Anonymous

UK

IT Director

Having been involved in outsourcing on both sides of the industry I would suggest that outsourcing usually delivers what it was intended to.
Where the objective is to cut costs, costs are usually cut -along with service; where the objective is to off-load assets from the balance sheet cash is generated; but if there are no service delivery goals customer satisfaction may not be acheived.
Where it is change management change is generated, but at a cost.

Customers need to understand four things:
- Why they are outsourcing ("because it isn't a core comptency" doesn't mean anything in finanacial or service terms)
- What the service metrics are today
- What the costs of each service is today
- How the outsourcer is going to improve things and sustain that improvement over time (not just that they say they will).