The idea of Software-Defined Networking (SDN) has been around since the late 1980s/early 1990s, when it was used to describe the telecom industry’s shift from strictly private voice networks to logically constructed private voice networks that were physically hosted on the public telephone infrastructure. That shift laid the groundwork for Virtual Private Networks (VPN).…
Five Things to Think About if You Lead an IT Organization
If you have a career in information technology (IT), you were probably first attracted to the logic of the IT world. Perhaps your natural intelligence and analytical skills drew you to the discipline. Or, perhaps, what Fred Brooks calls in The Mythical Man Month, “the fascination of fashioning complex puzzle-like objects of interlocking moving parts and watching them work in subtle cycles, playing out the consequences of principles built in from the beginning” proved irresistible to you.…
Supply Chain Risk Management – a Hot Potato?
In a recent ISG white paper, I discussed how organizations of all types face increasingly dire, diverse and evolving risks to their supply chains. Risks are coming from new and unexpected directions and sources, threatening operational stability, revenue streams and brand reputations. Indeed, one of the more insidious aspects of supply chain risk is its nebulous character – you don’t know where the risk lies, when it will strike or what the impact will be.…
For Innovative Sourcing: Date More, Marry Less
Anyone who’s been in the outsourcing business for any length of time has heard the cliché that outsourcing relationships are like marriages – they require hard work and commitment over the long term. Well, maybe it’s time to change that.
Rather than marrying your next outsourcing provider, take them out on a date and see how things go from there.…
A Risky Business: How to Mitigate Risk-Pricing in Your Outsourced Contract
Service providers do not have a universally accepted approach for handling risk in their pricing models. But we know that complexity and uncertainty drive risk, and the higher the risk, the more you pay. The degree to which you can identify and handle these risks will directly influence the price you pay for outsourced services.…
As Retailers Embrace Wi-Fi, CIOs Must Align With Business
For brick-and-mortar retailers, shoppers with smartphones have until recently been about as welcome as barbarians at the gate. Specifically, the practice 
of “showrooming” – checking prices at a store and then going online to find cheaper alternatives – has posed a serious threat to in-store revenue. Attitudes are changing, however, as retailers increasingly embrace mobility as a potential competitive advantage.…
Contracting in the Cloud: An Interview with Shawn Helms, Partner, K&L Gates [Part 2]
In case you missed Part I of my interview with K&L Gates Partner Shawn Helms, he and I discussed how cloud and standardized delivery models are disrupting the traditional contracting process. Here’s Part II of our interview:
Jones: One area that is really interesting to me is that in the traditional sourcing world, customers “trust but verify” – the verification oftentimes taking place via an on-site audit.…
How Can India-heritage Providers Keep Growing?
India-heritage service providers have been a significant force in the outsourcing market for at least 10 years. Between 2009 and 2012, they increased their market share by 13 percentage points as measured by annual contract value (ACV). In the same period, Western-heritage providers’ share declined some 7 percent.
But the growth of India-heritage providers has also been slowing.…
Fast-Tracking: Does Sticking with One Service Provider Save Time and Money?
Perhaps your organization has a contract already in place with a service provider, and you are thinking those pre-negotiated contract terms and conditions might save you time and money in sourcing the next area of your business. Or perhaps your organization decides that skipping a competitive process and sourcing directly with one service provider will be more efficient.…
1Q13 ISG Outsourcing Index Reveals Industry Struggles to Regain Traction
Today we had a good look at the state of the outsourcing market on the 1Q13 Global ISG Outsourcing Index conference call and webcast:
On the surface, the numbers are less than encouraging, but a different picture emerges when we dig a little deeper and put this quarter into the broader context.…
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Brave New World? Networks, Cloud and Labor Automation Converge via SDN
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Five Things to Think About if You Lead an IT Organization
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Supply Chain Risk Management – a Hot Potato?
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For Innovative Sourcing: Date More, Marry Less
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A Risky Business: How to Mitigate Risk-Pricing in Your Outsourced Contract
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Garrett Whisenant: Thanks for your comment, Roy. As noted in the blo...
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