http://www.outsourcingleadership.com Articles | WhitePapers | eSeminar en-us © Alsbridge, Inc. All rights reserved 020212 www.outsourcingleadership.com Articles http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/articles http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/articles/business-process-outsourcing-BPO The biggest headline in the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) world today is that continuing global economic changes are causing a paradigm shift in the way organizations are doing business, according to Dinanath Kholkar, Head, BFS & INS, BPO Services, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). "Higher returns on investments, faster turnaround times and the need to reach out to emerging markets are the needs of the hour," he notes. The outsourcing market is experiencing a radical change from the first generation lift-and-shift paradigm to today's BPO solution model, according to Richard Jeffery, managing director, Active Operations Management International (AOMi). Rahul Kanodia, CEO and vice chairman of Datamatics adds, "Today it's no longer just about cost. Buyers want you to produce value from more complex transactions. In fact, BPO providers need to scale up to the next level, which is knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) and business process management, for demonstrating value adds to their customers." This article reveals nine of the biggest shock waves that will hit the BPO and Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) world in the next 24 months, such as:

• The move away from headcount-based contracts - BPO buyers now no longer just want to move a chunk of their back offices
• Buyers want more transparency inside the BPO process - Today's buyers are more sophisticated in what BPO should look like
• Productivity matters - There's a lot of pressure on productivity in BPO, you can also improve your costs by improving productivity through process automation
• The rise of the BPO specialist - Today companies don't want to hire a business process outsourcer that does everything
• Offshore providers are doing more work onshore - The conversation is shifting dramatically
• Regulatory pressure will continue to increase - U.S. auditors will increase their scrutiny of BPO transactions
• Social media is a new biz op for BPO providers - Social media is an increasingly relevant factor in the end-customer's decision process
• Business Process as a Service (BPaaS) is catching on - buyers like the idea of paying as they go, but they also like buying the services behind it
• Buyers are getting savvier - Which puts BPO providers under pressure

http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/articles/losses-in-bpo-environment In any Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) project one of the issues guaranteed to excite both provider and customer is the scope of limitations of liability. Negotiating overall caps on liability is a straightforward commercial haggle. Negotiating overall caps on sourcing liability is a straightforward commercial haggle. The service provider aims low, usually hiding behind the "market practice" and "corporate policy" defenses. The customer reacts with a high figure, which more closely reflects the likely loss to the customer's business of serious supplier failure, but which often fails to take into account the risk/reward analysis that the provider has to perform in evaluating whether to proceed with the deal. After a process of practical risk evaluation and confidence building the parties usually arrive at a compromise figure. Once the cap is agreed it is surprising how often the parties pay little attention to the types of loss that may be recovered. Any service provider will expect to include in the contract some form of consequential loss exclusion. However, to simply rely on or accept the presence of a boilerplate clause excluding either party's liability for "special, indirect, consequential or incidental damages", without any further detailed discussion and drafting about specific losses which would or should fall outside such exclusion, could potentially leave both parties financially exposed. In Finance and Accounting outsourcing, for example, the supplier will usually be responsible for cash management functions, accounts receivable, accounts payable and a degree of financial reporting. A failure or delay by the provider could give rise to a variety of losses for the customer. An underpayment or failure to pay a third party supplier could give rise to interest charges, loss of early payment discounts, order cancellation or delay in product delivery (which in turn could give rise to production losses and possible loss of business for the customer). A failure to collect receivables could give rise to financing or overdraft charges, or cash flow problems for the customer. Late provision of financial reports could affect the customer's ability to submit statutory accounts or tax returns with the consequent risk of fines or interest charges. Do these losses fall within or outside consequential loss exclusion? http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/articles/implement-results-benchmark A benchmark can seem like an easy answer to improving the price performance of your outsourced operations. By finding out the market price of your services, you should be able to simply change