Outsourcing Law & Business Journal™ – December 2011
December 5, 2011 by Bierce & Kenerson, P.C.
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. 10, December 2011
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This webinar will address the fundamentals of structuring LLCs for use in special purpose environments. It will help lawyers understand key legal and tax issues in such environments for tax-efficient operations.
Title: LLC Toolkit for Designing Collaborative Business Models: Sweat-Equity, JVs and Global Services Businesses
Date: Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Time: 11:00 AM EST – 12:20 PM EST
Cost: Free!
Click here for more information and registration.
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1. Korea as a Service Delivery Center After US-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA).
2. Humor.
3. Conferences.
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1. Korea as a Service Delivery Center After US-Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA). President Barack Obama signed the Korean-U.S. Foreign Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA) on October 21, 2011 and it was ratified by Korea’s National Assembly on November 22, 2011. It is now in force.
Separate from the generally applicable multilateral obligations of the two countries under WTO trade agreements, the KORUS FTA opens new doors for service providers in Korea to compete with India, Latin America, Canada and other locations for contracts to deliver data processing and BPO services to U.S. customers. While Korea’s wage levels are comparatively high relative to other destinations, Korea can be expected to compete effectively in niche areas such as banking, finance, insurance and manufacturing support services.
What’s new, beyond the multilateral free-trade framework under the WTO, NAFTA and the EU, compared to other U.S. bilateral free-trade agreements? The KORUS FTA offers a few embellishments on the concept of admitting individuals for specific FTA-qualified visa categories (as under NAFTA). The KORUS FTA adds specific protections for conducting services businesses generally, including professional services licensure (lawyers, doctors, engineers, like NAFTA’s list). The agreement covers the “electronic supply of services,” “digital products,” electronic authentication, e-signatures and e-documents as instruments of bilateral e-commerce. Most significantly, the KORUS FTA hints at a new paradigm for bilateral FTA’s since it includes the principle that privacy laws will not be used for protectionism. For more, click here.
2. Humor.
FTA, n. (1) in public international law, intergovernmental convention designed to displace educated, skilled, local workers with educable foreign skilled workers, and/or substitute local goods with foreign goods, all for the benefit of the local populace first and “terms of trade” second; (2) fun-time agreement; (3) free trade agreement.
Privacy, n. (1) constitutional right against unwarranted intrusion by government, advertisers, supplicants and other pests; (2) what’s left of your personally identifiable data (including personal health information) after blogging, social media, search engine optimization, affiliate marketing, web click monitoring and nanny-cams; (3) what your politicians are eager to protect after they publish information to protect others from your marauding and opprobrious conduct such as driving a vehicle, owning a home, practicing a regulated profession, contributing to a political campaign, borrowing money and other vices; (4) rule honored by the breach.
3. Conferences.
March 7-9, 2012, 16th Annual North American Shared Services & Outsourcing Week, Orlando, Florida. In 2011 we brought you the ‘revolution’ of shared services – 2012 is all about delivering The Next Level of Value by Accelerating Global Growth & Delivering Business Insights to the Board. Over 100 thought leaders and companies including AOL, Volvo, Deloitte, DHL, Monster.com, Salsesforce.com, Hyatt, Molson Coors, Philips, BAE Systems, Intel, Perason, BP, P&G, UBS, Citigroup, WPP Group, Yahoo!, DHL and HP will present their inspiring talks and roundtables to drive global growth and root shared services firmly into the boardroom agenda. If you want to challenge your captive and outsourced operations to influence business outcomes, or endorse the IMPACT shared services can have on the success and progress of a business as a whole, then this event is a must attend for you. To register, visit their website.
March 15, 2012, Global Services Conference 2012, New York, New York. Global Services Conference 2012 will focus on how to build and sustain excellence in services. This strategy is the key to enterprise services, enterprise transformation, and aligning that transformation to drive competitive advantage to companies. Companies are looking to access data and knowledge in a better way and to leverage the maturity of the services organization that has been in place to drive better business value. For more information, visit their website.
