The Cloud, a love story! Origin and family secrets of outsourcing

Pierre-Jean Esbelin

Description

This book offers a new and exciting vision of IT outsourcing based on real examples, and taken from the professional experience of the author. It provides valuable information for professionals. In particular, the book analyses the lessons of each case presented in the perspective of the eSCM methodology. IT Outsourcing no longer concerns only large companies - small and medium sized firms and, increasingly, the public sector now outsource readily. Outsourcing has been generally marketed as a cost reduction process focusing on technology improvements. This approach tends to reduce the advantages to a simple substitution of resources and systems. Mature companies now realise that outsourcing has much more to offer than such marginal gains - particularly as many projects have been branded as failures when targeted savings are not achieved. If one takes a broader view over organisational, technological and business performance, IT outsourcing provides powerful leverage for value creation. Based on a range of case studies involving US and European clients, highlighting their achievements and also their mistakes, this book shows the importance of aligning (out)sourcing strategy with the global business strategy of the company. Numerous best-practice examples are developed.

Sujets

• Love
• Love (disambiguation)

Informations

• Publié par: Les Éditions du Net
• Date de parution: 07 juin 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9782312010953
• Langue: English

Extrait

The greatest care has been taken in the implementation of this digital book by Editions du Net, to ensure editorial quality and optimal reading comfort.
Despite this constant concern, it may remain possible typos or errors. The publishers would be grateful to their readers if they were kind enough to point out these imperfections to the email adress [e-mail] .
The Cloud, a love story!
Pierre-Jean Esbelin
The Cloud, a love story!
Origin and secrets of outsourcing











LES ÉDITIONS DU NET 22, rue Edouard Nieuport 92150 Suresnes
“My role in life is that of the grain of sand to the oyster – it irritates the oyster and out comes a pearl.”
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© Les Éditions du Net, 2013 ISBN : 978-2-312-01095-3
This book offers a new and exciting vision of IT outsourcing based on real examples and taken from the professional experience of the author. It provides valuable information for professionals. In particular, the book analyses the lessons of each case presented in the perspective of the eSCM methodology.
IT Outsourcing no longer concerns only large companies – small and medium sized firms and, increasingly, the public sector now outsource readily. Outsourcing has been generally marketed as a cost reduction process focusing on technology improvements. This approach tends to reduce the advantages to a simple substitution of resources and systems.
Mature companies now realise that outsourcing has much more to offer than such marginal gains – particularly as many projects have been branded as failures when targeted savings are not achieved. If one takes a broader view over organisational, technological and business performance, IT outsourcing provides powerful leverage for value creation.
Based on a range of case studies involving US and European clients, highlighting their achievements and also their mistakes, this book shows the importance of aligning (out)sourcing strategy with the global business strategy of the company. Numerous best-practice examples are developed throughout the book. The author points out the similarities of such best-practice examples with the secrets of successful relationships between couples. This book presents not only the ingredients but also the recipe.
Benoit Tiers, President of E.O.A. France (European Outsourcing Association) comments :