your pricing to reflect the market, right? Wrong! A sourcing benchmark needs to investigate the causes of any price differences to market, rather than just show the price difference itself. Without an analysis of causes, it is nearly impossible to make any changes to the price of your services because there could be multiple issues at stake. Will the provider agree to the change? What will that change do to the pricing mechanism? How will the price change impact the service? What effects will it have on the client/provider relationship? To be effective in these circumstances, a sourcing benchmark needs to uncover the drivers of any price difference, such as volume changes, asset refresh rates, residual transformation charges, etc. These sourcing price drivers will determine the ability of either party to derive price benefits from the agreement. This article describes how considering sourcing price drivers is essential to finding the best way to implement your sourcing benchmark results. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/articles/are-you-ready-for-outsourcing Is your organization ready for outsourcing? It's an important question, and one that too many executives fail to consider. Oftentimes, an organization makes a decision to outsource and leaps straight into the RFP process without looking back. A variety of independent research studies have put the percentage of outsourcing deals that fail somewhere between 50 to 75%. A well thought through process should focus on a comprehensive evaluation of the full range of sourcing options available, rather than simply churning out standard RFPs focused solely on reducing vendor pricing against cost points that may or may not have relevance to the success of the business or the vendor service delivery. Conducting a thorough and deliberative feasibility and strategy phase before developing the RFP will help you avoid becoming one of the aforementioned statistics by (A) determining whether you should be outsourcing the function; (B) if so, how much of it; and (C) where the work should be done. This tenet holds true in all situations, but is especially important for complex, global organizations attempting to restructure multiple functions and processes. Make no mistake about it: outsourcing is a risky proposition. Hopefully, the sourcing advisor you select will do their best to anticipate, define, monitor, and mitigate the risks involved - but you should accept that there are risks. Therefore, before knowingly taking the risk, it is important to understand whether it has a chance of paying off. Most organizations perceive that much of the work required to create a sourcing strategy has been conducted under other initiatives, and that gathering the results of these "one-off" efforts can serve as a significant process accelerator. It is our experience that most such work has been done without a common understanding of the structure, content, or tools necessary for developing a total sourcing strategy. This article discusses why a thorough assessment of an organization's current state (functions, processes, baseline costs, etc.), is essential to revealing the sourcing options available and the strategies to be considered for your organization. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/articles/shared-services-hr-solution Shared Services is commonly defined as the standardization of common administrative functions and transactional processes within an organization, and the use of Shared Service Centers (SSCs) for HR management administration and transaction management has seen a dramatic increase in recent years. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/articles/ITO-shakeout In the world of IT, Cloud has been the media darling, taking center stage in every conversation and publication. While it's true that Cloud is a major trend in and of itself, its adoption has caused a domino effect in the industry as a whole. The advent of utility-based pricing, in combination with a more savvy outsourcing customer, is dramatically impacting the way IT services are purchased and consumed – with far-reaching ramifications.  Let's take a look at the trends.  In recent years, ITO was a "partnership," characterized by long-term, mega-deals with arduous sales cycles and complex pricing structures. Smaller companies rarely had the breadth to compete.  Today, all of that is changing.  "We see ITO morphing into something that's more fragmented, " explained Ben Trowbridge, founder and CEO of Alsbridge, Inc. and author of Cloud Sourcing the Corporation. "Instead of the mega-deal, single-provider contracts, clients are starting to break up deals based on competencies.  Two, three or more providers will become the norm."  According to Trowbridge, today's outsourcing client is now well-equipped to manage the complexities of governance in a multi-sourced environment.  "You have to remember that clients are maturing in their use of outsourcing, so they're starting to govern the outcome instead of overseeing every tactical step," Trowbridge explains. "This approach makes managing multiple ITO providers far more feasible." This new breed of client is engaging the advisor community differently as well.  "Buyers are more informed, they've gone through the process – and service standardization has given them price transparency they didn't have before," explained Chris Pattacini, director of benchmarking for ProBenchmark, Alsbridge's benchmarking division.  "Rather than coming to us to identify what and how to outsource, clients are engaging us to benchmark existing deals to make sure they're not only getting a good price but are maximizing the value of that relationship." Although opinions vary on where the market will go or what will happen next, one thing is certain: the world of ITO as we know it today will never be the same. Gone are the days of ‘an IT partner for life;' in are the days of multiple, smaller, shorter contracts with a variety of specialized providers. India-based outsourcers are expanding their service portfolios beyond applications and programming to provide more traditional ITO services at significantly reduced rates. A more mature client base is taking a new approach to governance, managing by outcome and benchmarking to ensure they get the greatest value from their combined service provider partners. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/articles/benchmarks-produce-cost-savings Price benchmarks are used to ensure multi-year outsourcing transactions remain competitive over the life of the outsourcing agreement. Contractual price benchmarks are often triggered by the "third-party" benchmark clause found in most outsourcing agreements. These clauses provide the client with the opportunity to benchmark their services, but often client objectives aren't aligned with the purpose of the clause. Some organizations view the third-party benchmark as an "easy" way to achieve cost savings. In reality, the third-party benchmark clause is designed to ensure that the price-performance of a service is market competitive, but the clause and the associated benchmark activity do not in and of themselves guarantee cost savings. If the outsourcing market was perfect, half of the time third-party benchmarks would reveal that the vendor's price was competitive. Because of this, clients solely seeking to reduce costs are often surprised when the benchmark reveals that the vendor's price is competitive – and therefore no price adjustment is necessary. Instead, clients seeking ways to lower their outsourcing spending should look at alternative approaches that focus on three main areas: reconfiguration of the services, reduction in consumption, or modification of service levels. This article explains the issues that have led to the trend away from third-party benchmarks and reasons clients today are seeking new ways to “benchmark” their transactions that are much more collaborative and transparent - and don't require the execution of the third-party benchmark. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/articles/offshoring Q: What is offshoring? PM: Offshoring is just the latest wave of globalization - but with a particular focus on business services. In previous phases of globalization, technology and liberalization have allowed an increasing range of commodities and products to flow more freely around the globe. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/articles/benchmarking-global-IT-enterprise Internal IT departments often have cost structures very dissimilar to current or typical market pricing packages. Outsourcing providers package services in infrastructure "towers" that are typically separated between mainframe services, server management, storage area network (SAN) support, network management (voice and data), help desk and applications development and labor categories. At one extreme, budgets for an IT enterprise may be no more than a single column of costs in support of all aspects of IT, applications and infrastructure services combined. Sometimes it is broken into two groups of cost: infrastructure services and applications, but rarely is it broken into the noted service towers that may be compared to outsourcing providers' services. It is integral to know where you are coming from to understand where you need to go. Cost segmentation is integral to the benchmarking process. DO NOT underestimate the comprehensive effort placing your existing costs into market comparable "buckets." http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/articles/offshore-players-drive-prices-to-new-lows In recent deal pricing, ProBenchmark has seen pricing per desktop, inclusive of IMAC activity, as low as $20 to $24/month per supported device. Using ProBenchmark's Full Service Desktop Configuration a U.S .onshore solution price ranges from $54 to $70 according to our models. What can explain this huge gap in pricing? We believe there are several forces that have converged to bring desktop prices to new lows including the global economic slowdown and the increased competition of aggressive offshore players in the U.S. Read this article to learn more about why buyers of desktop services must be cautious, which factors impact desktop pricing, and how to evaluate all the components of your desktop service. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/whitepapers http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/whitepapers/balancing-risk-and-reward-of-os-contracts The best outsourcing agreement for your organization is not necessarily the one with the lowest price. Your primary goal when negotiating and structuring an outsourcing contract is to develop an agreement that achieves your business objectives not just on day one but throughout the entire term.
