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 3 Steps to a Faster, Better, Lower Cost IT Benchmark
Category: Benchmarking IT Infrastructure & Applications Outsourcing
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.
Drafting ITO Contracts in the Cloud
Category: Strategy & Business Case Negotiations / Renegotiations Cloud Computing...
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.
Alsbridge’s Top 12 Cloud Predictions for 2012
Category: Strategy & Business Case Cloud Computing Cloud Sourcing
Cloud sourcing is a dynamic aspect of the IT industry that is revolutionizing the IT services market. Alsbridge's expert cloud sourcing advisors predict 2012 will be a year of both opportunity and destruction for providers and enterprises in the cloud.
Top 12 Cloud Predictions for 2012:
- There are massive opportunities to bring cloud features into the enterprise and there have been increasingly more providers with tooling to help make that a reality. But, it is also going to be a year where consolidation across enterprise cloud vendors will increasingly occur. If the vendor competes in a crowded solution space, short term survival means being acquired, or going public. Only a sliver of vendors are positioned to survive as stand-alone providers.
- Cloud projects for top-line revenue growth; +50% by 2014 (SaaS and BPaaS particularly) sponsored by business line or functional managers will accelerate over the next 18 months as business perceives IT to be too busy to meet demands for expansions and experimentation.
- Security concerns will continue into 2012 and will be the main impediment to adopting public and hybrid cloud solutions by enterprises. There will be a re-examination of the differentiation between business requirements and business policies to refine information security requirements.
- Cloud support for social networking mobile app access and enterprise collaboration will continue to accelerate (like business driven top line revenue project), over the next 2 years. Grassroots knowledge [content] sharing adoption will ramp up with double to triple digit pace year-over-year and thus on-demand options will be the flavored delivery method. Legacy corporate intranets will be molded into this new information ecosystem.
Download to access the full list, "Alsbridge’s Top 12 Cloud Predictions for 2012."
Preventing Value Leakage in Outsourcing Contracts
Category: Strategy & Business Case IT Infrastructure & Applications Outsourcing
Outsourcing provides client organizations access to a broad range of specialized technical skills, the ability to control and manage operating costs, and the realization of improved efficiency, speed and agility to deliver services. However, studies indicate that the ability to sustain high value realization over the complete life cycle of the outsourcing contract is a major challenge.
For example, during the initial transition and transformation activities, the focus is on contractual terms, conditions, and pricing. As the relationship matures, the client and the provider must shift their focus to factors impacting operational effectiveness and relationship management if they expect to minimize value leakage and realize the full benefits of outsourcing.
There are many forms of value leakage in both government and private sector outsourcing contracts. One form of value leakage is the inability to achieve efficiencies through key operating metrics and service level agreements. Other examples include nonperformance in innovation deployment and in the use of emerging technologies or non-compliance to regulatory requirements or agency expectations resulting in the inability to support goals and objectives.
Additionally, value leakage may begin to occur when contractual terms become unworkable because of industry or regulatory changes or as a result of operational challenges caused if the client fails to fully leverage the provider's talent.
Value leakage may also result from relationship management challenges where unresolved cultural differences get in the way of effective communications and operational goals.
However, stopping value leakage carries with it a huge return. If issues surface early and regularly, and have an underlying fact-based diagnosis, then the agency and provider are able to address issues, remedy the situation and avoid costly and laborious interventions. Read more about several key signs of value leakage that client organizations should assess to achieve the most out of their outsourcing contract(s).
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