Outsourcing Law & Business Journal – May 2011
Posted June 1, 2011 by Bierce & Kenerson, P.C. · 
Print This Post
OUTSOURCING LAW & BUSINESS JOURNAL™ : Strategies and rules for adding value and improving legal and regulation compliance through business process management techniques in strategic alliances, joint ventures, shared services and cost-effective, durable and flexible sourcing of services. www.outsourcing-law.com. Visit our blog at http://blog.outsourcing-law.com.
Insights by Bierce & Kenerson, P.C. Editor. www.biercekenerson.com.
Vol. 11, No. 4, May 2011
_________________________________
1. Legal Issues in Using Performance Metrics for Innovation.
_________________________________
1. Legal Issues in Using Performance Metrics for Innovation. Today, several software developers offer comprehensive software suites for governance of IT and business process outsourcing (BPO) services. Such software enables outsourcing customers to see real-time data, presented on “dashboards,” of vendor performance metrics, including service catalog offerings, demand and supply volumes, service level management (measuring and reporting on SLA’s), incident and problem management (identifying outages) and change management data bases (CMDB’s) and computations of billing adjustments to reflect gaps between actual performance and contractual obligations. Such software reports on “what is happening.”
Such real-time vendor governance tools can be used for more than just benchmarking actual performance against contractual obligations. They can also be used to:
- identify process improvements in the outsourcing services delivery process for “better outsourcing”; and
- innovate across the entire customer organization and customer supply chain.
This article takes the leap from just governing an outsourced function (through dashboards and performance metric reporting) to re-structuring the entire enterprise based on “big data.” By applying “business analytics” to such “big data,” organizations can improve the quality of their procurement organization (and their internal resource commitments) by looking for innovation. In short, organizations that outsource can tap into governance data to help innovate processes for efficiency and higher revenue per Dollar of expense.
This article explores key attributes of business analytics in outsourcing and the challenges for integrating analytics in outsourcing contracts and a shared-services SLA-based services environment. It also sheds light on why innovation never comes from outsourcing, unless the parties plan for it and adopt appropriate legal protections. For more on the “next step” from “vendor governance” to “organizational transformation,” click here .
Innovation in Outsourcing, n. (1) oxymoronic pursuit of process transformation beyond any rational expectation; (2) the promise of another statement of work for no charge; (3) upsell, cross-sell, soft sell; (4) mismatch of expectation and delivery; (5) unfounded hope; (6) genie in a bottle.
June 15-16, 2011, Global LPO Conference, Buyers and Vendors Meet, New York, New York. This is an event to develop the business relationship of both buyers and vendors. This event will address genuine transformation of the outsourcing landscape from theoretical to practical. This conference aims to bring together law firm leaders such as partners, general counsels and other potential stakeholders in the LPO industry to share practical experiences in the nascent services for clients. The New York meeting will focus on how to implement the human and social capital for the benefit of the industry at large. (Full disclosure, our publisher will be speaking at this event.) Fore more information, click here.
June 27 – 28, 2011, IQPC presents eDiscovery Strategies for Government, Washington, D.C. IQPC’s eDiscovery Strategies for Government will offer key insights to stay on top of emerging challenges and how to craft thorough, cost-effective and defensible eDiscovery. Additionally our expert faculty will provide key benefits for government organizations. Join IQPC’s eDiscovery Strategies for Government Summit to network and learn from your peers on how to proactively establish a protocol for preserving and gathering electronically stored information. Join members of the U.S. Dept. of Justice, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Department of Justice- Antitrust Division, Federal Trade Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, United States Department of Agriculture and more. Visit their website for more information.
September 20-22, 2011, SSON presents Finance Transformation 2011, Dallas, Texas. This conference is targeted to owners, controllers, procurement leads, sourcing strategists, shared services and global finance leads who want a complete view of transformation, incorporating holistic vision and operating strategy, end-to-end process optimizations, technology enablement, business performance management and sourcing strategy, whether that strategy is shared services, outsourcing or a combination of the two. Click here to get more information.
September 26-27, 2011, IQPC presents e-Discovery Oil & Gas, Houston, Texas. IQPC’s Third e-Discovery for Oil and Gas program is specifically tailored to address eDiscovery issues in the energy industry. The program features detailed case studies from Oil & Gas ProducersService Companies that have implemented eDiscovery practices that have lowered the cost and increased the efficiency of producing ESI. Panel presentations will discuss critical issues in eDiscovery from leading experts in the legal, information technology and records management sectors. For more information, click here.
**********************************************
FEEDBACK: This newsletter addresses legal issues in sourcing IT, HR, finance and accounting, procurement, logistics, manufacturing, customer relationship management including outsourcing, shared services, BOT and strategic acquisitions for sourcing. Send us your suggestions for article topics, or report a broken link at wbierce@biercekenerson.com. The information provided herein does not necessarily constitute the opinon of Bierce & Kenerson, P.C. or any author or its clients. This newsletter is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Reproductions must include our copyright notice. For reprint permission, please contact: wbierce@biercekenerson.com. Edited by Bierce & Kenerson, P.C. Copyright (c) 2010, Outsourcing Law Global, LLC. All rights reserved. Editor-in-Chief: William Bierce of Bierce & Kenerson, P.C., located at 420 Lexington Avenue, Suite 2920, New York, NY 10170, 212-840-0080
Print This Post
Filed under: Newsletter
Tagged: big data, conferences, humor, innovation, Newsletter, performance metrics, SLA