This white paper will help you understand the overall construct of a good outsourcing contract so that you can make certain you balance the overall risks and rewards in order to receive the services you need, at the levels you require, and within your price constraints. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/whitepapers/vendor-management Vendor management is the nerve center for optimizing the value exchange between you and your provider(s). While nearly all organizations involved in a sourcing relationship have initiatives underway to better leverage the capabilities of their providers through vendor management, most have vendor management structures are still in their infancy. Alsbridge research reveals that the highest amount of value lost during the course of a sourcing relationship takes place as a result of poor vendor management. Conversely, the key to optimizing the value of a sourcing contract is through effective vendor management and the use of a well-planned and well-executed Vendor Management Office (VMO). Through our years of experience and research Alsbridge has been able to identify some best practices among high-performing sourcing relationships. The combined research conducted by Alsbridge and MIT’s Sloan School of Management, demonstrate that companies with world-class VMOs have 20% higher margins than their competitors. Looking beyond the financials, you will see these companies are doing things differently from their competitors. To cash in on your outsourcing relationships and follow the example set by these world-class vendor management offices, your organization will need to change individual roles, modify organizational structures, and change some of the companies’ cultural norms. This means governing not just the provider, but bringing discipline inside the organization. This is a fundamental business change, and thus, a challenge that requires leadership from within the organization. This leadership comes from the top, but it is executed, implemented and brought to life by a high-performing VMO. This research paper further discusses, defines and provides examples of best practices among successful VMOs to help transform your own vendor management office into a living breathing thing of beauty. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/whitepapers/A-Z-of-outsourcing Outsourcing has attracted a lot of attention over the past few years. At times, the logistics of outsourcing can seem complex but, the basic idea of outsourcing is of course very simple – reap the benefits of having a specialist do a specific job for less money than it would cost for you to do it yourself. However, when it comes time to setting up the right outsourcing agreement, you may be overwhelmed with the complex and bewildering array of outsourcing terms and jargon. As a result, we at Alsbridge wrote this outsourcing guide to help anyone involved in outsourcing understand the main terminology. The "A to Z of Outsourcing" isn't intended to be an exhaustive manual, but rather it is a guide to help you understand common outsourcing terms and concepts. If you don't know your ARC's from your Earnback, this outsourcing overview is definitely for you. We've tried to make this outsourcing guide comprehensive without creating an encyclopedia. However if there's anything you would like to know which isn't included, or which isn't clear, feel free to contact ALsbridge, we'd be delighted to hear from you. Our goal is to make understanding outsourcing as easy and simple as possible so you can gain the most benefit from your deals. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/whitepapers/finance-and-accounting-outsourcing Most companies that outsourced a portion of their finance and accounting (F&A) functions in the early to mid-2000s generated great savings at the time, but are now probably overpaying for the service levels they receive. Now more than ever, sourcing buyers need to be prepared to aggressively renegotiate with their providers to increase service levels and decrease prices. Currently, market competition is driving F&A rates down even though the majority of local labor wages are increasing. The reasons for this are:

• Providers are decreasing profit margins to get deals and increase revenues
• Increased use of technology to automate processes results in greater efficiencies
• Increased use of benchmarking in BPO deals results in re-pricing of some
• higher-priced, out-of-market deals, thus driving down the market average

Benchmarking your F&A rates against current market prices is the best way to get market terms and to understand how your F&A deal compares to the market. While benchmarking has been around for years, there has not been a long history of successful F&A benchmarking. F&A benchmarking makes more sense today than in the past as comparable data based on actual F&A outsourcing deals is now available. The key to successful F&A benchmarking is selecting the right benchmarker that can deliver real value during the buying, in-flight and contract renewal process. Traditional cost benchmarking firms do not advise on deals, so they lack real market data and are not useful in assessing outsourcing deals where market price is the most important measure. Companies should select an independent, third-party outsourcing advisor that specializes in F&A deals and thus understands the pricing effects of different client environments, different policies and procedures, as well as different terms and conditions. In this research paper, Alsbridge describes the F&A outsourcing market and the role of benchmarking in ensuring that service provider contracts remain competitive in an increasingly cost-focused market. You will learn:

• Three reasons that market competition is driving F&A rates down (even though the majority of local labor wages are increasing)
• Three primary times you should conduct an F&A benchmark
•  Four fundamental components to consider when determining the value of renegotiating your F&A contract
• Seven elements an F&A benchmarking clause should include
http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/whitepapers/squeezing-it-infrastructure For the past 20 years or so, corporate management has looked to information technology (IT) services as a means to reduce overall annual costs. When all the internal cost reduction strategies had been squeezed dry, IT leaders turned to outsourcing to realize additional IT cost savings through leveraged service offerings, labor reductions via better tools and processes, and competition between the outsourcing service providers. Once those IT cost savings were maximized, IT leaders went "offshore" to find even more IT cost reduction through labor arbitrage. Both offshore service providers and US-based service providers with offshore operations were able to offer IT cost savings over the onshore solutions due to lower labor costs of IT professionals located in parts of the world like India and Malaysia. While there are some enterprise companies that have not fully leveraged outsourcing and/or offshoring to its full potential, most Fortune 500 companies have. These IT management teams have already been through several internal cycles of cost reduction strategies through layoffs, hardware/capital reductions, application rationalizations, consolidations, and more. And yet these companies are still seeking more opportunities to save IT costs in today's unsettled economic environment. Due to the availability of better IT cost savings tools and the standardization of IT environments, IT leaders are beginning to examine the possibility of taking some services traditionally outsourced to a service provider out of their contracts and back in-house. This changing trend has clients asking outsourcing providers to further break down their pricing by the IT service towers to enable them to pick and choose what they want to have in-house and outsourced. This white paper will explain where you might be able to squeeze your infrastructure for more IT cost savings. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/whitepapers/three-Rs-of-Outsourcing In June 2011 I was interviewing the COO of a California-based bank as part of an application strategy engagement. At the end of the conversation, he asked if Alsbridge had any data on the number of contracts in which the client repatriated all of the services. My answer was, 'Off hand I don't know, but I will find out.' After asking several fellow consultants, I found little or no useful data that would provide a fact-based answer. So, I started digging. The facts uncovered several 'AH HA's!' about the keys to success in outsourcing and the truth about the three R's of outsourcing. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/whitepapers/beating-the-benchmark-clause Benchmark clauses have long been included in outsourcing contracts as a way to ensure the agreement remains competitive over time.  The clause, when written and executed properly, ensures that the vendor's services and price remain competitive over the term of the deal.  This allows for clients and vendors to sign longer term contracts, thereby creating greater relationship stability for both the client and the vendor. When structured properly, a third-party clause provides clients with a unilateral right to test the contract against the market to ensure that it is competitive. A third-party benchmark clause, whether executed or not, helps to ensure the agreement remains competitive over time. So what should be contained in a benchmark clause? This research paper includes considerations for benchmark best practices that have stood the test of time and are critical to vendors and clients alike. These recommendations based on Alsbridge's extensive experience will ensure a benchmark clause provides the upmost value. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/whitepapers/shared-services-next-step-II Shared services organizations (SSOs) are measured based on the perceived or derived value from the output of their operations. SSOs believed to be on the forefront of providing maximum value to their customers exhibit many common characteristics during their evolution to maturity that others seeking to improve their current organizations can learn and use to their benefit. This white paper will discuss the typical evolutionary path seen in these valuable organizations, review the techniques and best practices they are employing, describe some of the organizational models being used and offer tips for your SSO regardless of where it stands. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/whitepapers/faster-better-IT-benchmark It is important for IT leaders to have access to current market information in order to make informed business decisions on how to run their department and buy the products and services they need. Benchmarking is one of the best means to deliver such information, but has traditionally been an expensive, time consuming and painful endeavor. Not anymore! ProBenchmark is able to deliver a faster, better IT benchmark at a fraction of the cost due to an innovative approach to using mathematical algorithms and automation in benchmarking , providing results in weeks as opposed to months. The mathematical algorithm is driven by a parametric modeling engine linked to a proprietary database with thousands of data points updated quarterly to reflect current market realities with results that are consistent and reliable. This service offering has transformed the IT market by making information more readily available thereby creating a more efficient market and changing the way companies buy IT. Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) that currently cannot afford a benchmark will be able to buy one, and larger companies that currently benchmark will do so more regularly. ProBenchmark delivers a benchmark that is:
• Faster - 3 week IT benchmark
• Better - Exact scenario modeling
• Lower cost - 70% below current market rates
Organizations like NASA have already used ProBenchmark's services to help them make informed decisions on buying IT. Download this white paper to learn about ProBenchmark's innovative approach which uses mathematical algorithms and automation in benchmarking. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/whitepapers/drafting-ITO-contracts-in-the-cloud Alsbridge predicts Cloud-based delivery of applications will account for half of the market within 5 years and outsourcing e-mail as a service will be routine within 2 years. The key to all successful outsourcing relationships is the quality and flexibility of the commercial agreement between the customer and the supplier. An IT outsourcing contract can be anything from a highly complex and weighty document to a shorter ‘consumer’ style arrangement, but either way it is crucial to all outsourcing relationships as it provides the legal framework between the organizations involved. As with contracting for traditional ITO services, a detailed understanding of service provision and delivery is vital before entering into Cloud-based contractual commitments. However, as contracting for services in the Cloud becomes the new standard, it will require a different set of contracting principles and a new basis for customer and supplier relationships. It is a case of adapt or die; those slowest to market will be left behind. An IT outsourcing contract must stand the test of time, which means that it continues to meet both parties’ expectations during the lifetime of the ITO contract, not just at the start or key milestones. This paper defines the key principles for what constitutes a ‘good’ contract and deal management organization in the current outsourcing landscape, and addresses the key challenges for ITO contracts in the future Cloud-based, on-demand IT and business services environment. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/eseminars http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/eseminars/it-price-trends-2012 By understanding how current economic developments have impacted IT price trends, company executives are better able to determine which IT sourcing strategy will best fit their specific needs. Join the experts at ProBenchmark as they highlight several IT price trends and directions to watch in Q1 2012. By understanding how current economic developments have impacted IT price trends, company executives are better able to determine which IT sourcing strategy will best fit their specific needs. Join the experts at ProBenchmark as they highlight several IT price trends and directions to watch in Q1 2012. Attendees of this eSeminar will see up-to-the-minute analysis of outsourcing deal price trends, gain insight into how services are configured and packaged in the marketplace, and understand the impact of recent market trends on the direction of market prices. Who Should Attend: This seminar will provide important information for CIOs, CFOs, CPOs, Sourcing Executives, VM Executives, and Global Business Services Executives. This is part of an ongoing series of eSeminars that reviews recent market price trends and insights. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/eseminars/vendor-relationship-management As sourcing consultants we are often asked, "What is the next wave of strategies for sustaining cost reductions and driving efficiencies in an intensifying and competitive business environment?" The answer is in how companies are addressing vendor relationship management and creating incentives that better leverage the capabilities of their current providers. This webinar will discuss new vendor relationship management and service management environments, the challenges of improving vendor relations already under duress, and tools and methods for putting troubled vendor relationships back on track. We will also discuss processes for extracting increased value from vendors, as well as best practices in vendor relationship management that leading edge companies are already applying in order to deliver maximum value from their multi-sourcing provider base. Attendees will gain ideas for effective vendor relationship management including:
• Creating fact-based discussions between clients and providers that address performance issues
• Defining joint innovation opportunities