Cloud: everyone has heard of it... but beyond the buzz, what dimensions does it open up? What are the impacts?
This book, treating the subject from a sourcing and more specifically outsourcing point of view, sheds new light on three major, and linked, trends faced by most companies: the urgent need to be ever more maneuverable, to maximize technological revolutions, and to adapt to an advancing consumerization.
Information Systems enable companies to continually adapt to changes in the ecosystem, and have become a major driver for transformation - particularly through efficient sourcing.
The author reaffirms the fundamentals we know well, and stresses the need for companies to consider these developments as part of their strategy. It is now possible to conjugate industrialization and agility and continue to improve cost variability.
The fact that the Cloud is today a «normal» evolution yet a necessary factor to increase company maneuverability, is confirmed in this book. Without forgetting that in order to extract its full potential, it must be governed with appropriate attention.
Summary
S UMMARY
A BSTRACTS
C HAPTER 1. T HE ORIGINS OF OUTSOURCING
C HAPTER 2. S TARTING A NEW BUSINESS OPERATION
C HAPTER 3. S USTAINING THE I NFORMATION S YSTEM
C HAPTER 4. S OLVING AN OPERATIONAL PROBLEM
C HAPTER 5. R EORGANIZE
C HAPTER 6. I NTERNATIONAL EXPANSION
C HAPTER 7. A CCOMPANY CHANGES
C HAPTER 8. 10 YEARS LATER …
C HAPTER 9. C LOSING DOWN A BUSINESS ACTIVITY
C HAPTER 10. R EVISION ON LESSONS LEARNED
E SCM WRAP - UP
I NDEX
A CRONYMS
B IBLIOGRAPHY
T HE A UTHOR
T ABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstracts
C HAPTER 1. T HE ORIGINS OF OUTSOURCING
This chapter gives an introduction to the subject and associated vocabulary, and describes the fundamentals of the book: End users and Service providers of outsourced IT services tend to have an abridged vision of the business, which leads customers to misunderstand the potential and to remain largely unaware of implementation issues. "Forget technology" takes on a double meaning - with regard to strategy, users should concentrate on their core business and remove the perceived constraints of the IT system; and concerning tactics, give priority to projects concentrating on strategic objectives.
C HAPTER 2. S TARTING A NEW BUSINESS OPERATION
Moving quickly to capitalise on a unique business opportunity, a French company decides to set up a unit in Germany. The time window for success is less than 2 years. If the initiative fails, the future of the group will be at risk. Simultaneously, the company is launching a major IT project - the centralisation of its data centres via an outsourcing contract. Extension of this contract and associated methods and practices, should enable the company to set up infrastructure and resources necessary for the growth of the new subsidiary.
C HAPTER 3. S USTAINING THE I NFORMATION S YSTEM
Geneva, in a medium sized company, subsidiary of a large group, all the members of the application management team (five people) will retire at the same time. The specificity of the company's business has led the IT department to develop an entirely in-house application to manage its main line of business. The company faces a serious risk on its IT programme maintenance.
C HAPTER 4. S OLVING AN OPERATIONAL PROBLEM
Forced to drastically reduce office space, the IT department managing the international network at a large retail bank has to remove desks for external staff. Remaining staff will not be able to cover effectively the time zones across the 60 countries in the network without severe overload. The situation is identified by the Human Resources department as too risky; an alternative solution must be found. Outsourcing application maintenance (AM) solves the question of office space and manages risk by transferring some staff to a provider. A Tender was run to select a provider. The contract was awarded to a firm with virtually no technological skills on the customer computer language – the firm was retained because of their superior analysis of the situation.
C HAPTER 5. R EORGANIZE
A banking group operating in Eastern Europe is considering replacing its IT organisation. The current company organisation is highly decentralised, with each country operating with large management freedom. The IT organisation is similar. The plan is to construct a business case for a global IT platform, shared by all. The mission is to establish the business case, define distinct projects and assist in their realisation. A significant amount of management coaching and training is included, to strengthen customer teams and enable them to lead and deliver the project – which is based directly on outsourcing best practices.
C HAPTER 6. I NTERNATIONAL EXPANSION
With a strategic plan to expand internationally and faced with the increasing complexity of regulations within the pharmaceutical industry, a medium sized family company from southern Europe decides to outsource its entire IT department: men, hardware and software. After the transformation phase, the infrastructure is upgraded and operational risks are under control. The new IT organisation, which relies on the international reach of the main service provider based in France, will facilitate the deployment and support of IT requirements linked to future acquisitions abroad. Embedded into the outsourcing contract, the customer also engages a project to implement an ERP that will support deployment of international activities.
C HAPTER 7. A CCOMPANY CHANGES
From the start of this contract - a local, French, application of a global framework agreement - specific milestones were incorporated to measure the progress of changes to a range of components of the IT system. Such local adaptations naturally had an impact on billing, which generated some problems between client and provider. The story describes the way the situation evolved in France, in a context where the IT headcount decreased from 150 to 20. On a different angle, the project became an opportunity to discuss the initiation of "Cloud" concepts seven years before the appearance of the term.
C HAPTER 8. 10 YEARS LATER …
A large international group completed a 10 year contract with a global outsourcing company and renewed the contract at European level with the supplier. We are interested in a particular country, the client's situation there - after ten years of outsourcing – and the adjustments that the provider must make to roll over his contract.
C HAPTER 9. C LOSING DOWN A BUSINESS ACTIVITY
Two major companies have a joint venture activity, a "tier 2" supplier to both shareholders who operate in the automotive sector. The opportunity to realise a profitable real estate transaction in the suburbs of Paris leads them to dismantle the joint venture. To manage smoothly the IT component of the operation, an outsourcing contract is signed including declining levels of activity, in line with the closure of the company: over a ten