Over on Horses for Sources, entrepreneur-turned-stealth-researcher Phil Fersht recently suggested that some big-name outsourcing firms might be tossing in the towel when it comes to selling and delivering higher value offerings that focus more on process and expertise, rather than “lift and shift” labor-driven arbitrage models (which still quietly form the bulk of offshoring deals). Rather than go out with a bang like a Mike Tyson biting off an opponent’s ear, they’re simply keeling over, asking potential hires capable of working with C-level executives to “sell low-cost IT/BPO services, as opposed to working with existing clients to up-sell more consultative, higher business-value offerings.”
Translating this to procurement (which is fair to do, in my book), global outsourcing providers like Accenture and IBM appear to be pulling ahead of their peers in their ability to engage truly senior stakeholders in conversation and commitments. Phil puts it best when he suggests that some of the big names are “talking a big game regarding how they intend to broaden their outsourcing services and consulting work with clients … [but] a lot of their current management clearly [doesn’t] have a lot of confidence to bring on the talent to help them do just that.”
