Products
Sourcing
China's IT Outsourcing Industry After the Global Financial Crisis
The global financial crisis from 2007 to the present has been viewed as an opportunity by many Chinese business leaders. According to a 2010 ranking of the global Tech 100, several Chinese technology firms have grown into the world’s most innovative and competitive players.
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This Executive Report by Ning Su focuses on China's software and information services industry and investigates its current status, the unique opportunities for Western companies, and the best practices for managing outsourcing relationships in China.
Published: March 2011, 12 pages, PDF format
Author: Ning Su
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Cloud Computing: Managing for Benefits and Managing the Risks
A new variant of outsourcing — cloud computing — is being trumpeted as a more advantageous way for executives and managers to pay someone else to worry about the reliability, integrity, and security of data processing activities.
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Corporations and government agencies need to appreciate the benefits that can be realized -- as well as the risks involved -- in seeking the benefits of the cloud. This Executive Report by Roger Clarke provides some background information, methods, and checklists to assist organizations in adopting cloud computing for the right reasons -- and in the right way.
Published: January 2010, 16 pages, PDF format
Author: Roger Clarke
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Harnessing the Capabilities and Knowledge of Crowds
Contemporary information and communication technologies, particularly the technologies associated with Web 2.0, have enabled many new opportunities for organizations to effectively harness the capabilities and knowledge of potentially global crowds (activities collectively known as “crowdsourcing”).
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This Executive Report by Joseph Feller examines a wide variety of ways in which we can engage with crowds and takes a look at the technologies, processes, and other factors that make such engagements possible.
Published: November 2010, 28 pages, PDF format
Author: Joseph Feller
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IT's Promise for Emerging Markets
IT is, and will be, a catalyst for change in emerging markets. The IT industry and IT professionals can create a major impact in emerging markets as they did, and continue to do, in the developed world.
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The IT industry as a whole, and its professionals can improve the lives of billions of people at the bottom of the pyramid and thereby gain significant benefits. The articles presented here help create an awareness of what has been done and what can be, and should be, done. Guest Editor San Murugesan invites you to share your thoughts on and experiences in putting IT to real work in emerging markets for the benefit of one and all.
Published: July 2010, 36 pages, PDF format
Authors: San Murugesan, David Croslin, Radhika Jain, Chaka Chaka, Sherif Kamel, Hao Zhao, Sead Muftic, and Feng Zhang
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Middle Management in Outsourcing and Offshoring: Cost to Be Minimized or Key Resource?
In this Executive Report by Dr. Leslie P. Willcocks and Catherine Griffiths, we examine the key roles that middle managers (MMs) play in outsourcing on both the client and the supplier sides.
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Most senior executives ignore these less headline-grabbing roles at their own peril. The most recent outsourcing research shows MMs having general roles as coordinators, repositories of knowledge and experience, social capitalists, and change agents to varying degrees depending on the task at hand. We begin the report by reviewing the general roles of MMs and identifying the 12 supplier capabilities that are highly dependent on MM skills and experience. We then look at nine retained client capabilities, with MMs performing business-facing, technical, supplier-facing, and governance roles to ensure control over the organization's IT and process destiny. The report concludes with five key lessons for the practicing manager.
Published: March 2010, 20 pages, PDF format
Author: Dr. Leslie P. Willcocks and Catherine Griffiths
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Negotiating Effectively in an Emotional World
The success or failure of negotiations often depends on your ability to negotiate in the presence of strong emotions. You need to develop an awareness of what you are feeling during the negotiation and be able to respond productively to those emotions. Similarly, you need to learn how to hear not only what the other party is saying, but also the emotions that underlie those words. By paying attention to emotions, managing your impulses, and keeping your eyes open to emotional clues by the other party, you can gain great advantages and become a more effective negotiator.
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Published: January 2011, 12 pages, PDF format
Author: Moshe Cohen
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Negotiating from the Corner
It is very challenging to negotiate when the other party is more powerful than you are.
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While differences in power do exist in negotiations, power is complex, with some factors acting for you and others against you. You need to be able to understand and exploit these dynamics. Even when you don't have much power, there are tools you can use to influence matters in your favor. Your success in a negotiation is therefore largely based on your ability to identify and use every point of power, skill, and influence to your advantage, so you can negotiate as effectively as possible under any set of circumstances.
Published: January 2010, 16 pages, PDF format
Author: Moshe Cohen
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The Debate Surrounding Offshoring and Its Effect on Employment
Although offshoring has existed in a variety of forms for decades, its controversy continues unabated.
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The debate includes whether offshoring actually saves money or not, what activities are and are not good candidates for offshoring, and most controversial of all, its effect on employment in the consuming countries. This Executive Report discusses the offshoring phenomena in an historical context, investigates whether offshoring has actually resulted in IT-related job losses, and examines its effect on IT-related occupations in the US and Europe.
Published: August 2010, 16 pages, PDF format
Author: Sara Cullen, Nupur Gupta, Madina Manap, Alejandro Rosales
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The Effect of Recession on Outsourcing Webinar
In this 40-minute recorded webinar, Cutter Senior Consultant Sara Cullen looks at the state of outsourcing and how a recession changes the outsourcing landscape — both current and future contracts as well as the provider market.
Sara Cullen’s 20 years of hands-on, global experience supporting organizations in countries experiencing an economic slump gives her unique insight into the effect recession has on outsourcing. She explores some predictions, the types of contracts likely to become more common, and the long-term implications.
The Inside Scoop: What Suppliers Wish You Knew About Outsourcing
Since 1989, world-renowned sourcing authorities Mary Lacity and Leslie Willcocks have interviewed thousands of outsourcing clients and suppliers. Until now, their published work has focused on the client perspective, and their analyses have used the client voice to identify the best practices that differentiate outsourcing success from failure.
