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As the global sourcing landscape evolves rapidly, companies find that what worked a few years ago may be out of date today. Future-proofing a sourcing strategy has become an exercise in futility. Yet it is vital that companies get their strategy right, to avoid costly directional or operational misalignments. Firms seeking to establish, expand and/or optimize their outsourced and offshore service delivery models are often faced with a challenge on how to implement a model that meets savings, flexibility and transformation / innovation objectives. This session provides key insights on defining an operating strategy and sourcing approach that weaves in location strategy, business model and vendor selection in alignment to meet short-term as well as long-term goals.

YOU WILL LEARN

• Sourcing strategies to meet point in time organizational objectives, based on best practices and real-life examples from Fortune 500 firms
• How strategies change over time as organization goals and outsourcing maturity change

This panel of Chief Financial Officers and Chief Operating Officers from leading firms will explore how the current economic environment is impacting global sourcing. Leading by example, these executives will discuss how ITO and BPO strategies are evolving to align with current business drivers and financial priorities. This group will also provide perspectives on the financial and operational benefits of creating regional development centers, business case for global insourcing and the emergence of BPO services in areas such as HR, Finance and Accounting and Supply chain.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• Discover innovative approaches that global organizations are taking to approach their sourcing requirements for ITO and BPO. 

• Learn about the latest trends in BPO, including the types of new and emerging services that are gaining traction among business leaders.
  
• Find out how business leaders are dealing with key challenges connected to their organizations’ global sourcing strategies, including best practices for addressing them.

In this era of global slowdown, rising unemployment and economic uncertainty organizations are facing difficult choices on global sourcing strategies and objectives. What was once a fairly straightforward set of decisions based on business imperatives like lower costs and quality are now more complicated. Emerging technology trends, skills retention and regulation are now much more closely tied to the decision. The economic downturn and increased government involvement have added a level of complexity to sourcing decisions that is leading to disparate sourcing objectives. Reconciling them to achieve short-term results and long-term objectives is a conundrum that companies will continue to grapple with. Managing More with Less is the new Mantra.

Are your outsourcing practices facilitating this change, or are they the ball and chain preventing your company from being globally competitive? This session will examine the priorities and constraints facing today’s decision makers and recommend specific ways to align outsourcing with organizational goals to achieve sustainable growth in a challenging economy. This panel of CIOs will discuss the opportunities and challenges that are shaping the sourcing agenda. Come learn how today’s CIOs balance priorities and champion initiatives that afford them access to people and technology at lower costs and enable them to operate on a global scale. This panel will discuss the opportunities and challenges many of today’s enterprises face when developing sourcing strategies that will afford them access to people and technology at lower costs and enable them to re-calibrate and operate on a global scale.

Global sourcing has forced the development of new governance and risk management models to manage offshore delivery. Multilevel management structures, with clear lines of communication, vendor interfaces at each level and well-documented roles are critical to successful offshore delivery. Global sourcing also increased a variety of risks ranging from vendor organizational risks, financial, location specific, political to global economic risks. These risks require a detailed risk assessment and risk management and are critical for protecting a client organization from the potential pitfalls. Long-term risk management must include plans for data backup and disaster recovery and protect the interests of the organization.

This presentation will discuss various governance, risk assessment and risk management models that will ensure smooth offshore delivery.

The decision to outsource a portion of your company’s operations is far more than a financial decision. We tend to concentrate our efforts in making sure the deal construct and Service Level Agreements are acceptable, ensuring we can financially defend our business case. Often the cultural and human impacts are underestimated. The long term financial success of the deal is predicated on being able to balance those impacts with contractual and business case objectives. Businesses that are in more mature outsourcing relationships have learned the hard way about attention to the human and political consequences of outsourcing.

BestBuy is in contract year 6 of the original HR outsourcing deal with Accenture, and are negotiating early renewal. Decker was on the original deal team that investigated outsourcing, and now leads the team that is responsible for relationship management, delivering the financial case and ensuring service quality.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• How to make the Human element an important criteria in critical sourcing decisions. 

• How to manage the socio-political impact of outsourcing.
  
• How to utilize your company’s diversity strategy to drive change management around outsourcing.
  
• How to work with the cultural differences your outsourcer will bring to the table.
  
• How to arrive at a shared commitment through culture training.

Recessionary global economic conditions have accelerated shifts already underway in the global business and IT service markets. Top tier players are gaining market share as buyers consolidate business, Indian firms and multinationals are competing directly across more fronts, and providers with weak value propositions are falling by the wayside. This has created both challenges and opportunities for buyers and service providers. Experts will provide a perspective on changes in the provider landscape and how buyers can adapt their strategy and deal structures to mitigate risks and capitalize on emerging opportunities.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• What real (vs. hyped) changes are occurring in the global sourcing market?

• Who are the winners and losers among global business and IT service providers?

