{"id":1478,"date":"2011-08-01T20:57:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-01T20:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/don-schulman-part2_010811\/"},"modified":"2011-08-01T20:57:00","modified_gmt":"2011-08-01T20:57:00","slug":"don-schulman-part2_010811","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/don-schulman-part2_010811\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet The Don of BPO (Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Part 2 of the Schulman-saga (see Part 1<\/a>) where the Don\u00a0talks to us about whether shared services are really dying, the changing role of advisors, and where he sees the BPO industry moving in the future\u2026 and what he means by “verticalizing the horizontal”. \u00a0Isn’t that trying to stand up while you’re lying down? \u00a0So without further ado, let’s have The Don himself elaborate further…<\/em><\/p>\n

Phil Fersht<\/strong>: Don, you said to me a year ago that shared services is certainly not dead. Can you elaborate on that?<\/p>\n

Don Schulman<\/strong>: Yes, I think you and I agree on this. As you know, back in the mid \u201890s I was one of the leaders in the world of shared services and drove that industry. And I was kind of sad when outsourcing was first created because I thought, \u201cOh my gosh, this is ending.\u201d But I quickly concluded when I took over this business that, in fact, it\u2019s not ending at all. I believe our clients need to maintain the governance, the management system of classic shared services within their organization. As outsourcers, we become an extension of that. It\u2019s almost like a buy\/lease option to the client. Do I own it, or do I lease it? And why would I do one versus the other? Working with an outsourcer gives clients the advantages that come from greater scale and investments in technology that are beyond their own limited capabilities. But it\u2019s much more than that. For companies that actually want innovation, what\u2019s the change that needs to happen, where\u2019s the next big place we\u2019re going to go, what\u2019s the next big technology change, what\u2019s the next big investment I need to make as a company to drive processes? They need to have a transformation partner at their side that is actually on the ground doing the work. That\u2019s how this partnership works.<\/p>\n

Phil<\/strong>: How do you view the changing role of advisors and consultants in this space? Do you think that they\u2019re helping drive more sensible deals, or do you think a lot of them are still trying to do things the same way as three or four years ago?<\/p>\n

Don<\/strong>: There is definitely aneed for intermediaries in this space, but with the transformation agenda clients have for their providers, the advisor\u2019s role is changing quite dramatically. They still need to issue the RFP and size and rationalize the data to decide which provider is the best fit, but advisors today need to do much more in educating clients on how much work is involved, what this transformation agenda needs to be, and how to select the right partner. And the more consultative the third-party advisors become, both fact-driven and advice-driven, the better off they\u2019ll be in the marketplace. I do see a significant role for them. And I think the fact that there\u2019s this convergence going on in the last few years between the providers\u2019 consulting side, the third-party advisors and working with guys like you that reflects this very well.<\/p>\n

Phil<\/strong>: In terms of where the demand is changing, what do you think will be the newer areas of process sourcing we\u2019ll be talking about in a couple of years? Is it looking at untouched complex areas such as marketing processes, is it just continuing to look at F&A and Procurement, or will we get more into verticals? Where do you see this heading?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Donniel "Don" Schulman is GM for F&A and Supply Chain Global Process Services at IBM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Don<\/strong>: I believe verticalizing the horizontal<\/em> will be the next thing. For example, the mortgage processing industry has a significant influx of issues. But its very distinctive processes rely on the core processes of account reconciliation, collections and customer care, and so we bind them together with unique requirements to serve that market. We believe this verticalization of the horizontals is quickly accelerating and is the key to the future. And we are aggressively pursuing it.<\/p>\n

Phil<\/strong>: Do you think we\u2019ll see an increased number of providers coming into these verticals, or do you think we\u2019ll see a roll-up where the big providers slowly absorb niche players?<\/p>\n

Don<\/strong>: I think we\u2019re talking about two big pillars here. One is the verticalization of the business and the fact that you need to have a consultative partnership\/transformational model to be able to deliver to your clients. And the combination of both will actually stretch\u00a0the industry quite significantly. I believe that a lot of the low cost bit players will struggle as the industry matures, and that there will be a rationalization and an industry shake-out to a few big players that can really provide both the technology requirements to do the verticalization of the horizontals and the partnering\/consultative\/transformation to pull it together.<\/p>\n

Phil<\/strong>: And finally, Don, If you look back on your own career, would you do anything differently?<\/p>\n

Don<\/strong>: As I said, I am very fortunate to have participated in the creation and early stages of two industries, and I\u2019m passionate about what I do. I\u2019ve had the opportunity to learn what partnerships are about and what being an entrepreneur is about.\u00a0 And I think that the resources I\u2019ve been able to leverage as all of this has come together are completely unique and have provided me with a phenomenal opportunity.<\/p>\n

Phil:<\/strong> So I guess that’s a no then! \u00a0Thanks so much for taking a little time to talk with our readers, Don.<\/p>\n

Donniel \u201cDon\u201d Schulman (pictured above) is General Manager, Global Finance & Administration and Supply Chain Management for IBM\u2019s Global Process Services (GPS). \u00a0He is responsible for sales, solutions, delivery and profitability of IBM\u2019s F&A,\u00a0Procurement\u00a0and \u00a0Supply Chain Management GPS worldwide.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Part 2 of the Schulman-saga (see Part 1) where the Don\u00a0talks to us about whether shared services are…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,50,835,86,88,836,832,830],"tags":[360],"ppma_author":[19],"yoast_head":"\nMeet The Don of BPO (Part 2) - Horses for Sources | No Boundaries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/don-schulman-part2_010811\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meet The Don of BPO (Part 2) - Horses for Sources | No Boundaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Welcome to Part 2 of the Schulman-saga (see Part 1) where the Don\u00a0talks to us about whether shared services are...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/don-schulman-part2_010811\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Horses for Sources | No Boundaries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-01T20:57:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/Don-Schulman2.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Phil Fersht\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pfersht\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Phil Fersht\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/don-schulman-part2_010811\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/don-schulman-part2_010811\/\",\"name\":\"Meet The Don of BPO (Part 2) - 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