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Orbys Sourcing Guides

Sourcing Strategy Guide

Are you achieving the full value from your sourcing arrangements?
Orby’s Sourcing Strategy Guide ‘Planning for addresses the strategic framework required to identify, capture and then drive out value through your sourcing arrangements; either as part of an initial sourcing strategy, or as part of a regular strategic review.
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Sourcing Management Guide

Managing Outsourcing for Maximum Value
Recent industry research conducted by Benchmark Research shows that despite improvements in developing contracts, organisations are still failing to properly plan for and manage outsourced agreements and that as a result many are being driven to insourcing.
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Outsourcing

Industry research conducted by Benchmark Research shows that despite widespread perception to the contrary, outsourcing contracts are delivering significant benefits.

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Research Articles

Browse through the following articles, which cover practical advice gained from real world experience.

Thoughtful Outsourcing and the Bridging of Cultures
The role and relationship of organisational culture in a successful outsourcing strategy. The secret to a successful outsourcing partnership lies in understanding exactly which parts of the business benefit from outsourcing and then finding and selecting a partner with the optimal balance of capabilities and cultural fit for your business, writes Robin Barrett, Director of Orbys Consulting.
Managing BPO Performance Improvement
BPO satisfaction levels are on the up, but while more organisations are now confident in negotiating outsourcing contracts, most struggle with ongoing management and making the deal deliver ongoing value, argues Simon Lindley, Principal Consultant, Orbys Consulting.
Intelligent Outsourcing - How Healthy is Your Relationship?
Outsourcing is no longer just a contract signed between two parties - it’s the start of a long and complex relationship that needs to be nurtured and developed. Successful outsourcing relationships not only require a lot of professionalism and good management but also regular audits to keep them healthy and productive for both clients and providers, explains Mark Sukiennik, Director, Orbys Consulting.
BPO contracts in crisis and the role of the Advisor
Business process outsourcing (BPO), that is, long term, large scale outsourcing, is inherently complex. A couple of years into this confident growth market, and the rapid rate of change is beginning to affect the contracts that govern such deals. In fact, in many cases, they are proving simply not up to it. David Keighley, Chief Executive of outsourcing consultancy Orbys, argues that - in order to avert potential crises - contracts need to be constantly re-negotiated and managed just like any other commercial asset.
Outsourcing with a lighter touch
Outsourcing is not just for the big boys - a different model is emerging for SMEs to outsource non-core business and IT functions. Simon Lindley, Principle Consultant at Orbys argues that smaller businesses can inherently gain as much, if not more, benefit from outsourcing as long as it is approached in the correct manner…
Make-over your business offshore
The offshore outsourcing of business processes could save the day for finance directors under pressure to cut costs while rising to the challenges of global business and shareholder expectations. Organisations cannot afford not to explore this potential commercial opportunity, argues Alex Blues of European outsourcing advisor, Orbys Consulting.
The hidden perils of outsourcing business processes offshore
The next big management strategy destined to make a real difference to the bottom lines of firms worldwide is the offshore outsourcing of business processes. But the strategy is a minefield for the unwary and nothing like as easy as outsourcing the running of IT equipment. Alex Blues of European outsourcing advisor, Orbys Consulting, explains why the decision to outsource business processes offshore should not be undertaken without a rigorous sourcing strategy and specialist help.
Supplier Margins
If you have a significant outsourcing agreement in place, there will come a time when you are faced with a difficult choice: even in the case of successful arrangements, you will have to decide what to do when the agreement expires, or is up for renewal.
What would it be like to work with these people?
There are several methods which clients use to procure outsourced services, and to select a supplier - almost as many as there are clients!
To tell or not to tell
There are all sorts of issues that have to be faced when considering how you communicate the news of an impending outsource to the people you have been working with, often for many years. There may be some you will be glad to see the back of, but you need the transfer to be on your terms, not theirs.
It looks good now but will you pay later?
Outsourcing is like marriage - both partners go into it with the best intentions, but after a while it can sometimes go rather stale.
Outsourcing made easy
So you've decided, in principle, to go the outsourcing route. You're probably doing this for a number of reasons - cost reduction and cost management, the difficulties of getting and keeping good staff, enabling you to focus on core business, and so on. You may be entitled to expect improvement in these and other areas.