Outsource Issue 21 - (Page 111)
THE BACK END INSIDE SOURCE Our deep-cover mole gives Outsource readers an insider’s view of the sourcing space – remember: Inside Source is watching you…
When a CIO gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling
Inside Source has been on a number of client meetings of late. Being on ‘best behaviour’ at these things is always such a struggle, but as the adage goes, “the Customer is King” – so it is best to treat them so. However, as is the nature of these things, not all meetings turn out the way you expect them to. And at a recent meeting with the CIO of a leading high street brand, I found myself experiencing one of those rare moments that can only be described as warm and fuzzy. Never in my wildest outsourcing dreams did I think that a CIO could have this effect on me. I was all of a sudden grateful to be in the room and in awe of the person opposite me. And what was it he did? He simply got the bigger picture. Now this guy clearly knows his stuff. He has a multi-vendor sourcing model with just the right mix to keep things competitive but without the overkill of too many cooks in the kitchen. He has genuine praise for his suppliers (even when times have been hard) and he understands the key thing that so many buy-side practitioners often fail to grasp: in outsourcing relationships you’ve got to give a little, in order to get a little. Whilst some might sit back and bask in the glory of the IT organisation they have built, he is up for a challenge, receptive to new ideas and open to new ways of extracting more value. He has every right to feel smug, and the fact that he didn’t can teach us all an important lesson. It’s easy to be an expert but it’s harder to be humble.
Third Party Intermediaries
By accident or design, Inside Source happened upon an industry briefing hosted by a top-tier outsource provider for ‘Third Party Intermediaries’. A superb day, excellently organised, let down only by one thing: the annoying practice of bagging analysts and advisors under the same umbrella. As I gazed upon their contrasting characteristics, I couldn’t help but hear a David Attenborough-type voiceover run through the back of my mind: “Steely and at some points plain ingratiating, the hyena-like analysts stalked their supplier pray in clans, tearing apart the solitary presenter, before scavenging the remnants of respect that their quivering victim could muster from the podium. ‘Call yourself a customer-centric organisation? Pah!’ taunted one hyena. “Meanwhile, the lofty and aloof cat-like advisors meandered their way between presentations, with a clear disdain for their fellow guests and their accompanying interrogation techniques. ‘How degrading’ muttered one elegantly groomed feline, as the rest made a quiet exit when nobody was looking, slinking through the back door with barely a whip of the tail.” Why suppliers put themselves through this torture on a bi-annual basis really does bemuse me. But the ‘Third Party Intermediaries’ umbrella for analysts and advisors is a label that amuses me more. Both have a vital but very different role to play in our industry’s ecosystem; suppliers for their own benefit need to make sure they understand and address this. Different species behave very differently.
“I was initially recruited while I was in business school back in the late sixties by the National Security Agency, the nation’s largest and least understood spy organisation; but ultimately I worked for private corporations.” – John Perkins
www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk
●● ●●●●
111
http://www.outsourcemagazine.co.uk
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Outsource Issue 21
Outsource - Issue 21
In This Issue
Meet the Board
News and Comment
The Post-Election Landscape
Jim Mather
Sharing the Burden
Q&A: Debra Robinson
RPO Report
The Cloud Breaks
Tom Bangemann
Germany Focus
Outsourcing Derivatives Reconciliations
The Path to Perfection
Phone Home?
Sergei Levteev
Bangladesh
Richard Thompson
Adam Foster
SME Outsourcing
Good Relations
Culture Clash
Professor Arie Lewin
The Legal View
NOA Round-up
Words from the Web
Inside Source
The Last Word
Outsource Issue 21
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/EMP/OutsourceIssue22
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/EMP/outsourceissue22-orig
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/EMP/OutsourceIssue21
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxteu/EMP/OutsourceIssue20
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com