizing options for businesses and driving more radical and actionable behaviors from executives under pressure to deliver continual productivity improvements. The radical impact outsourcing can potentially have on business performance is clearly becoming more attractive to those businesses in the throes of tackling fundamental challenges and opportunities to their business environments.
HfS Research has partnered with ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) to conduct the largest-ever global study of finance professionals to understand adoption trends, experiences and dynamics of shared services and outsourcing for the finance function.
Governments are very capable of passing measures very quickly to restrict outsourcing if things get really bad – and they won’t have any choice if the 99% demand it. All outsourcing stakeholders – buyers, providers and advisors – need to focus, more than ever, on helping organizations approach outsourcing as one supporting component of a holistic solution.
What is motivating buyers to outsource in this current climate? While eliminating cost is still is a huge fundamental, buyers are even more focused on achieving greater flexibility to scale their global operations as a prime motivating factor. Clearly, many executives are getting more experienced and skilled at driving an sourcing initiative, and are confident they can use the endeavor as a change agent to promote and implement much-needed change in their businesses.
Our new study that covered the intentions and observations of 534 buyers, advisors and providers with their sourcing strategies in the event of a “Double-Dip” Recession reveals one major shift in the industry: most buyers now recognize what their businesses need to improve to drive productivity, they simply are struggling to figure out how to marshall their internal and external resources to help them get there.
Our latest study shows that many buyer executives are, in actuality, in violent disagreement with many provider and sourcing advisor executives that they their business leaders are too “short-term focused”
When we ask them buyers they’re foraging for help and information with outsourcing strategy-making in the coming months, the results are simple: they are turning to whatever sourcing are most easily-accessible and inexpensively-available to them
Those organizations being impacted by radical, fundamental shifts to their very industry economics, are more prepared than ever to admit they need to look outside of their current organization boundaries to keep their business operations cost-competitive. Simply-put, secular change crystallizes options for businesses and the outsourcing planning process often becomes more clear-cut as a result.
Organizations have always been wary of outsourcing during recessions. While today it delivers cost-reduction to clients in spades (proven emphatically during our recent state-of-outsourcing study), many organizations have proven, in the past, to push it down the priority-list of radical cost-reduction measures, when they fear for their very existence. However, with the threat of a “Double-Dip” recession very much a grim reality, HfS believes this cycle is likely to be broken.
Research, Insight, and Advice for Buyers of Global Services
HfS Sourcing Executive Council
HfS and the Future of Outsourcing
Smart Governance: Managing the GBS Landscape
HfS PriceIndicator: For Precision Sourcing Decisions
Banking and Financial Services Sourcing Landscape
HfS and the Healthcare Industry Landscape
Global Service Providers Target Pharma and Biotech
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