Cliff Justice (KPMG)<\/em><\/strong>: \u00a0Phil, in the early part of the 2000s, there was a herd mentality around cost take out. There wasn\u2019t a strategy around large-scale outsourcing. Some companies had a short-sighted view that labor arbitrage was a value driver. Labor arbitrage by definition is temporary. Many companies executed long-term changes to their business purely on labor arbitrage; those companies suffered the consequences from this strategy.<\/p>\nThat approach has changed as clients matured and grew more knowledgeable about outsourcing and the value of sourcing. I view that change as starting on a mainstream level around 2007. At that time some leading companies had epiphanies. They were visible enough to be vocal about those changes. You started to see the service providers alter their marketing and focus more on value within a business approach to differentiate themselves.<\/p>\n
After the financial crisis, there was a lull. But now we\u2019re seeing companies really start to take a long view of their services organization and how they can leverage their business cross-functionally (finance, HR, IT, supply chain and procurement). How can they leverage this asset to provide information and insight back to the business? This is much more about business value creation.<\/p>\n
However, this is only happening at the leading companies. There are still companies that take a short view. The most prominent successes we\u2019re seeing in the market are being achieved by companies that have taken the long view; they started that approach four years ago and are seeing the benefits today. They are able to control their portfolios, enter new markets, be pragmatic and get their products to market faster because of the way they\u2019ve organized their services organization.<\/p>\n
Phil: <\/em><\/strong>How is the current economic situation impacting thinking? We\u2019ve been in a difficult situation for four years now and uncertainly still is rife, particularly with the European situation. Do you think this is impacting how clients are handling their sourcing planning?<\/span><\/p>\nCliff<\/em>:<\/strong> Absolutely. Companies are looking at their services organization for flexibility they can\u2019t get in another way. Companies built fixed cost and had a structure that is hard to move around. Today, with the acceptance of the cloud technology platform and the as-a-service mentality, we\u2019re in an era that is more flexible than ever. You\u2019re able to scale up and down. Clients are accepting a more standard set of services than they have in the past. There has been a mind shift from a cap ex structure to more of an off expense mentality. Companies are trading high levels of customization for flexible technology and services packages. We are starting to see much more one-to-many arrangements.<\/p>\nThat\u2019s a big change from how large-scale outsourcing agreements were done eight years ago.<\/p>\n
Phil<\/em>:<\/strong>\u00a0And finally… when you look back at everything you have achieved and all of your career\u2019s challenges, would you have done anything differently if you could start all over again?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nCliff<\/em>:<\/strong> I don\u2019t think I would have done anything different. I\u2019m fortunate to have had the opportunities that presented themselves and the good people I met along the way. I am certainly fortunate to have worked for KPMG and have built those relationships; without the EquaTerra and KPMG integration, we wouldn\u2019t be where we are as a consulting firm today.<\/p>\nPhil<\/em>:<\/strong>\u00a0Cliff this has been a great discussion and I am sure the HfS reader will really enjoy your insights. \u00a0Good luck with the journey!<\/span><\/p>\nCliff Justice (pictured above) is Partner and U.S. Leader, Shared Services and Outsourcing Advisory at KPMG LLP.<\/em><\/p>\nClick\u00a0here<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0to read the whole interview<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Captain Cliff Justice and his cohorts, Lieutenant Lepeak and Wing-Commander Walker, aboard the Sourcing Enterprise (pictured left) During Part III…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,50,63,78,81,86,88,832],"tags":[503],"organization":[],"ppma_author":[19],"class_list":["post-1308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-process-outsourcing-bpo","category-captives-and-shared-services-strategies","category-global-business-services","category-hfsresearch-com-homepage","category-it-outsourcing-it-services","category-outsourcing-advisors","category-outsourcing-heros","category-sourcing-best-practises","tag-lepeak"],"yoast_head":"\n
Captain Cliff of the Sourcing Enterprise Part IV\u2026 The Final Frontier - Horses for Sources | No Boundaries<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n