Outsource Issue 30 - (Page 92)

FEATURE THE PROFESSIONALS 2012: THE WINNER We round up 2012’s buy-side competition – and announce the very deserving winner… ell, another year comes to a close – and with it the ﬁrst annual instalment of The Professionals, our series of learnings from the buy-side… Earlier this year we put out a call for respondents to a series of set questions designed to elicit buyers’ ideas of best – and worst – practice in outsourcing, shared services and business transformation, and to deliver some genuine insight into – and thoughts upon – the current and future state of this dynamic space. We thought, though, we’d make things a little bit more exciting by offering a prize for the “best” entry over the course of the year (as determined by the Outsource judging panel): a much-coveted bespoke cover of the magazine. Oh, and an iPad to boot… Responses came ﬂooding in – and although the majority had to be disqualiﬁed immediately for not coming from buyers (apologies to all you consultants and vendors who responded but, really, we did make it pretty clear in the copy…) and a few of them were not quite up to the required standard (including the one consisting entirely of profanities – which W did at least amuse the editorial team no end) we ﬁnished the ﬁrst season of The Professionals with ten excellent articles from across the space, with submissions from ﬁnance, the supply chain, global services, vendor relationship management and much more. (You can read all of the instalments by checking out the 2012 series index at http://bit.ly/WDQIFi) With the series closed at the end of November, it was time to choose a winner – so the judging panel went off into huddled seclusion (or, more accurately, studied the entries independently) to determine which of our correspondents would take home the most coveted prize since the Olympics. And, after much humming and hawing and general cogitation, we can announce that the winner is: DAVE BUTLER Director, Corporate Affairs Grainger plc Having been told of his triumph, Dave was overcome with emotion (at least, we like to think so). Holding back the tears manfully (this is pure ﬁction – Ed) he managed to summon up the strength to issue the following statement: “I am genuinely surprised and very ﬂattered to be recognised in this way by fellow professionals. It is always good to know that others have read what you have written and hopefully the piece struck a few chords. I am about to kick off a new major change programme in Grainger and this recognition is a great way start. The iPad too will undoubtedly help me ﬁnd sources of inspiration when things get tough!” (We like to think that Dave focussed on the iPad because the prospect of the bespoke cover of the magazine was simply too magniﬁcent to consider immediately…) The judges also held up for special mention (in no particular order) the efforts of Madelein Smit, Ash Bisaria, Nabil Gangi and Qasim Ali; again, you can read their articles via the series index at http://bit.ly/WDQIFi You can read Dave Butler’s winning entry overleaf; meanwhile, you’ll be delighted to hear that the 2013 series is now open for submissions – so, if you’re on the buy-side and want to share your learnings (and stand a chance of winning a muchsought-after prize) simply go to http://www. outsourcemagazine.co.uk/the-professionals – we’re waiting to hear from you! "If you don't succeed, you won't be in your profession for long. In our society, it's not about good or bad. It's about who's on top." – Chili Davis 92 ● ●●● www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk http://www.bit.ly/WDQIFi http://www.bit.ly/WDQIFi http://www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk/the-professionals http://www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Outsource Issue 30

Peering through the fog
Who moved my world
Bringing on the beeb
Courting the commentariat
Everyone is responsible
Our survey says
Fast money
Smarten up
Seeing the biggest picture
NOA round-up
Embracing enterprise innovation
Customer matters
Application development outsourcing
India: rules for offshoring
Talent gap
The Professionals
Book learning
The outsourcing jigsaw
The legal view
Top ten
NelsonHall round-up
Spontaneity
Online round-up
The deal doctor
Inside source
The last word

Outsource Issue 30