Stan Gibson

Shared risk and reward is not a new concept in outsourcing and business consulting, but it is a contract model thats getting pulled and stretched into new and interesting shapes these days. IBMs Business Consulting Services, made up mainly of the former PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting, is writing risk and reward clauses into more of its contracts […]

Procter & Gambles $57 billion purchase of Gillette and SBCs bid for AT&T signal that its open season on Wall Street for mergers and acquisitions. But events that get the adrenaline of a Gordon Gekko pumping are more often than not a downer for IT execs because IT usually falls into the category of the […]

You know voice over IP has reached the mainstream when a company that describes itself as conservative builds VOIP migration into its data and voice communications road map. “The idea was never if it should happen, but when it should happen,” said Steve Lydston, IS manager for Networks and Security for Nissan North America Inc., […]

Large outsourcing deals are alive and well, an outsourcing deal maker claims, even though statistics showing that growth take some deciphering. The quarterly TPI Index Review, released by Technology Partners International, of The Woodlands, Texas, placed the value of outsourcing deals last year at $72 billion—the highest value in the last five years. However, growth […]

Siemens Communications Inc. responded to the desire of many customers to maintain conventional TDM PBXes alongside VOIP switches when the communications equipment vendor rolled out the HiPath 4000 series in 2002. The HiPath 4000 was followed by the HiPath 4300 and 4500 and the HiPath 5000, a pure-IP switch. However, the 5000 failed to connect […]

Moving to address the growing human resources outsourcing market, Electronic Data Systems Corp. is teaming with HR consultancy Towers Perrin on a joint venture. In addition, Towers Perrin signed a 10-year, $365 million deal with EDS to outsource its global network, desktop and hosting environment. EDS will also develop and manage some applications for Towers […]

While you were away for your holiday vacation, Meta Group was acquired by Gartner. Sure, it wasnt Oracle-PeopleSoft, but it was a significant acquisition that could end up touching more IT decisions than some of the more vaunted industry megamergers. Gartner sits atop the pile of analyst/market research companies made up of the likes of […]

The big theme for outsourcing and services in 2004? Without question, it was the rise of commodity outsourcing. The cautious rebound in IT spending has meant that IT budgets have had to run a gauntlet of skepticism at many companies. Gone are the days when the mere mention of IT was greeted with an open […]

Remember the golden era of the SAP consultant? Lets go back in time to, say, 1996. A person who was expert in R/3 implementations could write his or her own ticket—and many did, often jumping from one high-paying gig to an even more lucrative one. If you were one of the lucky ones, those were […]

The turning point of this falls epic Boston Red Sox comeback in the American League Championship Series took place not in the ninth inning of Game 4—when Dave Roberts stole second base, putting the tying run in scoring position—but two innings earlier, when Roberts made his way from the dugout through the teams clubhouse to […]

Billy Broadbent hasnt seen a baseball game in the flesh since 1997. But he hasnt missed a pitch, either. Thats because during every Boston Red Sox game, Broadbent is under the stands, hunched over a video feed of the game, cataloging each pitch and at-bat so that players, coaches and the manager can retrieve clips […]

Are we serious about reversing offshore momentum? With the re-election of President Bush, some offshore outsourcing advocates were set, it seemed, to do a victory dance. They then thought better of it, reflecting on doubts that Kerry, had he won, would have slowed the trend in any significant way, despite a few rhetorical potshots, such […]