No. 1: When speeds and feeds trump needs
Outsourcing customers continue to complain that their vendors treat them as afterthoughts, ignoring their real needs and instead spouting meaningless sales pitches.
The issue of neglect was central to PolyOne's Brunk when she cast a net seeking prospective candidates. Brunk specifically wanted to know how the vendor would help the company move forward in the event of a merger, which is what occurred when Geon later got acquired by PolyOne.
"My definition of an outsourcing partner is one that would tell us what was coming down the line technology-and-business-wise, and how that would affect our company," says Brunk.
Michael Corbett, president of Corbett & Associates, an outsourcing advisory firm, believes too many vendors put too much focus on the deal, to the detriment of the relationship.
"Solution providers have to understand a company's business problem and craft an outsourcing solution that goes after the problem instead of one that is based on speeds and feeds," Corbett says.
No. 2: Promises, promises
The outsourcing market is still characterised by vendor pitches soaked in sugar.
"Unfortunately," notes Dean Davison, a VP at Meta Group, "those sugary promises never appear in the contract."
The Meta exec recalls one failed engagement in which a large manufacturer was promised superior service and hundreds of thousands of dollars in IT savings. "The IT vendor told the management that they would take on the data center duties and desktop operations, but everything ran the same. There was no value-add. The service they promised was not up to speed, and they were locked into the contract. This happens all the time," Davison says.
Bob Zapfel, general manager of strategic outsourcing at IBM Global Services, says delivering on a promise means aligning goals and objectives up front. Put another way, Zapfel says vendors have to take the time to create synergies between their customers' business goals and their IT functions. Too few providers bother to make this extra effort, he laments.
