Sourcing Insight

By Michael Rehkopf

The real deal on IT and business process outsourcing trends

Are telcos new drivers of outsourcing industry?

Monday, November 09 2009 03:19 PM

The recent TPI Index from TPI highlighted an interesting trend where a few very large Telco-to-Telco contracts--instances where one telecommunications carrier outsources its network operations requirements to another telecommunications service provider--accounted for more than 30 percent of the Broader Market's total contract value (TCV).

Given that in 2008, the..... Read more ť

Tags: Asia-Pacific, telecommunications carrier outsource, telecommunications service provider, Outsource, telecommunications, outsourcing, financial, Network, sourcing, industry

Deciding to outsource: Is it cultural?

Saturday, October 24 2009 11:36 AM

You may have been expecting this to be about cultural differences in relation to companies that outsource but it's not. Instead, this is about "when" people decide to outsource.

I have noticed that most people involved in outsourcing decisions fall into two groups.

The first group are those who follow..... Read more ť

Tags: TPI, Technology Partners International, BPR, financial analysis, sourcing advisor, strategic thinking, Prudence, Outsource, outsourcing, service provider

Outsourced or not, demand must be managed

Thursday, October 08 2009 07:38 AM

We all want to improve the economics of our cost centers, whether we insource or outsource them.

Most of these cost centers follow a price times quantity model ("P x Q"). While the "fun" can be in the "P" dimension, most of the money to be saved lies in..... Read more ť

Tags: Dimension, Outsource, Q, P, pricing strategy, outsourcing, cost reduction

Competition heats up for outsourcing industry

Friday, September 25 2009 05:20 PM

News this week might slip under the radar in terms of industry impacts as individual events may not have been game-changing, but they certainly indicate some significant shifts.

The first news this week was of Dell Computer's acquisition of..... Read more ť

Tags: Dell Computer Corp., Radar, hardware maker, outsourcing company, outsourcing, China, Hewlett-Packard Co., Electronic Data Systems Corp., sourcing, industry

What do we mean by 'outsourcing'?

Saturday, September 12 2009 12:26 PM

Reading all the statistics that come out regarding outsourcing has made me wonder if there is any consistency in the usage of the word "outsourcing".

At its simplest and broadest, outsourcing is a relationship where one party acquires services from another. This definition makes no distinction regarding, either the types of..... Read more ť

Tags: information technology outsourcing, printing, technique, outsourcing, China, business process, information technology, BPO, food

BPO, the unfulfilled promise

Thursday, August 27 2009 01:49 PM

The adoption of larger-scale (i.e. total contract value of US$25 million or above) BPO (business process outsourcing) deals has struggled to gain permanent traction in the sourcing industry and I've been wondering why.

Theories often put forward include:

BPO is more transformational and therefore easily deferred in tough financial times.
..... Read more ť

Tags: payroll, CRM, theory, arbitrage, service provider, business process, financial, BPO, sourcing
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Who cares about sourcing?

Thursday, August 20 2009 03:05 PM

When was the last time your CEO got excited about sourcing?

If you're like many others out there, you probably can't recall the last time that happened, we should stop and wonder why. Some of the reasons likely include:

It's an operational issue best dealt with by my C-suite colleagues..... Read more ť

Tags: Procter & Gamble Co., sourcing strategy, CFO, CIO, COO, outsourcing, CEO, sourcing, strategy, benefit
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Nanjing displays leadership

Thursday, August 13 2009 08:35 AM

Did you see the article yesterday in the Asian Wall Street Journal regarding Nanjing and its approach to peddlers?

What intrigued me was not just the approach that Nanjing was taking but more importantly, the fact that they were not ignoring or hiding the issue and instead, tackling it...... Read more ť

Tags: Approach, Leadership, China, sourcing

1H09: Asia-Pacific and ITO the bright spots

Friday, August 07 2009 12:35 PM

With the 2009 first half results for the sourcing market now out, it's worth digging into them a bit to see what they tell us. The headlines as reported by TPI are:.....

Tags: Market, Asia-Pacific, network service, outsourcing, service provider, China, information technology, Japan, IT services, Network

Outsourcing and value for money improvement--incompatible?

Wednesday, July 01 2009 04:19 PM

Why would an outsourcer ever want to offer its clients value-for-money improvement?

Perhaps before we answer that question, we should consider what value-for-money improvement is and what leads to it.

To me, value-for-money improvement means I pay less for the same thing or I pay the same and get more. And most..... Read more ť

Tags: Improvement, arbitrage, outsourcing company, profit margin, outsourcing, CPU, PC, revenue, U.S., supplier

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About the blogger

Michael Rehkopf

Michael has more than 20 years of experience in operations, strategy and sourcing covering all major parts of the globe. He has also worked for Australian, Canadian, German and Japanese companies in both business process outsourcing and IT outsourcing.
Michael's industry experience includes the financial services, manufacturing, telecommunications and travel sectors. He leverages this diverse industry experience and his university background in accounting, IT and his Master of Dispute Resolution, to assist clients in the development of business strategies and the implementation of sourcing strategies. These include the associated evaluation, negotiation and organizational change.
Michael is currently a partner at TPI, the world's oldest and largest sourcing advisory firm. Prior to joining TPI, Michael held leadership positions with Siemens Business Services, OpenPlus International, Mitsubishi Electric and Netron.