There’s a US$90 Billion Dollar Party Going on – Are You Invited? Advice on Winning Upcoming Outsourcing Contract Renewal Opportunities | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

While there are increasingly fewer first generation outsourcing opportunities, a large number of IT outsourcing (ITO) and business process outsourcing (BPO) deals are coming up for renewal over the next 18 months. With US$90 billion in total contract value at stake, the renewal market provides cause for excitement or concern, depending on where your organization [...]

Indian “Strategic” Outsourcing Deals: Can the elephants dance when the music changes? | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

Time and again, we come across press releases from India’s biggest corporate houses announcing deals with large providers that are labeled “strategic” or “total outsourcing” partnerships. The hallmark of a typical strategic deal is a long-duration sole-source partnership with one large provider for infrastructure and/or applications. The provider is then made responsible for evolving a [...]

Are You Ready to Renew Your Vows With Your Provider? | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

The unfortunately all too frequent seven-year itch – “the spice is gone…should we stay together?” – doesn’t happen just in personal relationships, it also happens in outsourcing relationships. Past the mid-point of a 10-year outsourcing relationship (or whatever the length of the agreement) buyers and service providers often struggle to identify how to maintain the [...]

Dancing with the Outsourcing Stars | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

Who would have thought that professional athletes would consistently emerge as the favorites to win the crown in the popular reality (?) ABC television program Dancing with the Stars? Are football players really the best dancers – or is the process intentionally stacked to become a popularity contest only tangentially tied to the show’s namesake [...]

Not Having Problems is a Problem | Sherpas in Blue Shirts

I always pause, and frequently cringe, when buyers in the first months of a new outsourcing relationship say that everything is going well because they are not having any problems. Although a honeymoon period is attractive and lulling, it isn’t reality. Reality is that the success of an outsourcing relationship will not be measured by [...]