Remember Cassandra? She was that character in Greek mythology who was granted the gift of incredible insight by the gods, but in the same instance, the gods cursed her so that no one would ever believe her. Welcome to the world of Deborah Kops, as she articulates the findings of our HfS Research / Sourcing Change study. Over to you, Debs…
Shortchanged!
Ever wonder why you have that sinking feeling that your outsourcing program isn’t quite delivering on its promise, despite the fact that your provider is hitting every SLA out of the ballpark? Why most benefits expected in the business case are within reach, yet the business lines’ grumbling continues unabated? Why the retained team just doesn’t “get it,” engaging in guerilla warfare when it’s time to start the next phase of transition? Why the leadership team rejects the concept before you even launch the PowerPoint presentation?
Deborah Kops is taken away before convincing the world of the perils of ignoring change management
Very likely, you’ve been shortchanged. Whenever an organization outsources, it triggers a myriad of changes—organization, process, workflow, technology, and service levels, among others. Change management often gets short shrift because it has to cope with often irrational reactions, may require a “touchy feely” response model, and ultimately forces sourcing sponsorship to confront an uncomfortable truth— compelling business cases alone will not persuade stakeholders to give up control or adjust the way they work. So praying that the noise will just abate over time becomes the default approach.
HfS Research and Sourcing Change have uncovered, for the first time, how buyers really attack outsourcing change management in the groundbreaking study, “Change Management—Not an Imperative for Sourcing Success?” Study results confirm that the secret sauce that makes outsourcing deliver—a structured approach to the adoption of changes resulting from implementation—is still being sidestepped. While most buyers– and providers– give lip service to the need for change management when sourcing, there’s still a lack of understanding of the skills and capabilities that make change management strategically important to an outsourcing deal.
Confusing PowerPoints, email newsletters and town halls with effective change management. DIY approaches to resourcing. Providers who think they support their clients’ change management initiatives. Read all about these observations—and more.
Click here to read the study “Misunderstood and poorly handled: change management for outsourcing”, and stop being shortchanged by outsourcing!
Earlier this year, HfS Research leveraged its vast network of global enterprises to solicit the opinions of buyers and providers of outsourcing attempting to understand how they view the role and importants of change management for outsourcing engagements. The web based survey was completed by 237 respondents with 96 buyers and 141 service providers.
Deborah Kops is Research Fellow for HfS Research and leads her own boutique firm www.sourcingchange.com dedicated to all issues sourcing change management (click for bio)
Posted in : Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Captives and Shared Services Strategies, IT Outsourcing / IT Services, Sourcing Best Practises, sourcing-change, the-industry-speaks