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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 opinion 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) 2011, 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
Outsourcing Law & Business Journal™: October 2010
October 29, 2010 by Bierce & Kenerson, P.C.
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., Editors. www.biercekenerson.com
Vol. 10, No. 10 (October 2010)
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Editor’s Note: Happy Halloween, Happy Election Day (USA)! This month’s article spooks us by helping us wonder whether we are getting all the data protection and integrity we thought we were entitled to. This should make us feel somewhat better about life, since the “robo-signers” and “robo-justice” mills for real estate foreclosures make ITO and BPO look like the solution to the evils brought about by sloppy (if not fraudulent) business practices. We are also pleased to announce a special webinar (full disclosure, the speaker is the Editor of this newsletter).
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Webinar Announcement
“LLC Toolkit for Designing Collaborative Business Models: Sweat-Equity, JVs and Global Services Businesses”
December 9, 2010, 11am – 12:20pm, EST US
Speaker: William B. Bierce, Esq., – Bierce & Kenerson, P.C.
This is an advanced seminar for experienced corporate and commercial lawyers as well as entrepreneurs, CEOs and COOs, investors, bankers, and venture capitalists looking for a different perspective on how LLC’s can be structured and governed. This webinar will address the fundamentals of structuring LLCs for use in special purpose environments, such as service-oriented and Web-based businesses in the US and globally. It will help lawyers understand key legal and tax issues in such environments for tax-efficient operations. This webinar is free and application for Accredited Provider status for CLE credit in New York is currently pending. To obtain more information, please contact Laura Sanfiorenzo and to register, click here.
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1. Belt and Suspenders, and From SOX to SOC’s: Changes in Service Audit Standards on the Service Organization’s Risk Management, Security and Process Controls.
2. Humor.
3. Conferences.
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1. Belt and Suspenders, and From SOX to SOC’s: Changes in Service Audit Standards on the Service Organization’s Risk Management, Security and Process Controls. How do you know your service provider is providing a secure environment for processing your transactions? Do you trust your service provider? Can you certify your outsourcing relationship can withstand a shareholder lawsuit claiming you lack the necessary audit and control functions? Do you want a report on the description, design and operational effectiveness of controls at a service organization, and what do you get under current and future auditing, attestation and accounting “standards.”
SAS 70 Type II audits have become the de facto standard for publicly traded companies to meet their SOX 404(b) “audit and control” disclosure requirements. SAS 70 audits are big business for audit firms. Now, as the U.S. “generally accepted accounting principles” face convergence into new international accounting standards (IAS), enterprise customers risk losing familiar comfort letters. The emerging accounting standards suggest it’s time to think about “belt and suspenders” for security and process controls. This article considers the new approach to mitigating and managing risks through “control objectives” as “attested” in “service organization control” (SOC) reports for service organizations and subservice organizations in the services supply chain. This new approach comes into effect for fiscal years ending after June 2011. Important procedural details for the U.S. will be promulgated soon.
For the complete article, click here.
Robo-Justice, n. (1) fast-track system in Florida courts for adjudication of foreclosures at the rate of 20 per hour, 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, per judge, unless service levels degrade for non-essential activities such as extra time for hearing evidence; (2) the swift and decisive hand of justice, meted out to fight the swift and decisive hand of the Robo-Signer.
Robo-Signer, n. (1) a person appointed by a bank or mortgage origination service company to sign thousands of loan documents per week; (2) phantom performing fiduciary duty in a totally automated, human-free mechanism, with computer-generated rubber-stamped documents and corresponding human signatures; (3) human automaton approving computer outputs. See “Robo-Justice.
