Outsource Issue 23 - (Page 50)

All in the GAme Leading academics charted a path that challenges the conventional definition of winning. Smart companies are applying these concepts, showing that win-win thinking is not just something nice to say: it’s smart business – and really is beautiful… N o one plays to lose in life or in business. You’ve all heard the clichés and their infinite variations: “Win at all costs.” “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” “Losing is for losers.” “Nice guys finish last.” You get the idea. Smart companies are starting to challenge the winner-takes-all approach by applying what is popularly referred to as win-win thinking. Now I know that “winwin” itself is a perhaps an overindulged buzzword, used by companies indiscriminately no matter the true nature of the deal at hand. But companies like Microsoft and Accenture have come to realise that it’s not just something nice to say; applying win-win thinking can bring real value and bottom-line benefits. For Microsoft, these benefits are the kind that Henric Häggquist, Sr. Director of Fin Ops Global BPO Management, referred to as “transformational” when the team accepted the International Association for Outsourcing Professionals’ (IAOP) GEO Award for Innovation. The award is given to a company that has recently implemented either a new outsourcing relationship or new outsourcing approach that is groundbreaking and worth special attention by other organisations. Microsoft and Accenture have learned that winning is about forging collaborative, innovative and flexible performance-based relationships. Researchers at the University of Tennessee and I have come to describe this approach as Vested Outsourcing because companies shun the conventional short-term, transaction-based model for outsource agreements in favor of working together to reach mutually beneficial goals – which I refer to as Desired Outcomes. While many companies are saying winwin, few in my opinion really adopt true collaborative relationships that can drive the kind of innovation companies are yearning for. That is because business people say partnership, but the legal and contracting people rarely contract for partnership. Case in point: how can you have a real partnership when your contract has a 30day term for convenience? Win-Win Thinking: iT’s noT only Real, iT is Really BeauTiful Work by leading academics has proven win-win approaches are not only real – they “Opinions have vested interests just as men have.” - Samuel Butler 50 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