The T-Word in Outsourcing

I’ve blogged before about some of the lessons learned from mistakes made in outsourcing relationships that caused the parties to achieve less value than they anticipated. But as another blogger commented, last week, why not also learn from those who got it right, those who found keys to success. That’s definitely the most valuable approach. So this blog presents a perspective shared by those who got it right.

When I’ve asked hundreds of outsourcing buyers over the past decade to share a characteristic that is key to keeping their interests aligned over the long term, one of the… Read the rest

Second Time Around

There’s a growing recognition that an outsourcing initiative is a journey. Executives of some of the world’s leading companies have said that to me when I interviewed them about the successes and challenges in their outsourcing arrangements.

A question I’ve asked when interviewing literally hundreds of outsourcing execs is what they would do differently the second time around if they had an opportunity to start over (from the initial negotiation phase).

It’s hard to believe, but a few (very few) say they wouldn’t do anything differently and that everything went smoothly and according to plan. Many reply that they actually… Read the rest

Interview with Sand Hill Group’s M.R. Rangaswami on Cloud Computing’s Impact on Outsourcing

M.R. Rangaswami is a recognized software business expert. Prior to co-founding Sand Hill Group (known for its conferences and work in advising and uniting the software and services market) and founding the Corporate Eco-Forum, he held global VP marketing positions at Oracle Corporation, Baan Company, and Avalon Software. In 1997, he was named as one of the Top 25 Most Influential Technology Executives.

In this interview, M.R. shares his insights and opinions on the cloud’s upcoming impact on application development services.

What is driving adoption of cloud-based services?

M.R. Regardless of the hype, confusion, and complexity that seem to surround… Read the rest