3. Conferences.
December 7-8, 2010, IQPC presents 10th E-Discovery Conference, New York, New York. The 10th eDiscovery Summit is the key meeting of the year for eDiscovery experts. The universe of ESI is continually expanding as the costs associated with eDiscovery are on the rise. This unique eDiscovery event brings together in-house counsel, IT experts, document management, outside counsel, solution providers, Judges and regulatory experts. You will learn how to improve your eDiscovery processes and save time and money despite the onslaught of litigation. Some highlighted topics include:
- Incorporating advanced search technology and protocol into your eDiscovery processes
- Tackling the complexity of legal holds in light of the Pension Committee case
- Gaining insight from our Judges panel analyzing important 2010 eDiscovery case law
- Effectively managing the ever-increasing universe of social media content
- Implementing a proactive approach where litigation preparedness enables you to significantly cut costs and time in eDiscovery
Outsourcing Law contacts can receive 20% off the standard all access price when they register with the code OSL20. Register by calling 1-800-882-8684. View the program brochure for more details.
February 14-26, 2011, IQPC follows up with the 4th E-Discovery Finance Conference, New York, New York, focusing exclusively on the financial services industry. The Dodd-Frank bill is the most comprehensive legislative overhaul of the financial services industry since the Great Depression, and financial corporations must respond and adapt immediately. Changing technology creates quickly moving targets for corporations to reach. The burden falls on legal, information security, record retention, and IT departments to ensure the best review, retention, and destruction policies and procedures. A successful e-discovery team can mitigate the costs of e-discovery, reduce the volume of extraneous data, and avoid sanctions and other judicially imposed penalties. Highlights include strategies to:
- Keep costs down while maximizing efficiency.
- Comply with stricter, more expansive regulations.
- Implement and adapt to new technologies in order to “future-proof.”
- Stay out of the headlines for non-compliance or sanctions.
To obtain more information, click here.
February 14-26, 2011, Legal Process Outsourcing Conference, New York, New York. With advanced technology and tight budgets in a downturn economy, companies are exploring more cost-efficient alternatives for high quality legal work. CEOs and CFOs are putting tremendous pressure on their employees to cut spending and given the exorbitant cost of legal spend, in-house counsel are feeling the pressure more than most. Although legal outsourcing is not a fit for every law firm and in-house legal department, the legal community simply cannot ignore the expansion of the LPO market. This event will take an honest look at all sides of LPO and address the challenges, ethics, implications, and strategies of legal outsourcing. Attending this Summit will help decide where your company fits into this new outsourcing dynamic. For more information visit their website.
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FEEDBACK: This newsletter addresses legal issues in sourcing of 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 opinion 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.
Outsourcing Law & Business Journal™: May 2010
May 18, 2010 by Bierce & Kenerson, P.C.
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 for commentary on current events.
Insights by Bierce & Kenerson, P.C., Editors. www.biercekenerson.com
Editor’s Note:
In the aftermath of the recession, government regulators are looking at new ways to protect the financial information of consumers and businesses alike. This issue examines the potential impact of what a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act could mean for service providers, enterprise customers, and related outsourcers.
Vol. 10, No. 5 (May 2010)
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1. Financial Services Outsourcing: New Roles and Risks under a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. The financial services industry is facing major regulatory changes following the global sub-prime credit crisis and ensuing recovery plans. These changes will have a major impact on outsourcers that deal with consumer financial information or in back-office support for financial investment transactions that are deemed unfair, deceptive or abusive. The adoption of a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act would not only have a significant negative impact on the risks and costs of outsourcing of IT and business process functions by companies that deal with consumers. It would invite a new view of risk allocation between enterprise customers and independent contractors as outsourcers, increasing the costs of doing business by putting the service provider into a new role of whistleblower. It remains to be seen whether the analysis of public policy in this arena will spill over into other industries and other types of outsourcing. For the complete article, http://www.outsourcing-law.com/2010/05/financial-services-outsourcing-new-roles-and-risks-under-a-consumer-financial-protection-agency/
2. Online Form Builder for Consumer Privacy Notices. The privacy of consumer financial transactions was a cornerstone of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB). Eight U.S. federal regulators are responsible for enforcing the GLB privacy rule….On April 15, 2010, the eight federal regulators released an Online Form Builder that regulated financial institutions can download and use to develop and print customized versions of a model consumer privacy notice. For more see this link: http://www.outsourcing-law.com/2010/05/online-form-builder-for-consumer-privacy-notices/
3. Humor.
Consultant, n. (1) one who participates materially in the conduct of the client’s business without being a manager; (2) one who freely advises on the why and how without being responsible for the who, the what or the when; (3) aider and abettor.
