Category: Sourcing Best Practises
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The biggest political threat (yet) to the outsourcing industry
The Swiss, in their typically punctilious fashion, now have an "Anti-PowerPoint Party" with the self-stated goal of having the number of boring PowerPoint presentations on the planet to decrease and the average presentation to become more exciting and more interesting.Read More
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Meet the sultan of strategic sourcing
While we were having some in-depth discussions with Microsoft's CPO, Tim McBride, it became apparent how important niche specialist BPOs, such as Alpar's firm Denali, are to the global sourcing mix for many organizations. So we thought we'd take a few minutes to have a discussion with Alpar about the future of the procurement function and the role of the CPO.Read More
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The undisputed facts about outsourcing, Part 5: Decision-makers increasingly reliant on peer-networking and research than traditional channels
In the past, outsourcing was still a unique, foreign and scary activity, and it was always easier for buy-side executives to bring in consultants to make their decisions for them - especially as there were so few trusted data-points and information sources widely available in the industry to support decision-making. Executives didn't want to get fired for making bad decisions. However, today they know they'll get fired for the wrong decision regardless of who made it - whether it was theirs' or McKinsey'sRead More
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ManpowerGroup – a whole lot more than a staffing company?
Manpower Group held its industry analyst and influencer day on June 9, 2011 at its headquarters in Milwaukee, WI. Read More
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The CPO in 2011: The Toughest Job in the Global 1000
We talked with Microsoft Chief Procurement Officer, Tim McBride, about his procurement execution and BPO experience as part of a case study in a paper entitled "The CPO in 2011: The Toughest Job in the Global 1000".Read More
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The undisputed facts about outsourcing, Part 4: Mid-market buyers are enjoying better outsourcing outcomes than enterprises
Outsourcing of IT and business process has always been a game for large enterprises, where well-executed large-scale employee transitions have resulted in profitable endeavors for both providers and buyers. But while the large buyers like saving the money, it’s actually mid-market sector ($1bn-$3bn revenues) which is getting a lot more out of the experienceRead More
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The undisputed facts about outsourcing, Part 3: With outsourcing demand at unprecedented levels, can new buyers get across the finish-line?
HfS Research's "State of Outsourcing 2011" study of 1335 industry stakeholders, conducted with the Outsourcing Unit at the London School of Economics, points to a marked turnaround in outsourcing intentions as global economies reach a period of sustained (albeit limping) recovery. For many organizations today, clearly the short-term counter-recessionary measures have been executed through to fruition, leaving business function leaders under renewed pressure to seek out new operational strategies for driving out cost and improving global effectiveness.Read More
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Nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee… and everyone loves an iPad 2
If you participated in our State of Outsourcing 2011 survey, you may have been anxiously monitoring your inbox for a notification that you'd won the iPad 2. Well, the anticipation is over, and we can announce that the winner of the drawing is Stephen Kincanon, Vice President - Shared Services at Sara Lee Corporation. Congratulations, Stephen!Read More
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The undisputed facts about outsourcing, Part 2: Despite huge untapped potential, many providers aren’t convincing buyers of their capabilities
Our State of Outsourcing 2011 study reveals huge untapped potential for future outsourcing right across both IT and business functions, so surely this means the market is set to explode and we can wield new hockey-stick growth projections? Perhaps... but a few things need to happen first. Let's investigate...Read More
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The undisputed facts about outsourcing, Part 1: Buyers are saving money, but aren’t seeing a whole lot more
Whatever the motives buyers have when they outsource, the first critical metric they must reach is to save the money they were promised at the onset of the engagement. And we have spectacularly good news for the entire outsourcing industry - the cost savings targets are being met - and being met well, with over 95% of current buyers viewing the engagements as effective for reducing their operating costs. However, that's pretty much where the good news tapers off, as the rest of the results are pretty modestRead More