Middle East and Africa

Outsourcing is a rising trend globally, but has shown tremendous growth in EMEA during 2011 especially in manufacturing, retail, media, software and telecom sectors. TPI sourcing the advisory group has conducted the latest research, which shows that EMEA has made bigger investments in outsourcing IT and networking services during this year as compared to the 2010th Consequently the services like cloud computing, managed networks and SaaS are on the boom with a Promising growth expected in the years to come.

The impact of outsourcing network management and other IT services is very obvious across the entire UK market, and can be verified by looking at some of the big names from various business sectors such as Circle providing support & care services to 180,000 people across the United Kingdom . The company was facing big challenges with its IT network being spread across multiple cities including London, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, Surrey and Essex. After outsourcing network management to a single managed network services provider Circle is experiencing smooth operations, steady growth, reduced cost and improvised business efficiency.

Another big name is Channel 5, the UK's most favorite channel for live UEFA Europe League Football, Home & Away and Neighbors, Channel 5 News, and above all "Big Brother" the reality TV show. Channel 5 is running a standalone site for Big Brother providing Video-on-Demand (VoD), live updates and editorial, and a Big Brother 2011 Facebook app, which required uncompromising bandwidth capacity for all social media applications to be available to the high volumes of traffic. Therefore, Channel 5 has selected a technology partner that not only ensures 100% reliance but also reduces costs to a great extent.

Wave2 Media Solutions, a renowned name for providing out-of-the-box solutions to publishers, marketers and content providers has also Partnered with a managed provider networks to extend the range of services they offer to their new and existing clients. Since majority of Wave2 clients are newspaper and magazine publishers, they require the software to quickly deploy powerful automated document generating solutions. All user interfaces are browser based and are integrated with transactional payment elements, which require high level security, high availability and scalability to be able to meet the end user requirements. On selecting a technology partner Wave2 is able to reduce dependence on the internal IT team, reduce overall infrastructure cost, and enjoy increased flexibility with secure IT environments. Since majority of Wave2 clients are newspaper and magazine publishers, they require the software to quickly deploy powerful automated document generating solutions

Tips for Outsourcing Consulting

CIO - When it's time to outsource, selecting the right outsourcing consultant may be the single most important decision you have a future in which their relationship to success or failure of the service provider. Due to the complex IT outsourcing deals and savvy retailers set their own good, solid advice from third party sources can help to level the playing field is inherently unequal, particularly for less experienced buyers of IT services.

7 ways to outsource a consultant can save you money!

But the adviser to decide which source is right for you, harder than it may seem. All times are sourcing consultants. A large company may give you the attention you need. You may not need to set up a depth of experience.

"As of today there is great need for consulting outsourcing as there never has been, and never has been such a plethora of consultants to advise them to compete there," says Phil Fersht, AMR, former analyst and author of the blog out Horse for resources outsourcing.During the life cycle of outsourcing, whether it's as easy to manage and negotiate complex contracts, or to hold your hand through the whole process of evaluation. "

Some of the overall quality for a good guide is to outsource. "Guardian of the best consultants to our clients' interests, but also an excellent facilitator who understands both points of view, the risks and benefits, and can work creatively and constructively to find solutions that allow both sides to Success, says: Kymbal George, Baker and McKenzie in San Diego's attorney's office outsourcing.

Here are six tips to help advisors choose your outsourcing wisely.

1. Know your goals. Make sure you define your strategy, the source of the sourcing advisor, "says Richard Matlus, Gartner research, consulting services and resources. For example, your motivation for outsourcing to cut costs if so, adds: Matlus, a consultant will help you choose the goal. Some of the consultants in organizing the vendors feet to the fire on prices in Excel, while others specialize in other areas.

2. Bigger not always better. Outsourcing consultants come in all shapes and sizes, from big name companies that charge high fees related to an individual with a lower hourly rate.

When dealing with third-party advisors, you usually get what you pay for, says: "Fersht. However, we have seen situations where companies have a dollar for a third-rate advice and service to others in which customers the big one, cheaper, smaller companies get paid. "

Power Dealmakers

For those of you interested in international business transactions or the business networking organization, LinkedIn, a new Yahoo groups discussion forum has been created. Several Yahoo discussion groups already exist on the uses and preferences concerning LinkedIn, such as the Yahoo Group forum called MyLinkedin Power Forum (MLPF), but the messages on that forum were biased. The moderator of MLPF censored opposing points of view. He is the type of person who would criticize a group member’s message, but not let that member respond to his criticism. In many respects, the MLPF and forums like it were just plain boring: a large cacophony of disjointed and disconnected messages on everything from trolling for people with the same last name to using LinkedIn to advertise products or services.

The MLPF forum has a minority core group of people who do not advocate open networking and who resist requests to expand their networks or make LinkedIn a more useful reference tool -- which the latest revision accomplished. Now users of the LinkedIn system can learn profile details about the 3.3 million members of LinkedIn outside their own small networks; however, contact names and e-mail addresses are omitted. One way to make the system more transparent is to include e-mail addresses in the "name" and "job information" fields on Linkedin. That way users outside a person's network can still locate contact details on that user.

As I scanned the messages on alternative LinkedIn forums for the past two weeks, I did not learn anything new about (1) taking care of my network, (2) profiting from my networking, or (3) communicating better and faster with less stress. It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Instead of trying to reform one or more of the existing LinkedIn discussion forums, we created a new forum with a more investment banking, law, and tax flavor content.

