Outsourcing

Although Councils are tasked with slashing budgets whilst maintaining (or even increasing) the quality of public services, the endorsement of local authority strategic commissioning as a potential solution is seen by many councillors as dangerous ground upon which to tread.…

In the past few weeks we have explored how cloud computing procurement can go wrong and how an adjusted approach to the same situation can result in a beneficial outcome. However, we ended last week’s post with a disclaimer —…

Cornwall County Council leader Alec Robertson was ousted from his role last week in the wake of his attempts to finalise a hefty strategic commissioning contract. Robertson planned to outsource various Council services in a deal worth £300m. This followed…

The news last Thursday that Northgate Managed Services has put itself up for sale comes as little surprise to those of us with extensive experience in the managed services sector. The company has been struggling to provide any significant return for its…

There are many factors that you must consider when entering into a service commissioning partnership. You are no doubt familiar with the “usual suspects” – price and capability. It isn’t unreasonable for them to be key considerations – after all,…

Mainstream media hasn’t been shy in publicising the shortcomings of outsourcing and commissioning providers in recent times. Whether it has been the G4S debacle, or the more recent news that outsourcing specialist Mouchel has been taken over by its bankers,…

At Best Practice Group, we regularly get involved in established commissioning partnerships that are in dire need of revitalisation. More often than not, a client will seek out our services with the aim of dismantling their commissioning contract with minimum…

According to a Gartner survey, 53% of organisations that have outsourced reported challenges relating to a lack of project/programme management skills. Or to put it another way, they had no experienced outsourcing governance. When considering outsourcing, the creation of a Governance Team is…

There is an unfortunate mistake that many organisations make when first considering strategic commissioning. That mistake may seem so small as to be irrelevant, but it can make all the difference between a successful long term partnership and a contract…

Local authorities have been badly hit by the austerity measures being put in place by Central Government. That fact has been apparent for several years. Not only are authorities dealing with an increase in demands from their constituents, they are…

You’ve decided that you want to outsource, but you haven’t decided which of the outsourcing methods is the best. You have internal processes that are functioning well, and outsourcing seems the next logical step in terms of reducing overheads and…

Although I only joined Best Practice Group recently, I have already been well-exposed to the grim reality of faltering and failing service provider relationships. As a Sales Director and Managing Director of IT vendors during my career, I used to…

A recent court case highlights that warranties for work performed in ICT or outsourcing contracts must be reasonable in terms of the time they apply. In the J Murphy & Sons Limited v Johnson Precast Limited case, Clause 14(i) was…

A new court ruling will make them think again… DE BEERS v ATOS ORIGIN [2010] Have you ever had this happen to you? A vendor commences a major project – perhaps for a large software initiative, service commissioning or outsourcing. Part…