• How can buyers (safely) take advantage of changing market conditions?

• How can buyers protect themselves against vendor shakeout and consolidation?

A portfolio approach aligns sourcing to our business strategy, industry conditions and macro economic factors. This approach manages risk and benefits by using a sourcing strategy that sets targets for cost, volume and quality of delivery. Allianz Life outsourced their infrastructure platform and network, application maintenance and delivery, and operations business processes. Outsourcing was driven by the need to stay competitive with the industry. The choice on what to outsource was driven by the decomposition of our value chain. By outsourcing we are creating flexible capacity driven by business need as well as achieving the sourcing targets set by Allianz’s for utilization, rates and quality. Our vendor management practices reduce cost through the use of multiple vendors and off shore delivery. Quality is managed by reporting of SLAs, shared methodologies and standards and regular vendor evaluations.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• The changes required to realize the benefits of the new IT operating model. 

• How to work with strategic vendor partners to align on priorities and goals for organizational satisfaction.
  
• How to report on the actual to planned benefits of our outsourcing agreements in order to identify the drivers of the variances.

In today’s unpredictable business environment, companies increasingly need variability with their business infrastructures. While the offshore captives traditionally delivered high-quality support and higher control over resources and processes, many firms are finding they have redundant staff and a much higher cost of support. Moreover, vendors are increasingly providing sophisticated end to end services and specializing in domains, thus reducing the business case for a captive. We now see an increasing number of firms seeking to sell off their captives and move onto outsourced models that allow for future business flexibility.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• Where captives still make sense, and where they no longer deliver value.
  
• Options companies today have when looking to divest of existing captives: Relocate / Sell.
  
• Strategies for moving onshore shared services to hybrid offshore / outsourcing models.
  
• Compliance and regulatory issues with captives vs. outsourcing.

As firms set their aspirations to capture meaningful and incremental value from offshoring/outsourcing beyond cost and quality arbitrage, they are turning to Knowledge Services or KPO. With maturity in sourcing models, remotely delivering domain specific knowledge services has increasingly become an accepted practice. However, determining which core processes to outsource and how to align it with strategic initiatives without losing control is still a challenge. The KPO space is highly fragmented with clients preferring captives or niche service providers. Recently the larger BPO firms have also capitalized on this opportunity by carving out specialized practices. While captives and niche providers are ideally placed to deliver IP sensitive vertical offerings, the larger BPO service providers can offer more end-to-end and integrated service offerings. As the global operating model transforms from a vendors/captives based to a COEs/Hubs based model, the boundary between the firm and 3rd Party is getting blurry. This is triggering M&A activities with the outsourcing leaders acquiring captives/niche providers and innovation moving from front office to globally dispersed operations and teams. This panel provides insights across the spectrum of knowledge services and shows ways that organizations can truly leverage this within their current global services initiatives.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• Moving up the value chain — how to source, manage and deliver knowledge services remotely.
  
• Facing the challenge - how firms determine which core processes to outsource, aligning with strategy, control, IP and regulatory considerations.
  
• Vendor landscape and consolidation trends in KPO sector.

Remote Infrastructure Management (RIM) has evolved rapidly to meet buyers’ needs, planting the seeds for innovative solutions to today’s tricky IT challenges. While RIM can offer many benefits, it primarily enables balancing of IT management costs with performance and reliability while retaining control of your IT environment. If done right, it can be a highly integrated, process-driven approach to managing IT infrastructure components through the efficient and effective use of people, processes and products.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• An overview of the RIM services model and its costs and benefits. 

• How firms can leverage this approach to increase the efficiency of their IT operations.
  
• How to align IT with business strategy.
  
• How to reduce support costs.

As companies seek new ways to reduce costs and develop new revenue streams to leverage their assets that often requires the development of new platforms and IT-driven innovations. Many service providers have been offering “Transformational BPO” as a solution to rise above the routine transactional and labor arbitrage based business models. But is this just a buzzword or are companies actually able to realize these transformational benefits?

The external sourcing of internal business processes could serve as an enabler of transforming the enterprise. This requires a sustainable BPO strategy that offers some quick wins but focuses mainly on longterm process improvement and the ongoing generation of business value. This presentation will cover how companies look beyond the lure of cost savings and consider how to develop sustainable BPO strategies that deliver value year after year.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• What implications does transformational outsourcing have on your organization?
  
• What are its key risks and benefits?
  
• How are service providers reshaping their offerings to provide more value added services and what processes are buyers seeking to outsource?
  
• How is transformation within BPO successfully achieved and what are the key measures and drivers?

