Outsourcing

Outsourcing solution present to us broad and new perspective abaut new trend in the future business.

The topic of outsourcing work has been around long enough that people think they understand it and that can be very dangerous. Now that we are coming out of the recession and there are signs that companies are starting to do some hiring (even though others are still cutting back), it is good to revisit this topic.

Though this book was written during the boom when employees simply could not be found, that really doesn't affect the value of this book. Think of this as a handbook of important information you need to think through when considering outsourcing and you will have a better idea of what you will find here.

The author provides information to help you think through the various types of outsourcing, its positive and negative aspects, and great information to help you navigate the legal minefields that can turn a good outsourcing project into a bad one. As just one example that has hurt many companies, when someone you thought wasn't an employee actually becomes one for legal purposes. There is also a guide to other resources, some helpful appendices, helpful illustrations, and much more.

The information in this book will repay the price of purchase many times over.

Absolutely worthless book. An attempt to make a guide for all possible outsourcing situations -and as a result it gives few ideas and nothing really useful.

This volume is a fine guide for streamlining your business, for carving away all the non-core funtions staffed by people who don't add any value to your company -- human resources folks, accountants, info technology workers. Once you rid yourself of the burden of dealing with such activities, except as arm's-length, third-party service providers, you free up massive resources to grow your core business and prosper.

What this book does NOT reveal is the true effect of outsourcing those functions. When the outsource process begins, you will have to lie to the employees you are outsourcing, to convince them they are headed for a better life. At the same time you are freezing their wages and gutting their benefits, you must persuade them to buy into the core-business vision; you must fool them into thinking they will have more control over their careers after they are no longer chained to just one company. You will tell them they can now be free to work for any other firm in the industry, to build a huge client base and gain exposure to myriad new practices and policies. You will be lying to them.

Once they realize they have been duped, that there aren't really any new clients, that they are no longer receiving the benefits they once did, that they indeed still are chained to just one company (though out in the back yard, like a dog), then you will reap the true consequences of outsourcing. Your outsourced service providers will stealthily work to become as efficient as possible at secretly minimizing their workload. Their innovations won't be to maximize YOUR return on investment, but to minimize THEIR labor, to perform the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM. Since they are not earning raises or bonuses any more, why exert any extra effort? And believe it, they will have innovative ideas for improving your business -- but they will never tell you about them, since you think they add no value. Well, they DEFINITELY won't ever again add value to YOUR company, chump, after you've booted them to the outsource pit.

The textbook model for outsourcing is wonderful, but it gets a lot more muddled in the real world, especially after you dump on a bunch of your formerly loyal employees. Good luck with your core business now, chump.

This is a great book to understand Outsourcing, why you need it, when you need it and how to do it successfully. The book guides you through;

(1) The Advantages and Disadvantages of Outsourcing. (The basic rationale of the decision) (2) Contract-specific issues. (Legal, strategic impact, etc) (3) Transition issues. (Employment contracts, timelines, personnel) (4) Creating Control Points. (So you know what's going on) (5) Measuring the outsourced function. (Milestone events and performance tracking) (6) Managing the outsourced function. (Show optimal management type for every function) (7) Potential customer service issues. (Also applies to Internal Customers, the employees) (8) Getting out of the outsourcing arrangement. (You need to put it in the contract)

Interestingly enough, every function can be outsourced, either partially or completely. (Yes, even YOUR job!). Take a proactive approach. Buy the book, absorb the knowledge and be part of the solution rather than the problem. In addition to being an excellent author, Mr. Bragg "walks the talk". He's not an academician telling us how things could be but rather an experienced professional who understands how things work in the real world. A rare talent. You need this book. Rated A+++

I've been involved with outsourcing for just over 2 years - as a customer. I found this book to be extremely well written and structured and would be of benefit to a range of readers, those considering embarking on an Outsource for the first time will get a very clear picture of what they need to consider, and how to aproach the objective. Anyone already involved in outsourcing will recognise many of the items discussed and may find tips that will help them in their role. If nothin else then the survey information will be useful when considering how the services are performing compared to others, as a separate exercise to formal benchmark procedures.

