Services

Governance

Core to Op2i's outsourcing good governance programme is the adoption of the rigorous decision models and processes that have been built into the Governance Director Decision System. For more information go to http://www.governancedirector.com. Op2i supplies outsourcing decision templates to Governance Director and uses it as both a consultative tool and decision governance system in helping businesses build better decision processes.

We can help organisations better manage and govern the outsourcing programme by:

Facilitating cross business consensus in outsourcing decisions

Fostering better client-supplier relationships through facilitated team building

Providing service delivery and responsiveness testing

Assessing problematic areas and developing rectification processes

Managing project delivery effectiveness

Helping develop win-win contractual relationships and minimising risks where possible

Assessing pricing attractiveness from both client-supplier perspectives

Facilitating culture sensitivity and relationship management for offshore programmes

Providing effective communications techniques to develop good working relationship with in-house staff

Creating governance models and balanced scorecards

Effectively managing the outsourcing programme is essential to realise the potential benefits and goals that an organisation sets for such programmes, however most organisations do not give sufficient attention to getting the relationship management and governance model right from the outset.

Significant benefits can be seen where the outsourcing relationship between the client and service provider is one that is built around a partnership approach, as opposed to a transactional view. However attaining and maintaining such a relationship requires effort, resources and upfront investment in getting the internal structures right.

Any outsourcing relationship that has no plan for continuous improvement in cost and quality, largely sacrifices the long-term advantages that outsourcing can secure. In turn, this negates any promise of strategic gain, which is one of the greatest gains in long-term competitive advantage that outsourcing can deliver.

It is not the sole obligation of the service provider to deliver such improvements. Outsourcing should not be treated as a commodity transaction.

Another important factor that tends to be largely overlooked is the exit strategy. Outsourcing needs to be treated like a project; it has a start, life and an end. Many customers suffer because they do not plan for what happens when the end date of the contract approaches, or if indeed the contract is terminated early for whatever reason.

Companies usually omit to include a definition of procedures to be followed and asset allocation when the contract terminates. Whilst no one wants to consider the possibility of failure at the start of the relationship, it’s crucial for both parties to a contract to have an effective exit strategy to avoid the possibility of being tied into an unfavourable deal.

Outsourcing governance is made up of several constituent parts and risks are found in each. These parts include:

Relationship management

Contract management

Project management

Service level management

Communications management

Change management