The Global Delivery Model has evolved over the years but is far from being perfect. Companies grapple with issues of control, security, quality and cost overruns. Processes that work well within the organization often break down when extended out to a vendor or across multiple delivery centers. During this session, Cameron Art, who is a thought leader having managed services operations across the globe, will briefly examine the evolution of the delivery model, the associated processes and where we are today as an industry. Cameron will then dive deep into the specifics of how and why companies can change and adapt their processes to achieve efficient global delivery. Providing concrete examples, he will identify the specific improvements and mechanisms that are necessary to be successful at managing services globally.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• Essential insights and advice to organizations wishing to implement or improve their current internal or third party services initiatives.

Sourcing practices are evolving from SLA based vendor relationships with cost reduction as primary goal to strategic partnerships that help transform businesses with the goal of delivering value on both the top and bottom line. This is bringing about an integrated approach to sourcing ITO and BPO, whether they are from the same vendor or multiple ones. Moreover, with recent advances in technology, there is a convergence between these two domains and they cannot be seen as separate silos within an organization. This panel will address drivers, business scenarios and corresponding strategies that integrate the sourcing and delivery of ITO and BPO in a seamless manner. The panelists will also discuss how to blend different service providers to successfully implement this converged strategy.

You will learn:

• Why ITO and BPO are still viewed as separate functions and services by vendors.

• How a converged sourcing strategy can benefit an organization.

• How to source, manage and deliver ITO and BPO seamlessly to achieve common outcomes.

• How service providers are adapting to offer integrated ITO and BPO services

Cloud Computing is fast pervading the Enterprise IT environment. SaaS and other business models are providing alternatives to outsourcing and application development. Will SaaS emerge as the preferred service delivery model and how will outsourcing service providers adapt to this trend? This panel will examine the impact of cloud computing on sourcing, including the marrying of systems delivered from the cloud with business processes and the challenges of managing a multi-sourced, cloud environment. A better understanding of emerging trends in cloud computing, and how they are impacting sourcing.  Best practices and pitfalls to avoid in managing an environment that is both heavily sourced and reliant on cloud solutions.  How SaaS and other forms of cloud computing may evolve, and how to best position organization to take advantage of these trends.

During a time of turmoil in the global economy, changes to offshoring locations' competitiveness are dramatic and show that a shift in the offshoring geography is taking place. While India remains the undisputed leader, some established players, for example in Eastern Europe, have seen significant cost increases eroding their competitiveness. Meanwhile, the rising stars are found in low cost regions such as South East Asia and the Middle East. Their increasing competitiveness is reflected in their growing IT-enabled services industry and export figures.

The geography of offshoring is changing fast. Countries that were safe bets a few years ago and still attract large investments in the industry may already have peaked and be in decline as future destinations. Relatively unknown players today may be important destinations tomorrow. The number of countries competing for the offshoring business is steadily expanding and the different niches countries serve are multiplying. Location decisions are not as straightforward as they used to be.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• How the economic crisis will reshape the offshoring landscape.

• How risk management will take on a new importance to protect
  companies’ service supply chains from interruption.
  
• Why offshoring opportunities are larger than ever as the global labor pool becomes increasingly accessible.
  
• How to select the right geography to suit your sourcing needs.

Conventional outsourcing has delivered on quick win balance sheet results but has often fallen short on long term sustainable results. This session will provide two alternative approaches to outsourcing that could be viable options to consider. The first approach is called Crowdsourcing. Crowdsourcing is a new “buzzword” but the concept is not new. Imagine if you could outsource work via the Internet instantly and pay only for the results you approve. Imagine if you had access to a truly global workforce so that your work was truly being done 24x7. This talk will focus on trends in crowdsourcing and how it compares to other outsourcing methods. The talk will include a case study based on Amazon.com’s experience comparing traditional outsourcing to crowdsourcing . It will cover the trade-offs between building your own crowd and using existing crowdsourcing options such as Amazon Mechanical Turk.

The second model is called Performance Based Outsourcing or Vested Sourcing. Many outsourcing deals are structured with fundamental flaws in the business model that prevents transformational results through outsourcing. The University of Tennessee has been researching leading companies that are challenging conventional outsourcing and has identified a next generation approach they have coined as Vested Outsourcing. This session will share their research and their 5 game changing rules that will help you transform your outsourcing efforts to deliver paradigm shifting results.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• How crowdsourcing compares to traditional outsourcing and staffing models.
  
• How other Fortune 500 companies are using crowdsourcing.
  
• The trade-offs between outsource your work to existing crowds and building your own, private crowd.
  
• How perverse incentives impact conventional outsourcing relationships.
  
• Why behavioral economics work performance-based outsourcing deals.
  
• Five game changing rules for outsourcing.

If there is a silver lining in the current economic scenario, then that is the opportunity to renegotiate your outsourcing agreements. Most vendors are looking at retaining their clients at any cost in this tough environment where growth is difficult to come by. As a buyer one can take lessons learned from the current outsourcing arrangement to propose new terms or pricing models that can improve cost benefits and productivity.

