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F&A Outsourcing Prices are Dropping. Are You Overpaying?

White Paper | Category:   Benchmarking  Finance & Accounting Services  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

• 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

Avoid Costly Mistakes: IT Price Trends to Watch in Q1

eSeminar | Category:   Benchmarking  IT Infrastructure & Applications  Finance & Accounting Services...

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.

Do Benchmarks Produce Cost Savings?

eNews | Category:   Benchmarking  IT Infrastructure & Applications  Outsourcing

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.

Offshore Players Drive Desktop Prices to New Lows

eNews | Category:   Benchmarking  IT Infrastructure & Applications

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.

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