Book talks about outsourcing as one of the promising businesses of the future. This is talking about Special Skills needed to manage Strategic Sourcing. It's Like you make non core businesses of others as your core business and put in your best effort in achieving and not only achieving but achieving them efficiently. This book has covered various incidences experienced by US companies. This also highlights that 35% of the such ventures have failed in last eight years which is a shocking statistics. But this is not dicouraging as those ventures failed because they were carried hurriedly and with a very narrow objective. I have found this book worth reading for Persons with an ambition to start their own setup like this.

Books that help a business consultant promote consulting can be suspect. After all, the consultants' first piece of advice is that you need to hire them. That caveat aside, you will find this a well-conceived view of the practical mechanics of setting up a good outsourcing program. The text can be redundant, telling you many times over that you need to agree on measures to define a project's success. However, even though authors James Essinger and Charles L. Gay don't dodge all the pitfalls, they do hand you the common-sense fundamentals you need to safely navigate the trendy world of outsourcing. Overall, we [...] recommend this as a useful volume that will help any executive who is thinking of setting up an outsourcing program or wondering how to do it better next time.

The book has some interesting insights, for example it says that in many cases insourcing can be just as efficient as outsourcing, but overall however the book is very out of date. Almost all the case studies involve possible outsourcing of datacenters running main frames. It discusses cost cutting measures involving automating tape loading and batch printing of reports! It only once mentions in passing today's style of outsourcing which is to countries like India and China. I also found very annoying the constant repetitions of the same arguments and quotes from people the authors had interviewed.

Lacity and Hirschheim are the leading lights in looking at the outsourcing phenomenom. Unlike many who blindly push a point of view, they balance their advice through rigorous research and real case studies. This book demonstrates their immense understanding of the issues involved with the insourcing / outsourcing decision and gives page after page of practical advice on how to approach such a decision. The advice is easy to apply and works. I recommend this to information system managers and researchers who wish to review an exemplary approach to honest case studies.

The content of the book is related to my job and my MBA course

the book is fine, but i need more information

Considering all the buzz today for e-business, outsourcing and other business models, it's important to have a way of ensuring the best possible results when moving in these directions. Mr. Hiles' book provides clear insight and guidance on how to plan and implement service level agreements that ensure the best results for your organization. A useful tool is you are new to service level agreements and/or e-business.

The best thing about this book is Ms. Cook offers what HR professionals need most - practical tools. Through simple language and abundant examples the author provides a clear idea of what outsourcing entails and how to not only stay alive but thrive. Ms. Cook takes you from considering outsourcing through managing vendor relationships. She moves from the macro to the micro and offers detailed sections on outsourcing specific HR functions such as benefits and training. Also included are checklists, a detailed glossary and an extensive sourcebook. A must have for HR leaders, consultants and service providers dealing with outsourcing issues.

Wilson and Colver's Outsourcing Library Technical Services Operations is a helpful complement to Hirshon and Winters'"how-to-do-it manual" on the same subject. It provides a number of specific examples of how outsourcing worked in specific libraries of various types. Some of the libraries followed the sorts of principles found in Hirshon and Winters rather closely, but at least one seems to have outsourced simply because they didn't feel like doing the work themselves! The case studies tell you quite a bit about the costs and advantages of outsourcing. In at least one of the cases, an "insourcing" strategy turned out to work better than outsourcing.

This is a "must read" for those in government service who need to know how to reply to political masters who are pushing "the beauty of privatisation".

It may not be that popular with those doing the pushing unless they are really sincere as it is devoid of hype and, as far as this reviewer's experience extends, presents the do's and don'ts & the facts and fallacies as they are, not as one might wish them to be.

The contents take one right from the beginning phase where the concept of outsourcing is considered for the first time through to providing tips for contract monitoring.

The book provides no quick fixes and is thoughtful, if somewhat laconic, in style. It also requires some previous knowledge of the subject. In this regard "Re-inventing Government" (Osbourne & Gaebler - Addison Wesly) and its sequels, as well as "Transforming Government - Lessons from the re-invention Laboratories" (Ingraham, Thompson and Sanders - Jossey Bass Publishers) make relevant companion reading

kahooga@intekom.co.za