KPO Consultants

Given the BSkyB verdict, the whole of the outsourcing industry has reason enough to think in terms of the captioned lines. Reportedly EDS will now have to pay through its nose; the marriage has gone sour and the alimony looks very huge.

Undoubtedly, in today’s world the competition is sky high and our targets are, more often than not, set past the moon. Despite so, it’s high time that we all should take a moment out of our busy selling/operating/ transacting/planning/marketing/innovating/ training/negotiating/business developing schedules to ponder over a few simple questions:

1. Have we equipped ourselves to fulfill all that we propose to promise to our customers?

2. Are we trying to sell the “moon” in the name of business?

3. In the name of creating differentiators with our competitors, are we promising something which we aren’t even sure about?

4. What happens when the cat comes out of the bag?

In our spree to gain clients and sign deals let us not do something suicidal; after all we are here to be in business for decades and not days.

It is not only the service providers who are at fault. The buyers would also have to shoulder their fair share of the responsibility of fanning such a dangerous fire. While negotiating an outsourcing/off-shoring deal, many buyers lose sight of the fact that by outsourcing/off-shoring their work, they are actually creating a new partner in their business and extending their offices beyond their shores. The basic psychology that plays with many of them is that the vendor is a wet-sponge; squeeze him for all that we are going to pay him. In their spree to get “value for money” they kind of start expecting things which border into irrationality. This attitude, in turn, fuels vendors to make promises which sometimes turn out difficult to keep. Looks like a viscous cycle, doesn’t it?

It would rather be beneficial for both sides to take a more practicable look of the matter while signing a deal-; an attitude of partnership and mutual understanding must prevail so as to make the whole saga an enjoyable as well as a mutually beneficial one.

The process is very simple---ask what you want--- don’t expect unreasonable and magical things to be done by vendors---before asking for innovative things to be done for you by your vendor, you yourself try outlining your expectations---vendors to disclose what it can actually offer (no colorful promises) --- vendors should keep their cards on the table and discuss solutions--- treat your vendor as a potential partner to take your business to the next step- hand-hold your vendor--- all this being done; ultimately it is you the buyer who is going to win.