In this session, you will learn ways to approach your vendors regarding this difficult subject. You will hear practical approaches to reducing costs, improving your SLAs, and gaining other improvements in your agreements. This session will also include a discussion of other provisions you could include once you reopen the discussions regarding the terms of your agreements.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• Practical suggestions for when you need or want to renegotiate your deal. 

• How to use what you have learned about your vendor to your advantage when you renegotiate your deal.
  
• Some tips on improving the way you write your outsourcing deal.

Global sourcing has forced the development of new governance and risk management models to manage offshore delivery. Multilevel management structures, with clear lines of communication, vendor interfaces at each level and well-documented roles are critical to successful offshore delivery. Global sourcing also increased a variety of risks ranging from vendor organizational risks, financial, location specific, political to global economic risks. These risks require a detailed risk assessment and risk management and are critical for protecting a client organization from the potential pitfalls. Long-term risk management must include plans for data backup and disaster recovery and protect the interests of the organization. 

Outsourcing relationships are becoming more collaborative and the current trend is to engage in vested partnerships that build long term trust and a win-win scenario. However following the conventional process can result in relationships where either the buyer is not fully in control or the onus is on the vendor to constantly prove themselves. Success in today's business environment requires one to align with vendor’s interests and work collaboratively to improve margin through cost reductions and improved efficiencies. Moreover, there needs to be a balance between a rewards and punitive based approach. Incentivizing the vendor to constantly improve business processes and technology frameworks can result in their long term investment into the relationship. Taking a more holistic approach to finding and engaging with the right partner can avoid costly failures and ensure continuous value creation. In this session we will explore practical methodologies and lessons learned in choosing and aligning with vendors.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• What are the most critical factors in selecting a vendor or a partner.

• How to set the right business expectations to ensure aligned engagement on both sides.
  

• How to keep control of the relationship while providing the partner sufficient flexibility to innovate and improve.
  
• How to measure success and how to handle failures.

A comprehensive case study by a leading Organization will showcase and detail how they successfully sourced and implemented a full Applications Lifecycle Outsourcing solution by leveraging the Nearshore delivery model. By adopting a metrics-driven and minimally intrusive “Nearshore” Application Development, QA/Testing and Maintenance strategy as a complimentary component of their overall sourcing portfolio, this organization was able to optimize their overall TCO for both mission-critical and supporting Applications.

This presentation will provide practical lessons on how to achieve significant returns by using a Nearshore model that minimizes risks while enhancing outcomes.

Service Level Agreements are one of the most important tools you have to shape, improve and measure Service Provider performance and quality. SLA’s are a historical metric of past performance, which in themselves don’t facilitate innovation and continuous improvement. Blending historical measures with future looking strategies is an exciting way to work with your Service Providers for mutual benefit, building healthy, long term relationships Linda will share her experiences as Chief Sourcing Officer in three companies with North American and International operations, illustrating how structured but collaborative relationships fostered innovation while reducing costs and improving quality.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• How measuring the right things improves relationships. 

• Simple techniques to embed innovation in your engagements.
  
• Tips to optimize performance, improve results and build long term sustainable relationships.

“Survival of the Fittest” where “Change is the only true certainty”. This reality is painfully experienced by those laid-off in the last twelve months as well as those who struggle with increasing revenues and minimizing costs through retraction, globalization and/or rightshoring. We know the setting, now what do we do about it? To start with we must examine the vitality of our personal and organizational DNA. When outsourcing, it is critical to ensure that the core value of the company, which resides in its brightest talent, be sustained so that there is no loss of competitiveness. If the organization has operations in multiple regions then it becomes all the more difficult to manage this talent effectively. The presenters have tackled these challenges and will impart their experiences and best practices in consideration of pursuing “sustainable” globalization initiatives.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• Global business is not an individual game, it’s a team sport – “Survival of the Fittest Team” – how to retain the organization’s DNA while pursuing globalization.

• Strategies and tips on retaining talent across a global organization and ensuring they are utilized appropriately.

• Innovative ways to allocate and align talent based on functional and team role strengths.

Conference attendees: bring your questions, your problems, your concerns for our panel, as we look at the complex world of managing a multi-sourcing strategy across multiple shores.

Global Sourcing has become more complex than ever before. With a multitude of choices between locations, vendors, processes and business models its no wonder that most companies struggle with making the right decisions and implementing them. This panel of global experts will provide diverse insights into how companies manage multisourcing and multishoring, what are the alternative business models and their pro’s and con’s. Hear from executives who have implemented and managed complex initiatives and learn from their experiences, successes and mistakes.

YOU WILL LEARN:

• The types of sourcing arrangements to capture value from multisourced or multishored initiatives.

• The pros and cons of managing multisource arrangements.
  
• Which leverage points to be incorporated into contracts for governance and ongoing value creation.
  
• Ways to mitigate risks in a complex sourcing environment.