Welcome

Having spent a long career in Industry both Private and Public Sector and having worked in Strategy and Business Process Improvement as well as procurement, I have a wider view of outsourcing than if I was “just working in it”.

I have over the last year talked at several procurement conferences about my experiences in setting up, managing and exiting outsources and the talks have seemed to be well received with the audiences taking loads of notes.

The messages I give are simple and common sense (as I say at the beginning of the talks) and yet they still take notes! My experience backs this up. Whenever companies look to outsource, or are deep in one, common sense seems to take a back seat to the excitement of starting off, or the relief when the contract is signed and the real work starts.

The message I give and my fundamental belief is that you have to work at all aspects of an outsource form cradle to grave. It is vital that you are an intelligent customer and that means starting as you mean to go on with precise requirements, a commercially based service, good knowledge of what you are outsourcing and a strong baseline document set of assets, services, SLAs and contracts.

When you are negotiating the outsource make sure you understand what it is you are negotiating and why. It is simply not enough to admire the legalese, you must understand the logic of what you are committing the service provider to and what you are committing yourself to in return. That way there are no surprises and the situation is relatively balanced – and hopefully win-win.

Once the contract is signed and the service starts you need to maintain your intelligent customer position, keeping hold of those people who negotiated your outsource and understand the logic and those who built your document baseline. Answer all of the suppliers questions directly, accurately, precisely and promptly so that you are providing direction. If you don’t know the answer ask the provider to recommend an answer but ask them to triangulate that recommendation with their other accounts, thus bringing in their experience.

Whilst the supplier is delivering and managing the service do not lose sight of where you are, how the service stacks up against the outside world and question your provider’s control of your assets, software, hardware and resources.

When exiting the service, either by termination, natural end, renewal or retender again make sure you are acting intelligently, checking the state of hardware and software (how up to date is it and how supportable) and the third party contracts that come back your way to make sure they are “portable” without cost.

I could go on as there are many hints and tips to keep your outsource running smoothly and to stop it stuttering or failing but these will give you a view of how much hard work you must put in. I always liken an outsource to a marriage. You have taken vows for better or worse, you will always have to work hard to make it flourish and if times get tough you will go the extra mile to make sure both parties are happy in the relationship. Divorce lawyers get rich very quickly and a split is always messy. It is the same with an outsource