Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Applications
    • Applications

    Outsourcing Overseers Needed

    By
    Larry Dignan
    -
    February 5, 2004
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Amid all the commotion about onshore, offshore and nearshore offshoring, you may want to become a “CRO” next. Its a position that will be needed inside an organization, no matter where work is performed.

      CRO is short for Chief Resource Officer, a title coined by the Outsourcing Institute of Jericho, N.Y. The CRO will be the technology executive who oversees all of your companys outsourcing agreements and makes sure all your vendors cooperate.

      This will be a manager of managers to determine whether these subcontractors are living up to their service-level agreements.

      This über-manager will be a peer of the chief information officer and may report directly to the chief executive officer, as more outsourcing takes place.

      Its not hard, for example, to envision a company that outsources the management of its human resources to IBMs services division; its technology infrastructure to Hewlett-Packard; its applications maintenance to Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) or an offshore firm such as Wipro; and customer care to Affiliated Computer Services.

      Sounds great—until one or more of those vendors fail to cooperate and your firm struggles to implement companywide projects such as an enterprise-planning system.

      Vendor cooperation is a relatively new concept. A 1996 attempt, dubbed the Pinnacle Alliance, included the likes of CSC, AT&T, Accenture and Verizon (which was then Bell Atlantic). These companies tried to set aside their individual interests to service J.P. Morgan, managing data centers, desktops, networks and some applications in a seven-year, $2-billion deal. Pinnacle unraveled last year when the bank, now called J.P. Morgan Chase, went live with a seven-year, $5-billion outsourcing agreement for managing data centers, voice networks and its help desk with a single vendor—IBM.

      In many companies today, a division head may manage all the outsourcing arrangements reached by his or her business unit. Thats fine as long as a company only outsources a few functions. But once a company uses several vendors to provide computing or communications services, the complexity increases and governing multiple relationships becomes an issue.

      To determine whether your company could use a CRO, ask the following questions:

      • Does spending with outsourcing firms represent more than 20% of your annual technology budget?
      • Does your company employ more than two such firms?
      • Do you plan to contract out such functions as human-resources management?
      • Do the leaders of each business unit negotiate their own service-level agreements?

      If you answer yes to any of these questions, its highly likely your company could better govern how outside firms provide your most basic resources: people and technology. “If these arrangements are hitting your bottom line you need to have senior-management representation,” says Mitchell Goldstein, director of consulting services for the Outsourcing Institute.

      One executive may not be enough, says Don Flores, project director for the sourcing practice at Technology Partners, Inc. TPI, which counseled Procter & Gamble on its arrangements, favors a committee approach—with the chair being the chief executive or chief operating officer.

      Then, the committee and particularly its chair can say with authority to all vendors: “Heres what were doing, heres the plan and you need to work together to get it done.”

      “The key is to know where the intersections are between business units,” says Flores. “The goals have to be mandated from above. If outsourcing deals are treated separately there will be collisions.”

      And there will be collisions. If you want to set yourself apart, you need to get a seat at the table where these deals are governed. The best time to start thinking about this? Yesterday. “If you outsource and youre asking questions about this now,” says Flores. “Youre already in trouble.”

      Larry Dignan is news editor of Baseline magazine. He can be reached at larry_dignan@ziffdavis.com.

      Larry Dignan
      Business Editorldignan@ziffdavisenterprise.comLarry formerly served as the East Coast news editor and Finance Editor at CNET News.com. Prior to that, he was editor of Ziff Davis Inter@ctive Investor, which was, according to Barron's, a Top-10 financial site in the late 1990s. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×