By: Michael Santamaria
There’s little doubt that Business Process Outsourcing is here to stay; the lure of “easy” cost savings is just too powerful for companies to resist. But the truth of the matter is that implementing a successful outsourcing project is hard work and realizing those “easy” savings is by no means a foregone conclusion. While data on outsourcing failure is hard to come by, the Aberdeen Group has reported that 21% of outsourcing projects fail to meet stakeholder expectations, and Gartner puts the outsourcing failure rate as high as 30%. Although neither study defines what constitutes a “failure,” the bottom line is a large percent of projects end with unhappy clients.
By Dan Berthiaume
When selecting a location for BPO service delivery, there are some standard metrics most BPO buyers use to determine the best location. However, “standard” does not always mean “right.” Just as in so many other areas of business, sometimes the common wisdom in the BPO realm is outdated, distorted or just plain wrong.
Nearshore Nexus ’12: A Historic Day Filled with Passion and Purpose
April 23rd, 2012Nearshore Nexus – the ‘home conference’ for the thriving Latin America BPO and IT industry – created a huge splash last week in New York City. Capturing the passion and energy of over 200 executive attendees, twenty sponsors and attendees from 15 countries in the region is a tall order – but our photographer managed to distill the full-day program into this colorful pictorial..
Special Report: The State of Shared Services in Latin America
April 9th, 2012What are the winning locations for captives in LatAm and which operators are ready to sell? Rodrigo Slelatt of AT Kearney gives comprehensive update on current market drivers.
By Heather Littlejohns
Companies seeking to locate new outsourced or shared services centers to offshore or near shore locations typically focus their exploration on factors such as price, local government support and incentives, cultural affinity with the target market, unemployment rates, labor pool, language skills, etc. But are companies really taking the necessary time to explore, assess and discuss their own points of differentiation as they are perceived by the local population?
US and Europe to Lose Millions of Business Services Jobs as Part of “Natural Evolution” of Globalization
April 4th, 2012By Jon Tonti
Of the 8.2 million business services jobs held domestically at the beginning of 2002 in some 4,700 companies based in North America and Europe only 4.5 million will remain in their domestic markets by 2016 according to a study by The Hackett Group, a management consulting firm. The same study finds that the amount of business services work moving offshore will “level off significantly” during the next few years due to changes in the conditions of offshore drivers.
Customers Make Clear that Outsourcing is About Adding Value
April 4th, 2012
By Robert L. Scheier
As the global economy improves, customers are looking to outsourcers to not only save money, but to drive growth, improve quality and drive innovation.
Those were among the key themes from two days prowling the corridors and break-outs at the Sourcing Interest Group (SIG) spring summit. Speaker after speaker, whether the topic was procurement, category management or macroeconomic trends, described how their employers are trying to use outsourcers not “just” to save money but to make a more strategic contribution.
Garratt: KPO and LPO are bright spots
By Clayton Browne
Some historians argue that Kodak’s 1989 decision to outsource most of their IT operations was the watershed moment for the outsourcing industry, and certainly many other large companies jumped on the outsourcing bandwagon shortly after that. And for the next decade or so the question was not whether to outsource, but what and how much to outsource. But can offshore outsourcing continue to grow year after year at such a sizzling pace?
Creating a Wildly Successful Outsourcing Program
February 24th, 2012
By Linda Tuck Chapman
Outsourcing is serious business and will have a long-term impact on your company’s future. Let’s improve the odds that it’s a positive one! Your customers and shareholders shouldn’t and won’t differentiate who delivers their services – your company or a third party. So the time you invest in planning your outsourcing program and sourcing the right service providers is time well spent.
Latin American BPO Suddenly Facing Growing Pains
February 16th, 2012
By Dan Berthiaume
Most BPO services offered by providers based in Latin America have been delivered by global companies who established a regional delivery center. However, the Nearshore’s burgeoning shared services industry holds the promise of the “next wave” of Latin American BPO: one driven by homegrown providers. But along with that wave comes a boatload of pressures and demands.
