{"id":4574,"date":"2008-03-13T11:06:00","date_gmt":"2008-03-13T11:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/projects\/horsesforsources\/is-your-outsourcing-vendor-really-your-partner\/"},"modified":"2008-03-13T11:06:00","modified_gmt":"2008-03-13T11:06:00","slug":"is-your-outsourcing-vendor-really-your-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/is-your-outsourcing-vendor-really-your-partner\/","title":{"rendered":"Is your outsourcing vendor really your partner?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/fersht.typepad.com\/photos\/uncategorized\/2008\/03\/13\/innfosyslogo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Innfosyslogo\" height=\"71\" alt=\"Innfosyslogo\" src=\"http:\/\/www.horsesforsources.com\/images\/2008\/03\/13\/innfosyslogo.jpg\" width=\"150\" border=\"0\" style=\"FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px\" \/><\/a>I&#8217;ve just returned from an excellent <a href=\"http:\/\/www.infosys.com\/BPO-services\/offerings\/functional-view.asp\">InfosysBPO<\/a> customer event in Philadelphia.&nbsp; &nbsp;Was refreshing to have a services firm allow industry experts, its customers and prospects talk freely about the industry and the burning issues.&nbsp; I especially enjoyed:<\/p>\n<ul dir=\"ltr\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tpi.net\/\">TPI&#8217;s<\/a> Sue Danino, leading a panel discussing pricing models; <\/li>\n<li>Wayne Mincey from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehackettgroup.com\/\">Hackett Group<\/a> treated us to some confidential new data on world-class performance (a lot of vigorous note-taking during that one&#8230;); <\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.spendmatters.com\/\">Jason Busch<\/a> on top form discussing the exorbitant price of zinc and how this impacts procurement BPO; <\/li>\n<li>Micheal De Zeuw, Infosys&#8217; VP in charge of their Philips BPO engagement, discuss their journey; <\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amrresearch.com\/\">AMR research&#8217;s<\/a> panel discussing service provider governance, led by some <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amrresearch.com\/AboutUs\/Analysts.asp?empId=390\">British guy<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px\">One of the key issues that came out of the AMR panel was the discussion centered on whether <strong>&quot;your vendor is really your partner&quot;<\/strong>.&nbsp; &nbsp;Sunil Narang, VP of Finance for Level 3 Communications, vehemently argued the case that his firm would have never achieved the success it has with its BPO, if it hadn&#8217;t developed a partner-style relationship with its provider, based on a great deal of mutual trust and working together.&nbsp; On the flip-side, I have had many discussions with other sourcing executives who claim their vendor relationship is definitely not a partnership, but a contractual agreement.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px\">My view is you really have to take control over your vendor relationship and drive the agenda, and it often takes a couple of years to get to the stage where you and your vendor feel you have a good understanding of what you need.&nbsp; If you can develop a relationship which feels like a true partnership, then you must be doing an great job, as this is not the case with everyone.&nbsp; Much depends on the skill of the sourcing leader within the buyer to create a mutually workable outsourcing environment.&nbsp; However, this is a skill that most executives need to learn &quot;on-the-job&quot; through real-life experience.&nbsp; So if you have not lived and breathed an outsourcing relationship, treat the situation like a marriage with a very solid pre-nuptual agreement.&nbsp; Love to hear your views on this&#8230;. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve just returned from an excellent InfosysBPO customer event in Philadelphia.&nbsp; &nbsp;Was refreshing to have a services firm allow industry&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[835,79,81,836],"tags":[],"organization":[],"ppma_author":[19],"class_list":["post-4574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-f-a","category-hr-outsourcing","category-it-outsourcing-it-services","category-procurement-engineering-supply-chain-outsourcing"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is your outsourcing vendor really your partner? 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