Our new forum, which is called Linkedin_High_Power_Dealmakers, focuses on making deals, whether structured finance transactions, project finance, placing key personnel in companies, finding teaming partners, trends in the economic and financial marketplace, and the like. Members of this Yahoo forum believe that expanding business networks to reach out to strangers is a great idea. We reject the (old-fashioned, European) mentality that we will only exchange greetings and discuss business with someone to whom we have received a formal introduction. Unlike other Yahoo groups focused on Linkedin, our new forum will discourage two-bit opinions about special features of Linkedin or non-business uses, such as searching for old friends who attended high school with a given user. We have less discussion about Linkedin itself, and more discussion of deal making (using Linkedin or other tools). In fact, we provide honest comparisons of contacts made through openBC, Ryze.com, and Linkedin, and which one offers a better networking service for high-powered professionals.

This group is devoted to using the web-based Linkedin.com system to expand business and professional contacts for purposes of making deals: new business financing, finding new business partners, project finance, outsourcing staff needs, professional services, management consulting, recruiting key personnel, and the usual panoply of domestic and international business transactions. Some of our members joined because of the one-sided and biased nature of discussion forums such as MLPF. These forums seem riddled with double standards and hypocrisy, not to mention the bulk of the messages are just plain boring.

Examples of current message threads including an opportunity to invest in a movie deal; people interested in sponsoring business ties to Romania, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia; mergers and acquisitions in the U.S. energy industry; 50 jobs available in the energy industry; best business practices in obtaining small business financing, and much more.

On Fridays, we welcome parodies of comments made on other LinkedIn discussion forums, particularly MLPF. We have a little fun with these parodies as we get ready for weekend breaks.

Maintenance Programs

Some companies that are in need of fleet management may choose to utilize the services of a fleet maintenance program. These programs can generally handle all of you fleet management needs. Tracking vehicles, keeping up with maintenance, handling fuel budgeting and logging work are among a few examples of what fleet maintenance programs can offer your company.

For example, Enterprise Fleet Services is one of the leading fleet maintenance programs in the U.S. In their regular Fleet Maintenance Program, the company receives easy-to-understand reports concerning fleet management. Enterprise can analyze and consolidate all of your vehicle’s important information. They also offer negotiated discounts on all maintenance services provided by authorized Enterprise service centers.

Enterprise’s Full Fleet Services program is one of the most comprehensive fleet maintenance programs on the market. For a minimal monthly fee, Enterprise offers coverage of all maintenance on your fleet vehicles. From small jobs such as hose replacements to full transmission overhauls, this product can be a real cost-cutter for many companies. With over 65,000 certified Enterprise service centers nationwide, the company’s drivers will be covered no matter where the job takes them.

Subscribing or purchasing a fleet maintenance program has many benefits to companies. For many smaller companies with limited resources, outsourcing the fleet management to a company such as Enterprise can save costs associated with hiring a full-time fleet management person. With a product such as the Full Fleet Services Program, subscribing for a small monthly fee can give the company deep discounts on both small and large service jobs. If your company is small or start-up business, a fleet maintenance program may very well be an excellent alternative to doing the job in-house.

Elearning Vs Traditional

It is important for managers and organizations to consider a number of different factors when determing the best training delivery approach for their staff or organization. Factors include: efficiency, timeliness, consistency and appropriateness of the delivery method. The key factor for most organizations, however, is program cost. Program cost may be comprised of a number of related sub-factors, too, which may include: development costs, instructor time, materials, travel, and opportunity costs for the students and participants. All these factors can have a wide variance, even in similar programs, due to the delivery method used.
Managers may want to develop their own mathematical model to better understand the relationship between costs and delivery of their training programs. Many managers have found a common key element when they have analyzed the costs of their learning programs. Their key finding: e-learning is less expensive to deliver almost regardless of the participant population. For example: in populations where the participants number 100 or more, e-learning had clear cost advantages and as the population number increases, so does the cost advantage. Cost advantages were still measureable in groups of 100 or less and even with classes as short as one hour in length. In a corporate study conducted by Catepillar, they determined that e-learning was 40% less expensive than the tradiational classroom models.

When preparing to conduct a cost analysis study, managers should be prepared to understand all the different factors involved with the development and delivery of training programs and then develop a customized list of factors that are applicable to the organization's training needs and environment. For example, the costs associated with a physical classroom can widely vary depending on the geographic and physical plant characteristics of the company. For some organizations, it may not be relevant to conduct any sort of market analysis if their niche market is highly specialized or small. On the other hand, factors such as timeliness, travel costs or development costs may be very relevant for the organization to consider say, for example, if they are outsourcing their training programs.

After the manager has created their unique "model" or list of factors or variables for analysis, they are ready to begin the comparison process. Gather data from comoparable organizations or training delivery programs, preferably from those using like and differening models. This will help in benchmarking the organization's costs to that of comparable companies. If the organization or department has specific regulatory or quality assurance standards, such as Cancer Registry departments as part of a healthcare organization, the costs associated with training (or not providing training) for compliance may also need to included in the analysis process.

e-Learning may not be the best delivery method for all training. For example, programs that require role-playing, individual or group interaction or observation of the participants are not conducive to online learning. On the other hand, the total cost of delivering instructor-led classes to many students must be taken into consideration whenever the organization begins planning a large training program. Cost analysis may reveal that a combination of both e-learning and tradiational classroom can deliver the optimal training delivery needs of the organization. Once the manager has completed the cost comparison process results should be documented carefully and used for future comparative studies or even for training program justification and strategic planning purposes.

Copyright 2005, M. A. Webb. All Rights Reserved

PUBLISHING RIGHTS: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your e-book or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.