An ounce of preparation will help you avoid a pound of pain...
Outsourcing has had its share of failures, but is still a major growth industry. Lessons learned from the experiences of the past 10 years suggest a common theme in arrangements where problems have emerged - the client had not done their homework well enough. In the case of IT outsourcing (although not limited to that type of outsourcing), a key weakness in many a client's negotiating position was not having sufficient clarity of the existing in-house arrangement insofar as:
- services offered to a level of definition that ensures the outsourcing supplier
quotes for all work performed in the present environment
- service levels associated with those services
- "total costs" of delivering the services
ClearCost Consulting can help clients prepare a solid financial picture of the in-house services operation. This activity can begin well in advance of any outsourcing investigation being undertaken.
In some cases, the act of producing this management information may be enough to address the original driver behind the investigation - dissatisfaction with IT due to lack of control through lack of information or understanding of the costs. Producing the cost transparency via ClearCost provides insights and information that may be all the business wanted. |
