Lepeak: Clouded thinking
By Stan Lepeak, KPMG
The potential benefits of cloud have been loudly touted by both pundits and providers, and much of the discussion has centered around the inherent challenges and risks associated with issues such as security and data privacy. Yet, there has been less focus on the practical enthusiasm of the average buyer organization towards cloud, or the skills and capabilities the typical firm has in place to address cloud opportunities and challenges.
Outcome-Based Sourcing: A No Go
August 15th, 2011
Measuring outsourcing deals on their business outcomes (such as profits or customer satisfaction) sounds much cooler than measuring it on gritty details like server uptime. But is this highfalutin’ business alignment more trouble than it’s worth?
Everest Group Research Director Chirajeet Sengupta says buyers, and service providers, are sometimes better off keeping deals simple. For the buyer, getting to the business outcome of outsourcing “is difficult, and it’s a lot of work,” he says. On the service provider side, it also “requires a certain level of sophistication” to commit to business outcomes, “and not all service providers have that. Those that do, command a premium for it. There’s a price for that alignment (between an outsourcer’s effort and your bottom line) and in reality you might not be willing to pay that price.”
He cites Tata Consulting Services as a provider …
Seeking Opportunity Arbitrage in LatAm
August 10th, 2011
By Eric Simonson, Everest Group
I often hear organizations wanting to attain benefits but with a desire to “minimize” risk. Understandable, but what they don’t realize at the outset is that this is a limiting mindset, particularly when most also agree they prefer sustained benefits. My preferred definition of global sourcing is “attaining a different profile of benefits from successfully managing a different profile of risk.”
Instead of trying to follow what has already been proven “safe,” the innovators in global sourcing are intentional about what risks their organizations can take and successfully manage in order to achieve the desired benefits. These risks may be in overcoming infrastructure disadvantages, creating delivery models that can withstand more variability, or choosing to cultivate an underutilized talent pool.
The single largest and most enduring challenge in global services is getting the right talent. …
Germany Should Take Advantage of South American IT Services
August 1st, 2011
By Joerg Stimmer
When attending the last annual Summit of the European Outsourcing Association (EOA) in Madrid a few weeks ago, I was impressed by the presence of service providers headquartered in South America, particularly from Brazil. Although the case studies presented focused on customers who are located in Spain or Portugal, the type of services provided and especially the size of the South American service providers left a positive impression on many potential customers from Germany.
Free Trade: A Boon for Sourcing
June 23rd, 2011
By Eric Hochstein
While the political footballs of free trade agreements (FTAs) with Colombia and Panama are being punted by the American Congress, some U.S. business leaders are loudly expressing frustration with the inaction of Congress and the Administration. “This country is under attack,” said Doug Oberhelman, Chairman and CEO of Caterpillar.
Kicking off Illinois Export Week in Chicago on Tuesday, he said, “a lot of foreign competitors want our jobs. But our government has been painfully slow to ratify free trade agreements which have been signed by Colombia, Panama and South Korea. Trade exports and jobs are too important to delay further.” The FTAs have been awaiting ratification by Congress for almost five years.
At the same time, President Obama’s goal of increasing US exports by 50% in 2015 looms as a large component of the Administration’s economic growth plans, …
Region’s Evolution Beats Skepticism
June 13th, 2011
By Eric Hochstein
A few years ago, when I heard people talking about Latin America as an emerging location for call centers and outsourcing delivery operations for companies in the United States, I was extremely skeptical.
At that time, I was working for a Canadian provincial government trying to attract investment to Canada. Central and South American alternatives were rarely considered by companies considering Canada. Sure, the exchange rate between the U.S. and Canada favored the U.S. then (now, the dollars are at par), and there were major concerns about the quality and capabilities of Latin American workforces.
I believed that Latin America had great potential for Spanish-speaking contact centers, perhaps to respond to the expanding needs of the U.S. Hispanic market, but I doubted there was enough bilingual and English-language talent to meet the needs for those types of agents …
Retailers Seek an Edge With Sourcing
May 16th, 2011
By Bob Mathers
Large retail organizations today face an increasingly competitive economic climate characterized by declining sales and tighter margins, lack of credit, and potential mergers. What sourcing strategies are retailers adopting to address these challenges?
According to Harvey Gluckman, partner and managing director for the retail sector at sourcing advisory firm TPI, retailers are turning to service providers for help with a wide range of issues—including how to learn more about their customers.
In terms of the big picture, retailers are keeping an eye on transformational considerations as the industry matures and additional consolidation takes place. As for the details, they’re looking to gain a competitive edge through tools including social networking.
Some observations:
Retailers are responding to revenue pressure by challenging service providers to help them become more efficient and scalable. According to TPI, the total size of the North American outsourcing …
Sacrificing any quality for cost is a big mistake. Follow these clear guidelines when working with a Nearshore partner.
By Ken Hess
Isn’t it funny how Americans always assume that we can still get something for nothing? Have we learned nothing from the Dot Com fiascos and the corporate meltdowns of the past decade? Surely we have, but we make the same mistakes repeatedly.
We also have the false impression that a universal quality standard exists that governs all software development regardless of location. We further believe that we’re saving money in spite of poor quality products and services.
5 Marketing Lessons from SXSW Interactive
April 7th, 2011By Fernando Labastida
I just spent five days at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas, a conference that focuses on emerging technologies such as social media, web 2.0, development tools, cutting edge marketing and startups.
It’s a wild and woolly cornucopia of ideas, networking, presentations and parties.
As somebody who is in the business of helping nearshore software development companies market themselves to U.S. buyers, I am always on the lookout for new ideas to help generate awareness and bring in customers. Since SXSW provided too many great ideas to list here, I narrowed down what I learned into five key lessons that Nearshore providers can implement in their businesses.
1. Think like a startup
SXSW Interactive is THE conference for startups. Many of them launched their products right there at the festival, or participated in …
By George Tillmann
I recently came across an article with the interesting title, “Employee Loyalty is Dead. Good Riddance.” It made me wonder, if customer loyalty is so important to business success, why is employee loyalty so unimportant? Putting aside any moral questions, is there a value of loyalty that American business is ignoring, and if so, exactly what is that value? The answers might be surprising.
