Outsourcing is here to stay, regardless of how employees feel about it since businesses continue to save money as a result. It is, however, evolving into something less threatening to employees as companies discover savings–by using other companies to manage a part of the business that’s not considered one of their core processes. Smartsourcing looks at the why and how of this new take on outsourcing — where all involved benefit and innovate.
The authors state that companies aren’t realizing the full benefits of outsourcing, as most simply send a process to another company and leave it at that. Smartsourcing adds innovation to the outsourcing formula as companies consider outsourcing firms as partners. This leads to the creation of more American jobs, not just the loss of jobs overseas as many fear.
Implementing a smartsourcing strategy takes time, but companies that want to grow and compete need to carefully review their outsourcing strategy, find gaps and outsource the right processes the right way.
One of the most important things to do in planning a smartsourcing strategy is to review a company’s existing processes, determining which are core and which are non-core. Companies have been surprised to find out which processes fall under which category. For example, a hospital may think information technology is one of its core processes only to find out it’s not. Instead, their essential process is patient care.
Some of these concepts can be difficult to grasp, but executives and managers who read Smartsourcing will gain insight on how to intelligently outsource so that they can increase innovation and effectiveness while getting ahead of their competitors.
Title: Smartsourcing: Driving Innovation and Growth Through Outsourcing
Author: Thomas M. Koulopoulos and Tom Roloff
Publisher: Platinum Press Inc.
ISBN: 159337514X
Date: April 2006
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 304