Sourcing Insight

By Michael Rehkopf

The real deal on IT and business process outsourcing trends

Archives for 2008

Reducing value leakage: back to basics

Sunday, December 14 2008 05:49 PM

Negotiating a good contract, managing volume reductions and managing service reductions are all important steps in terms of sourcing, especially when times are tough.

However, an area that often gets overlooked is value leakage in existing sourcing relationships. TPI research through its Governance Excellence Program has shown that:.....

Tags: Outsource, outsourcing, Service Management, outsourcing management team, sourcing, performance, team, training

Cutting costs sensibly

Sunday, November 30 2008 07:44 PM

I've been quiet for a while, watching how people in our industry will react to the ongoing global economic turmoil.

One reaction that is gaining in popularity is cost cutting. In many ways, this is both rational and something to be expected. The deeper question is how to go about doing..... Read more �

Tags: Service, Negotiation, pricing strategy, outsourcing, service provider, sourcing, industry, strategy

When cash is king in M&A

Monday, October 13 2008 08:52 PM

Following on from last week's posting, we've seen more merger and acquisition (M&A) activity with TCS acquiring Citigroup's captive business process outsourcing (BPO) operations.

This is a great example of companies..... Read more �

Tags: Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Citigroup Inc., business process, BPO, Federal Express, sourcing, merger, M&A, IBM Corp., benefit

Global financial contagion and sourcing

Tuesday, October 07 2008 08:21 PM

Watching the financial industry events unfold (perhaps snowball is a better word), I started wondering what this could mean for the sourcing industry.

We've certainly seen the reactions of bankruptcy, "fit" firms taking over "weaker ones", layoffs, etc. But, can we consider this through a different lens?

For the weaker firms or..... Read more �

Tags: Outsource, financing, bankruptcy, service provider, financial, cost reduction, sourcing industry, sourcing, industry, M&A

Can you outsource too much? (Part 1)

Monday, September 15 2008 09:21 PM

Your perspective can influence the answer.

If I come from a service provider, I might like to tell you that I can do just about anything so you should feel confident to outsource everything to me.

If I'm someone who might lose my position, I might like to tell you that almost..... Read more �

Tags: Outsource, outsourcing, service provider

Should service be bought standard or custom?

Monday, September 01 2008 09:07 PM

For software buyers, this is a standard question: "Do I buy a standard package or do I do custom development?" The more nuanced version of this question is: "How much do I customize the standard package?"

In the outsourcing world, we're seeing the same sorts of questions being asked. When is..... Read more �

Tags: Question, outsourcing, Software, service provider

Sourcing for Olympic results

Sunday, August 17 2008 11:39 AM

With the Olympics in full swing, there is an interesting parallel between Olympic performance and business performance.

There are always those surprise medallists who seem to have come from nowhere, but the ones that really impress are those who have consistently performed at the top. Whether you consider Michael Phelps, Grant..... Read more �

Tags: Olympic Games, sourcing, knowledge, performance, team, training

What's happening in Japan?

Thursday, July 31 2008 02:42 PM

A short follow-up on last week's post regarding market data for the first half of the year.

Historically a major contributor to the outsourcing market in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan has seen a marked slowdown in the last 12 months with respect to deals with a total contract value of..... Read more �

A look at AP first-half outsourcing results

Thursday, July 24 2008 07:33 AM

Just as I did last year, with the first half of the year complete and the market results now available, it's worth considering how things have gone in the Asia-Pacific region. The headlines as reported by TPI are:.....

Where is BPO in Asia-Pacific?

Sunday, July 20 2008 12:55 PM

Do you see lots of BPO happening in the Asia-Pacific region? Before we answer that, what do I mean by BPO?

I mean business process outsourcing, which therefore excludes captive centers and considers only the engagement of third-parties to provide business processing services, excluding IT-related services such as infrastructure..... Read more �

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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.