Tag Archives: Build vs. Buy

It’s Summer, It’s Hot And It’s Time For The Crazy Season!


Boy Is it hot outside! OK, it’s the summer and the summer is supposed to be hot, but 2011 looks like it’s going to be a sizzler this year in New York! When the heat goes up, that’s when we … Continue reading

Posted in Backup Plans, Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Return Of The J Curve: A Lesson From Netflix


Nothing is free… or at least not free forever. The same goes for the lowest price. Eventually it goes away. Either a new, lower price is found, or the price rises. As the economy continues to rebound, free is no … Continue reading

Posted in Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Improvement, Continuous or Not | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Are Outsourcing Obstacles Too Big To Swallow?


Last week I saw a question on Linked-In that I thought was particularly interesting. The question was, “What are the top five challenges in BPO transitions that  need to be addressed in the outsourcing/offshoring industry?”  If there were any “winners” … Continue reading

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Higher Clouds: Learning From Amazon’s AWS Strategy


Last month, Amazon had a conference in New York to show off its latest web services. At the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Conference a number of very experienced executives presented some exceptionally impressive technology.  Still, as they day wore on … Continue reading

Posted in Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Unique Ideas | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Regulators: Round 2 – Are Your Costs In Line With The Market… Which Market?


Yesterday we spoke a bit about the rise of “Regulators” in Fortune 500 Firms. In the past service managers would periodically see directives for firm-wide budget controls, freezes for new hires, or (during especially difficult economic times) special committees that … Continue reading

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Improvement, Continuous or Not | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Outsourcing Agreements: Price Is Just An Outcome


If this is your first outsourcing agreement, you’re under a lot of pressure to get it right the first time. Whether you work in the Procurement department or you manage the Business unit, you need to convert the complex parameters … Continue reading

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Unique Ideas | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Outsourcing Analysis Part III: Building Your Toolkit


For the last two blogs we have been building a tool to help you evaluate your current sourcing decisions, in other words where your staff resides and how they are employed (employees, temps, outsourced, etc.) to perform your business functions. … Continue reading

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Improvement, Continuous or Not, Uncategorized, Unique Ideas | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Outsourcing Analysis Part II: That’s My Core?


In our last Blog we talked about how we source for a function, which is to say the process of deciding (and executing) the “how and where” a function is performed. In the last few years the movement has been … Continue reading

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Improvement, Continuous or Not, Uncategorized, Unique Ideas | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Outsourcing Analysis Part I: How Far Out Do You Outsource?


Everyone talks about Outsourcing, but much of the time the talk seems to treat all Outsourcing as the same, with teh assumption that all projects end up with everyone working in a call center in India. Outsourcing predates India and predates “offshoring”. In fact, on of the … Continue reading

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services, Uncategorized, Unique Ideas | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Cloud Story III: Leapfrogging Isn’t Just For Kids


Perhaps the most important outcome of Cloud migrations, the real game changer, is that Cloud services can level the playing field. This is not necessarily good news for service managers in big firms. Fortune 500 firms are largely in the … Continue reading

Posted in Best Practices, Common Sense Contracting, Decision Making, Delivering Services | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment