
Companies worried about inflexible deals
By Steve Ranger
Published: 14 December 2005 15:50 GMT
Nearly two-thirds of UK companies believe their outsourcing contracts are "not delivering" the benefits they had hoped for.
A survey of 100 companies by law firm Denton Wilde Sapte has found nine out of 10 outsource some aspect of their business - generally IT support or call centre functions but also business process operations such as human resources or accounting.
But 61 per cent said their outsourcing is not delivering - and nearly three-quarters (72 per cent) are concerned about the flexibility of their current deal.
The head of the firm's technology, media and telecoms sector, John Worthy, said: "This should provide a wake up call to outsourcing service providers.
"In our view customer expectations could be better met by shifting the focus of outsourcing deals towards more business-orientated key performance indicators and ensuring that the deal supports the business relationship effectively."
Nearly two-thirds (62 per cent) of the firms surveyed see cost cutting as the central advantage of outsourcing, followed by gaining specialist skills (59 per cent).
But for many the greatest disadvantage of outsourcing is higher costs - generally driven by hidden costs underlying the contract - followed by the loss of internal knowledge, the survey found.
Of the companies that outsourced IT, 33 per cent also outsource their helpdesk facility, 28 per cent their call centre and 17 per cent HR.
Accountable for the overall quality of the Finance (FIN) functional design output and configuration efforts Accountable for the delivery of the ...
Support, break-fix maintenance, Software support, remote monitoring, co-sourcing systems integration, small scale outsourcing (people to maintain ...
Skills / Responsibilities: Understand maintenance renewal contracts implicitly and communicate opportunities and risks to Sales sectors, Services and ...
Agenda Setters 2009
Welcome to the ninth annual Agenda Setters poll – silicon.com's list of the top 50 most influential individuals in the technology and IT industries, from techies and CIOs to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Find out more in our latest special report.
Stories from the web...
Copyright © 2008 CBS Interactive Limited. All rights reserved. Top of page
William Benn Future-proof your outsourcing: Stay flexible Size demands can fluctuate, scalability is key to success
Saritha Rai Why are Indian outsourcing companies such bashful suitors? No mega-mergers despite billions on hand