Outsource Issue 23 - (Page 42)

All in the Genes? The relationship between vendor and end-user can be incredibly complex – but, like DNA, is made up of a small number of critical components. So what are these and how can both parties ensure they are leveraged optimally? Richard Condon reports… Richard Condon, VendorRelate Richard Condon is the Managing Director of VendorRelate Limited, providing expert services and relationship measurement software to vendors and customers. e understand that DNA contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all living organisms. We also understand the genetics that reside in each of us determine the way we behave during our life span. So how do you tell us apart if you happen to meet someone for the first time and do not know their genetic makeup? If it’s a meeting at work or travelling on public transport then our instincts tell us to glance around, observe people’s faces and make profile judgements about their backgrounds, prosperity, strengths and weaknesses. That W image profile then becomes our reality – until something changes it. So what has this got to do with an outsource relationship, I hear you ask. Well, the common denominator is that a relationship consists of those self-same people. People in a relationship, from the customer and the vendor side, both play the part of observing or being observed, and subsequent image profiles are formed. This level of scrutiny will often occur within one of the organisations if it appears that the notes being played by the other are out of tune with their own. So in reality, even though there is no physical DNA to the relationship, there are people who from DNA was first isolated by Friedrich Miescher of Switzerland in 1869. Its structure was only identified in 1953, a discovery for which James Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins received Nobel Prizes. 42 ● ● ● www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk http://www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Outsource Issue 23

Outsource Issue 23
Contents
News & Comment
IT Security
Ian Collard
More Than Just A Headcount
Call Centre Technology
Social Issues
Understanding Value
Cutting Through The Noise
All In The Genes?
It’s Time For Contact Centres To Get Socially Responsible
Right From The Start
All In The Game
Relationship Management Centres
NOA Roundup
Document Management
Digital Vision
Review Ructions
Provider Perspective
A New Reckoning?
Head-to-Head
The Music of Outsourcing
Accelerating Innovation
Labour Arbitrage
Top Ten Tips
The Legal View
HfS: New outsource Partner
Online Round-Up
Sourcebites
Inside Source
The Last Word

Outsource Issue 23