Why settle for less, say Deloitte

After the initial exuberance had died down, most companies that had embarked on major IT or business process outsourcing projects discovered that there were 'hidden costs' in outsourcing to a third party provider.

As time and experience of outsourcing wore on, companies realised it was not simply a case of outsourcing a process to a third party and watching the cost savings pour in. The outsourcing process itself needed to be managed, monitored and governed, which entailed costs in and of itself.

Well Deloitte has just published some interesting findings on outsourcing based on its survey of 300 executives involved in outsourcing worldwide. More than 80% of respondents to its survey indicated a return on their investment of more than 25%.

However, while 70% said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their outsourcing. 39% said they had terminated at least one contract, and 50% of those that reported dissatisfaction with outsourcing had brought the process back in-house. In the first year of the contract, 61% of firms also indicated that they had "escalated problems" to senior management.

Therein perhaps lies the greatest challenge for both outsourcers and the firms that employ them, demonstrating not only one-off process improvements, but ongoing improvements on a continuous basis that satisfies customers' expectations.

As Deloitte's findings bear out, firms that outsource while financially gratified, would like to see a lot more benefits stem from the arrangement in terms of access to new ideas and innovation and better quality communications.

More than 30% wished they had spent more time on evaluating vendors before signing contracts, and if they had their time over again, almost 50% said they would have better defined service levels in line with their business goals, which just goes to show that a lot of firms have rushed into outsourcing mesmerised by the potential cost savings, without considering the processes, workflow and governance that needs to be put in place to ensure a better outsourcing experience.

So those businesses thinking that outsourcing or offshoring may be the solution to all their problems, particularly in an economic downturn when reducing costs is paramount, think again. Outsourcing is not a panacea and often entails 'hidden costs' which need to be considered in the overall cost/benefit analysis.

Martyn Hart, chairman of the UK National Outsourcing Association, says we could see the nature of outsourcing deals change in light of a recession. "In the past couple of years the ‘mega-deal’ has largely been consigned to the outsourcing scrap heap, in favour of multi-shoring and choosing separate suppliers for each process. Organisations will have to balance how to do this in the most cost effective manner," he says.

With mega-outsourcing deals a thing of the past, fixed price contracts are also likely to be abandoned for a more utility-based approach based on cost per unit.