The dependence on service providers for delivery of services is on the upswing. More and more IT and BPO leaders are realizing that timely implementation of strategic applications to meet business needs is an ongoing task and requires developed sourcing practices. During the past decade many organisations embarked on an outsourcing-led transformation; many of these initiatives failed to provide the expected value as many underestimated the sophistication and skills required in executing the outsourcing plan. The leading cause was that they neglected to take a long-term perspective and answer crucial questions: <!–More–>

– How can you maximize value and bring forward sustainable enterprise improvements from outsourcing initiatives?

– How do you incorporate outsourcing with the customary business of this organisation?

– How do you calibrate the speed of outsourcing-led transformation while balancing your business culture, operating model and business goals?

– How do you evaluate the degree of sophistication and choose a structured approach to attaining the outsourcing goals?

– How do you optimize success and balance that with the fantasy of excellence?

The firms that succeeded had spent in developing a business-led strategy, strong governance, investments in older outsourcing competencies, and committed outsourcing management firm (Program Management Office, PMO). Most of all, they realized outsourcing management as a crucial distinction and core competence.

What is outsourcing management for a service?

In practice, outsourcing management could be successfully done as a service supported by mix of tactical and operational competencies. Outsourcing competencies are a bunch of related skills, responsibilities, knowledge, and the skills which allow an organisation to act effectively in a project or situation. They signify that the measure of the capacity of an entity (department, organisation, individual, and system), particularly regarding the general outsourcing objectives. Also, discover more about HR outsourcing. For further information, contact PEO Canada.

Developing a meaningful, sustainable and high-value outsourcing effect will require enterprises to evolve matured outsourcing competencies. These would have to be extended to customers in addition to providers. In the absence of outsourcing competencies, outsourcing expertise can be frustrating for internal customers and vendors. Some of these processes may exist in buyer environments but they might not have been structured as exemptions and positioned for continuous improvements.

Building and nurturing internal and external relationships requires that businesses evolve processes and services as subset of competencies to offer a positive outsourcing expertise to clients and service providers. Implementing a”competency-based service catalog” will be vital to providing a structured view to customers and vendors. Clients will need to service providers also along with internal outsourcing users differently vendors won’t have the ability to deliver the expected value. “Outsourcing management as a service” will build mutual confidence, keep outsourcing and sellers customers strategically coordinated and make it a win-win for both customers and providers.

Skills required for “outsourcing management as a service”

Outsourcing management for a service would require powerful mix of skills in areas of program management, support management and connection management. PMOs must own”outsourcing management as a service” and evolve these skills to execute and mature the competencies, and to derive maximum value from outsourcing initiatives.

Outsourcing as a service is enabled by Outsourcing Services Framework. The framework covers the breadth and depth of numerous important competencies, technical outsourcing topics related to each competency, associated procedures and best practices that businesses will need to implement within a specified service catalog to generate greater value from outsourcing initiatives. The selection of which competencies to invest into will be unique to each organization and will be based on the maturity of the requirements and processes. The outsourcing objectives, nature of job, desired maturity of relationships, risk management requirements and the scale and size of the outsourcing initiative can help determine the amount of investment in competency framework.

Implementing competencies will provide a solid foundation for continuous improvements

Managing complex relationships is much more art than science. “Outsourcing management as a service” provides advice to enhance service focus for outsourcing management and lays a strong foundation to increase value by improving productivity, reliability, responsiveness, and maturity of outsourcing initiatives. The outsourcing service framework of competencies is practical, flexible, and self explanatory. Competencies and underlying services and procedures can be designed to build on constant improvements using business practices (e.g.: Six Sigma, TQM, Lean etc)

Thinking in terms of the outsourcing cycle – plan, design, transition, steady state and optimization – can be a great foundation to begin with”outsourcing management as a service”. The competencies required at every stage of outsourcing cycle have to be envisioned as part of a flexible frame which will be uniquely adapted to each organization. Each proficiency can be designed to possess underlying services, procedures, benchmarks and metrics related to them. Assessing these in an integrated fashion in the program level and evolving dashboards would be crucial to identify and mature areas of improvements. Thinking in terms of competencies and services will mature the existing procedures in alignment with outsourcing goals.