Innovation, n. (1) a novel idea that benefits the client, employer or the consumer but rarely benefits the innovator; (2) joint venture in crime against the unprotected consumer.
Recklessness, n. (1) actions taken without regard to the impact on others; (2) transgression across the fine line between following instructions and challenging the validity of the instructions; (3) in the supply chain, any Faustian partnership between enterprise customer and its service providers.
4. Conferences.
June 6-8, 4th Annual IQPC Shared Services Exchange™, Austin, Texas, United States, an elite event for shared services executives who are looking to develop new strategy, solve challenges and source partners that will allow them to create efficiency and drive more value out of their shared services centers.
This event will continue IQPC Exchange’s ongoing tradition of offering cutting-edge, strategic networking and learning opportunities for senior level shared services executives, combining conference sessions, one-on-one business meetings and numerous networking functions to allow executives to speak with their peers. With pre-scheduled one-on-one advisory meetings and personalized itineraries, the Shared Services Exchange™ provides the opportunity to create an agenda that directly reflect the goals and initiatives of participating executives.
To request a complimentary delegate invitation or for information on solution provider packages, please contact: exchange@iqpc.com, call 1-866-296-4580 or visit their website at http://www.sharedservicesexchange.com/
June 15, 2010. FSO Knowledge Xchange is hosting the 4th Annual Financial Services Industry Transformation and Outsourcing Strategies Forum in New York, NY, a premier event focused on the ongoing evolution and transformation in the financial services industry. This forum will bring together senior decision makers, leaders and practitioners from the financial services industry, service providers, law firms, regulators, and outsourcing enablers in an interactive environment. This forum will focus on the emerging trends, analysis, executive perspectives, and enterprise case studies in the domain of financial services outsourcing. The forum will have sessions that will be conducted by established thought leaders in the industry. Register today by calling 732-462-3763 or visit http://www.fsokx.com/fsokx/FSITOForum2010/Introduction.aspx
July 14-16, 2010. IQPC Presents Shared Services for Finance and Accounting, Chicago, Illinois. The SSFA 2010 Summit brings together leading financial shared services experts to network, benchmark and learn through keynote presentations, interactive roundtables, case studies and discussion panels. This program will help you improve internal accounting processes, maximize your efficiency with less resources, make smarter sourcing decisions, and drive continuous value through your financial services. For more information, visit http://www.sharedservicesfa.com/Event.aspx?id=314126
September 26-28, 2010. IQPC Shared Services Exchange™ Event, 2nd Annual, to be held in The Hague, Netherlands. Shared Service Centres have long been seen as the cost saving centre of HR, Finance & Accounting and IT processes, but with changing employment trends and global challenges facing organisations, how can SSC’s continually offer service value?
Unlike typical conferences, the Shared Services Exchange™ , which will be co-located with the Corporate Finance Exchange™, focuses on networking, strategic conference sessions and one-on-one meetings with solution providers. The Exchange invites strategic decision makers to take a step back from their current operations, see what strategies and solutions others are adopting, develop new partnerships and make investment choices that deliver innovative solutions and benefits to their businesses.
To request your complimentary delegate invitation or for information on solution provider packages, please contact: exchangeinfo@iqpc.com, call +44 (0) 207 368 9709, or visit their website at http://www.sharedservicesexchange.co.uk/Event.aspx?id=263014
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FEEDBACK: This newsletter addresses legal issues in sourcing of 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 opinion 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.