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This report is also available in print format.
In this report, they flip the equation, and examine the things suppliers wish clients would know or do (as well as the things they'd rather not have them know or do). In this report, Lacity and Willcocks take the top 20 statements suppliers make about outsourcing relationships, then tease out the advice that, if followed, would actually benefit the client.
The authors back their assertions with findings of their own 22-year research program as well as from a recent meta-analysis they conducted on 741 findings from rigorous academic research. In this report, you'll find statements from suppliers about the "ideal" customer, outsourcing strategies, and contract negotiations, as well as a peek inside delivering the outsourced service.
Contents: Chapter One: Establishing the Outsourcing Agreement
- Client Profiles
- Outsourcing Strategy
- Contract Negotiations
- Conclusion
- Recommended Reading
Chapter Two: Delivering the Outsourced Service
- Client Capabilities and Management
- Supplier Capabilities and Management
- Relational Governance
- Outsourcing Outcomes
- Conclusion
- Recommended Reading
Find out if you are the type of client who gets the best outsourcing results; how to win the "innovation debate" in negotiations, and how much of your risk you can expect a supplier to absorb.
In addition, you'll uncover how suppliers identify "faux proposals" (and why creating them is not in your interest); why your RFP is too long and has too tight a deadline to work for either the supplier or you; how to choose an advisor to improve your outsourcing outcome; why there is such a thing as a fixed price when the agreement is structured properly, and what length contract has a higher frequency of success.
Leverage decades of outsourcing research from the client and supplier perspectives, along with a wealth of real-life examples to improve your organization's odds of creating arrangements that work. Order "The Inside Scoop: What Suppliers Wish You Knew About Outsourcing" today.
Publication Date: 27 October 2011, 30 pages, PDF format
Authors: Mary Lacity, Leslie P. Willcocks
The Inside Scoop: What Suppliers Wish You Knew About Outsourcing (Print Edition)
Since 1989, world-renowned sourcing authorities Mary Lacity and Leslie Willcocks have interviewed thousands of outsourcing clients and suppliers. Until now, their published work has focused on the client perspective, and their analyses have used the client voice to identify the best practices that differentiate outsourcing success from failure.
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This report is also available in pdf format.
In this report, they flip the equation, and examine the things suppliers wish clients would know or do (as well as the things they'd rather not have them know or do). In this report, Lacity and Willcocks take the top 20 statements suppliers make about outsourcing relationships, then tease out the advice that, if followed, would actually benefit the client.
The authors back their assertions with findings of their own 22-year research program as well as from a recent meta-analysis they conducted on 741 findings from rigorous academic research. In this report, you'll find statements from suppliers about the "ideal" customer, outsourcing strategies, and contract negotiations, as well as a peek inside delivering the outsourced service.
Contents: Chapter One: Establishing the Outsourcing Agreement
- Client Profiles
- Outsourcing Strategy
- Contract Negotiations
- Conclusion
- Recommended Reading
Chapter Two: Delivering the Outsourced Service
- Client Capabilities and Management
- Supplier Capabilities and Management
- Relational Governance
- Outsourcing Outcomes
- Conclusion
- Recommended Reading
Find out if you are the type of client who gets the best outsourcing results; how to win the "innovation debate" in negotiations, and how much of your risk you can expect a supplier to absorb.
In addition, you'll uncover how suppliers identify "faux proposals" (and why creating them is not in your interest); why your RFP is too long and has too tight a deadline to work for either the supplier or you; how to choose an advisor to improve your outsourcing outcome; why there is such a thing as a fixed price when the agreement is structured properly, and what length contract has a higher frequency of success.
Leverage decades of outsourcing research from the client and supplier perspectives, along with a wealth of real-life examples to improve your organization's odds of creating arrangements that work. Order "The Inside Scoop: What Suppliers Wish You Knew About Outsourcing" today.
Publication Date: 27 October 2011, 30 pages, PDF format
Authors: Mary Lacity, Leslie P. Willcocks
What Suppliers Say About Clients: Part I -- Establishing the Outsourcing Arrangement
In Part I of this two-part Executive Report series about suppliers by Mary C. Lacity and Leslie P. Willcocks, we share in detail what suppliers have been saying to us about clients during the past two decades — the things they wish clients would know or do as well as things they wish clients didn’t know or do.
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Some of these statements will not shock experienced clients. But what will stimulate the interest of all outsourcing clients, both novice and experienced, is that we compare what suppliers say with best practices from academic research and derive guidelines for managers.
Published: April 2011, 17 pages, PDF format
Author: Mary C. Lacity and Leslie P. Willcocks
Online resource center clients: Access this report online
What Suppliers Say About Clients: Part II -- Managing Outsourced Services
In Part II of this two-part Executive Report series about suppliers, Mary Lacity and Leslie Willcocks continue to share in detail what suppliers have been saying to them about clients during the past two decades — the things they wish clients would know or do as well as some things they wish clients didn’t know or do.
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Some of these statements will not shock experienced clients. But what will stimulate the interest of all outsourcing clients, both novice and experienced, is that we compare what suppliers say with best practices from academic research and derive guidelines for managers.
We understand that clients will immediately and rightfully question that statement. How can it possibly benefit clients if they do what suppliers say? We compare what suppliers say with best practices derived from academic research. Specifically, we compare each supplier statement with the findings from our own 22-year research program as well as from a recent meta-analysis that we conducted on 741 findings from rigorous academic research.
Published: June 2011, 17 pages, PDF format
Author: Mary C. Lacity and Leslie P. Willcocks
Online resource center clients: Access this report online
