If you’ve had the privilege of speaking with Kate Vitasek or listening to one of her presentations on Vested Outsourcing, you’ve heard the excitement in her voice. And rightfully so. Judging by reactions to her book, she’s on the cusp of changing the way outsourcing works.
Vitasek truly believes that “together” is better. Vested Outsourcing describes a win-win partnership – the kind of relationship where all parties are truly vested in behaving in a manner that ensures they all look out for each other’s best interests. It’s something that is rare today. Although many companies claim to… Read the rest
“What gets measured gets done.” Outsourcing consultants often tout this well-known maxim from business management guru Tom Peters in relation to measuring an outsourcing service provider’s performance. But there’s an important aspect that many companies don’t measure – the relationship itself.
When I talk with outsourcing customers and ask them how – and how often – they assess their relationship rather than the provider’s performance, some answer that they reviewed its status on a dashboard in a governance meeting at least annually. Many answer that they “just know” how the relationship is doing based on the fact that there are… Read the rest
Win-win approach. Collaborative relationship. These buzz words are tossed out frequently as a hallmark when executives describe their outsourcing relationships. But the terms are apt to be misused. I’ve had some interesting conversations about winning and collaborating in outsourcing relationships. One executive summarized an event in his company’s relationship this way:
“When we identified the root cause of the issue, we collaborated to determine the solution that would meet our needs and be a win-win.”
Despite the fact that a lot of companies use the buzz words and label this kind of situation as a win-win approach and as collaborating,… Read the rest
Every now and then I find out something about outsourcing that really surprises me. That’s what happened recently when I learned the status of an outsourcing relationship I’ve followed for several years. I bet the service provider in this relationship was just as surprised as I when the deal was turned on its head.
The buyer outsourced its total IT infrastructure and application development and maintenance to a leading service provider more than a decade ago. They renewed the contract early, and they added scope. The provider achieved the targeted cost savings and productivity improvements. When I’ve talked with the… Read the rest
“Honesty is a good thing, but it is not profitable to its possessor.”
Outsourcing wasn’t a business strategy when Don Marquis, an American newspaper columnist and short story writer (1878-1937) wrote that line. But the attitude he described is present in many of today’s outsourcing relationships.
Over more than a decade, as I’ve interviewed hundreds of executives in outsourcing relationships, I always ask about their keys to success. You wouldn’t believe how many times a buyer says “mutual honest communication.” Not very many times. It’s not because it isn’t a key to success; rather, it’s because it seldom happens. And… Read the rest
A friend of mine recently told me of the change that technology has made in her marriage. Her husband is deaf. For more than 50 years, he’s heard nothing but the very loudest noises and has to depend on reading lips to follow conversations. He called her one day at work and exclaimed, “Silverware makes noise! And so do the keys on the computer keyboard!”
With new technology in a hearing device, he now can hear sounds that he didn’t even know existed. He suddenly realized why his wife always griped at him to not make so much noise when… Read the rest
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
I’m part of a minority group. Despite the media flooding us with terrible tales and significant studies about outsourcing failures, I focus on the fact that the “pie” of the outsourcing market has a very large piece that represents highly successful relationships.
However, any relationship, whether personal or business, is bound to encounter disappointments. In my interviews of hundreds of buyers and suppliers of outsourcing services, I’ve asked about those disappointments. One that stands out to me is occurring more frequently these days as companies take on more globalization efforts.
Here’s a real-world example. In the initial contract, the buyer… Read the rest
Trust is something that really trips people up in outsourcing relationships. In my talks with hundreds of executives involved in outsourcing over the last decade, I’m intrigued by the fact that when I ask executives about the trust level in their relationship, some can’t determine if trust is there, some say they thought trust was there but then something happened that indicated otherwise, and most who say trust is key to their success can’t describe how to build or sustain it.
Outsourcing has an inherent challenge that makes trust become crucial to achieving successful outcomes. We’ve developed all sorts of… Read the rest
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