• Creating incentives for improved provider performance
Join us to catch the next great wave in strategic sourcing practices and learn how effective vendor relationship management can help your organization realize savings in existing relationships, remediate relationships that are not working, work with vendors to build joint capabilities and processes, manage vendor risk, and reduce internal costs of vendor management. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/eseminars/Beat-2012-IT-Budget As we head into the budgeting season, IT professionals all over the world are taking a hard look at their financial plans as they try to identify savings in 2012. Do you know what it takes to be a CIO hero? In this eSeminar, two-time Fortune 500 CIO and new Alsbridge Managing Director, Andrew Peel, will not only share his practical experience creating budget clarity and chances for much needed "headroom," but also discuss three simple and proven tools for analyzing current IT spending by application development and infrastructure towers. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/eseminars/sourcing-2-lincoln-financial Alsbridge research shows over 77% of current outsourcing contracts are set to expire in the next 30 months. With so many buyer companies entering their second or third outsourcing deals, 'Outsourcing 2.0' is becoming more commonplace. However, creating a sourcing strategy the second or third time around is much different than creating the original as many aspects of outsourcing arrangements have changed over time. Join Brendan Malley, Vice President IT Services, Lincoln Financial Group along with Randy Vetter, Director at Alsbridge for a case study on how Lincoln Financial Group was able to successfully create an outsourcing 2.0 strategy in less than 12 months. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/eseminars/os-banking-industry-stuck-in-90 Please email reaghan.francis@alsbridge.com for information about this webinar. The general IT outsourcing marketplace has matured rapidly over the past 15 years, moving from a world of large, all-encompassing outsourcing agreements, to a world of relatively standard approaches to services, service levels and pricing that are common and benchmarkable around the world. Unfortunately, outsourcing of lending and other core banking systems have not matured in the same fashion. This eSeminar is based on three case studies in which a bank wanted to compare pricing, terms and service levels to the market place. The examples explore the current state of IT and banking systems operations outsourcing, including specific examples that illustrate real opportunities for moving outsourcing in the banking industry into the 21st century. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/eseminars/HB-ALS-Cloud-Trends-2011 With 50-60 percent of organizations expected to embrace cloud computing over the next five years, CIOs and senior IT executives are feeling the pressure to move to the cloud. This evolution will require significant changes in the way IT is acquired and managed from both a business and legal perspective, leaving senior executives with many questions that must be addressed before starting on the journey. Join thought leaders, Ben Trowbridge, CEO of the market leading consultancy, Alsbridge. Inc., and author of “Cloud Sourcing the Corporation,” along with Milton Whitfield, Partner at Haynes and Boone, LLP, and author of "The Arrival of Cloud Sourcing: Implications from a Legal Practitioner," as they answer some of the most pressing questions about cloud sourcing including: how to measure the opportunity, how to manage the legal implications associated with moving to the cloud and which providers are going to prevail in this brave new world? http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/eseminars/Q3-IT-pricing-trends By understanding how current economic developments have impacted IT pricing, company executives are better able to determine which IT sourcing strategy will best fit their specific needs. Join the experts at ProBenchmark as they highlight the 2011 Q3 trends and directions for IT transactions, in terms of both price and structure as well as outline what you can expect for the remainder of the year. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/eseminars/cloud-sourcing-the-corp Industry research indicates that 50-60 percent of organizations will embrace cloud computing over the next five years. Ben Trowbridge, founder and CEO of Alsbridge, Inc., wrote 'Cloud Sourcing the Corporation' to lay out a market-defining methodology that IT executives can use to make informed decisions on cloud sourcing. The book introduces the industry's first set of standards for unbiased classifications and ratings on 100 leading cloud providers. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/eseminars/F-and-A-outsourcing Most companies that outsourced a portion of their finance and accounting (F&A) functions in the early-to-mid 2000’s generated great savings, but are probably overpaying now for the service levels they are receiving. The best way to get market terms is to understand where your deal is compared to the market by benchmarking your contract. http://www.outsourcingleadership.com/knowledgebase/eseminars/network-services-trends With network services pricing continuing to decline year over year, have you considered your sourcing and benchmarking strategy to ensure that you are not currently overpaying?