The Outsourcing Enterprise

Evidence shows that organizations with both a CEO and a team involved in sourcing strategy and supplier configuration make more effective decisions. If the wrong supplier is chosen, performance can be negatively affected. Here the authors look at how companies can improve their outsourcing capabilities.

"Foreword by Thomas H. Davenport, coauthor, What's the Big Idea? and The Attention Economy If you’re looking for a serious infusion of life-blood into your company, transformational outsourcing could be the answer. This new, bold approach is not just about handing off noncore functions in order to cut costs. It’s about transforming the entire operating model -- to boost a company’s stock price, increase its market share, or drive its profitability. Take an organization like National Savings and Investments (NS&I) of Great Britain. It quickly transformed itself from an out-of-step, cumbersome, and ultimately failing institution into a lean, successful market leader in the financial services sector. And it achieved radical organizational change by employing the innovative process of transformational outsourcing. Outsourcing for Radical Change supplies a detailed analysis of the transformation process that happened at NS&I, Thomas Cook, and others, as well as examples of companies that failed to align their transformation initiative with their strategic needs. Based on a major study by Accenture and in-depth interviews by the author, this original, research-based book examines the entire process from a practical, real-world perspective: from selecting your ultimate goal, to mapping out a workable action plan, to navigating the often formidable challenges you’ll face on your quest for radical change. You’ll discover: * 7 questions to help you determine if your business needs transformational outsourcing * 0 essential leadership skills needed to spearhead a change effort * 4 major ways that companies use outsourcing for transformation * 3 critical components for successfully executing transformational outsourcing and building high-commitment relationships * Guidelines for creating a working business model for fulfilling strategic goals * Techniques to help minimize the turmoil of dislocating people * Tips for measuring and rewarding success -- and recognizing and fixing failures In the business world, major change efforts have an abysmally poor track record, with poor execution standing out as the major culprit. By comparison, transformational outsourcing has been highly successful in 17 out of the 20 companies tracked in this groundbreaking book. It brings larger, faster, and more lasting impacts than most people ever expect. And it can be your secret weapon in the struggle to survive and prosper in the 21st century. Many companies use outsourcing for their backend operations. But few have tapped into the truly transformative power of outsourcing its major functions. This groundbreaking book looks at the handful of companies that have led enterprise-wide strategic change efforts using transformational outsourcing. Executives have used it to start up new companies, drive growth, consolidate mature companies, and execute stunning strategic turnaround -- swiftly and successfully in the vast majority of cases. Find out if your company can benefit from this potent new tool!"

Many firms are now developing policies for outsourcing IT and other basic functions, this book analyses this issue from the perspective of both the outsourcer and the insourcer. Chorafas describes management needs and shows how technology can be used to meet these needs. The book also highlights the benefits and risks that companies face when they attempt to differentiate themselves through new technology. The book is based on an extensive research project in the US, UK, Germany, France, Switzerland and Sweden.

More and more, the shape of the IT organization is critical to business systems delivery, yet all too often this definition is approached in a haphazard fashion - often based on old theory and out-dated experiences rather than being moulded to the realities of the world in which we work. Shaping the IT Organization considers how one should go about the moulding of an IT function in order to ensure effective output from the resources within that organization. It focuses on understanding precisely the elements and challenges within such a definition. Key topics covered: What is an organization?: Issues and key considerations for IT from an organizational perspective, including the idea of the 'organization lifecycle' and the very real impact this can have within the IT environment. Why change?: The impact of generic business approaches demanded by current business models and pressures. Solutions vs Products: The IT organizational impact of moving from a product-based to a solutions-based business model. Outsourcing: The increasing trend to place critical elements of IT's delivery capability outside the core business means that IT functions are often poorly aligned to both manage these relationships and rise to the challenges that outsourcing offers. Resource Management: Fundamental questions about people and the need to adapt resource management approaches to take a radical approach to how we both manage and empower the people within those models in order to deliver what is required.

Many firms are now developing policies for outsourcing IT and other basic functions, this book analyses this issue from the perspective of both the outsourcer and the insourcer. Chorafas describes management needs and shows how technology can be used to meet these needs. The book also highlights the benefits and risks that companies face when they attempt to differentiate themselves through new technology. The book is based on an extensive research project in the US, UK, Germany, France, Switzerland and Sweden.

As the digital economy changes the rules of the game for enterprises, the role of software and IT architects is also transforming. Rather than focus on technical decisions alone, architects and senior technologists need to combine organizational and technical knowledge to effect change in their company’s structure and processes. To accomplish that, they need to connect the IT engine room to the penthouse, where the business strategy is defined. In this guide, author Gregor Hohpe shares real-world advice and hard-learned lessons from actual IT transformations. His anecdotes help architects, senior developers, and other IT professionals prepare for a more complex but rewarding role in the enterprise. This book is ideal for: Software architects and senior developers looking to shape the company’s technology direction or assist in an organizational transformation Enterprise architects and senior technologists searching for practical advice on how to navigate technical and organizational topics CTOs and senior technical architects who are devising an IT strategy that impacts the way the organization works IT managers who want to learn what’s worked and what hasn’t in large-scale transformation

It has become increasingly difficult to hire and keep warm bodies, not to mention competent IT personnel. With this in mind, outsourcing ceases to be an option and becomes a necessity. Web hosting, application service providers, and integrating legacy and ERP systems are just three examples of when outsourcing is the rule rather than the exception.

Due to the vital importance of SMEs in developed economies worldwide, this book aims to provide a unique and much-needed investigation into the underlying mechanisms and practices of management within these companies by collecting a wide range of original conceptual and empirical research in the topical area of management in SMEs and new ventures. Collecting work from dozens of leading scholars in fields ranging from management and entrepeneurship to human resource management and strategy, this book aims to supply readers with an overview of the field of research in management of SMEs and new ventures as well as in depth knowledge on a variety of related topics. The essays collected here are focused and practical, offering a variety of explicit and pragmatic recommendations for action and developing new tools and strategies useful to scholars and students as well as practitioners working in the field of SME and new venture management and consulting.