Deborah Kops

Archive

Outsourcing and Shared Services Change Lessons from the U.S. Presidential Election? Are you kidding?

Before you think I am off my rocker, take a look at my newest post for SSON on http://www.ssonetwork.com/business-process-management/columns/10-sourcing-change-management-lessons-from-the-us/. Despite the overuse of the word change as a rallying cry on the part of both sides, there really are some lessons in the conduct of the campaigns for shared services and outsourcing leaders.
Deborah Kops
November 28, 2012
Archive

Sourcing Reports are so “Passay’

Shared services and outsourcing aficionados, now you can get the latest and greatest content via an Apple iPad App. My recent report for ACCA, “Finance Leaders on Sourcing Success” can now be easily digested by downloading the app for FREE! With interactive data, videos of leading finance transformation experts, and links to other resources, this app sets the […]
Deborah Kops
November 27, 2012
Archive

Sourcing Leaders Speak—Steven Jo, Silicon Valley Bank

  Like most of us in this soup we call outsourcing and shared services, I learn most when I am having a dialog with others, or as we call it, networking. Recently I had a virtual late night discussion with the incomparable Steven Jo, head of multisourcing and change agent extraordinaire for Silicon Valley Bank. […]
Deborah Kops
November 26, 2012
Archive

Change Management for Outsourcing

After years of implementation, the fact that outsourcing triggers a myriad of changes—organization, process, workflow, technology, service levels among others—is still sidestepped by the industry. While most players give lip service to the need for change management when sourcing, there’s still a lack of understanding of the skills and capabilities that make change management strategically […]
Deborah Kops
November 20, 2012
Archive

Losing the War for Talent: Why Offshore Providers Come Up Short Onshore

Over the last few weeks, I must have had at least 10 calls from outsourcing talent currently looking –or being recruited for new positions–many of them by offshore providers. And that’s not counting the calls from search consultants, desperate to locate that buried diamond of a sales-accounts-or-solutions guy who can be persuaded to jump ship. […]
Deborah Kops
November 14, 2012
Archive

Is the retained accounting team comfortable with shared services and outsourcing

 Not too long ago I was having a conversation with one of our industry’s leading finance shared services gurus. When he started to muse about the ability of accountants to adopt to new delivery models, he became very animated.  “ Accountants live for rules. Take them away and they are like fish out of water. […]
Deborah Kops
November 12, 2012
Archive

Looking from the outside in

Recently it dawned on me that sourcing industry is pursuing a great game of navel gazing. We’re like a closed society—we think we have all the answers, yet I’m not sure we know what all the questions are. Isn’t it about time that we started to think of ourselves as a business tool or technique […]
Deborah Kops
November 9, 2012
Archive

Likeability: a success factor for sourcing leaders?

The slog-em-out that characterized this year’s American presidential race surfaces the question of likeability. Was likeability—rather than the right vision or a realistic plan for the country’s future—the reason one bloke won as opposed to the other? The American electorate seemed to rate it. Empathy and a regular Joe approach with a murky vision appeared […]
Deborah Kops
November 7, 2012
Archive

2012 Talent Management in a Shared Services World

This ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) report provides results from one of the largest-ever surveys on talent management practices across the global finance profession. Introduction When finance functions incorporate shared services, new questions arise in relation to talent management outcomes. Shared service models – no matter what their scope or how they are […]
Deborah Kops
November 5, 2012
Archive

Avoid Classic Change Management Mistakes

Change management is often cited as the biggest impediment to successful shared services and outsourcing implementation. But it is manageable and predictable, if you follow a few simple rules. Please fill out the brief form below to download the visual guide to avoid classic management mistakes. [gravityform id=”4″ name=”Download the Visual Guide”]
Deborah Kops
Archive

CFO Perspective on SSO models

This infographic presents a CFO perspective on the adoption of finance shared services and outsourcing models.  It demonstrates how CFOs are using SSO models and what the future holds. Please fill out the brief form below to download the infographic.   [gravityform id=”3″ name=”Download the CFO Perspective Infographic”]
Deborah Kops
Archive

Finance Leaders on Sourcing Success

This report presents findings from a groundbreaking global ACCA study, using data powered by HfS Research, on the adoption on finance shared services and outsourcing models.  It provides insights on the shared service strategies finance leaders are adopting, and gauges their view on the effectiveness of current approaches. [gravityform id=”2″ name=”Download the Finance Leaders Report”] […]
Deborah Kops
November 2, 2012
Archive

Meta Leadership is Key to Sourcing Change

You probably haven’t heard of meta-leadership. And I confess I had not until I happened to Google my childhood friend Lenny, now the esteemed Dr. Leonard Marcus, Co-Director of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI), a joint program of the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the John F. Kennedy School of Government. At […]
Deborah Kops
Archive

PEOPLE: The Make or Break of Offshoring or Outsourcing

Presentation: PEOPLE: The Make or Break of Offshoring or Outsourcing   Learn More…
Deborah Kops
October 2, 2012
Archive

Creating a Perfect Storm–How Do You Manage Change in a Global Implementation

Presentation: Creating a Perfect Storm–How Do You Manage Change in a Global Implementation?   Learn More…
Deborah Kops
Archive

The Change Up — Can We Achieve Innovation Through Shared Services?

Presentation: the change up–can we achieve innovation through shared services   Learn More…
Deborah Kops
Archive

Think Marketing to Accelerate Shared Services and BPO Growth

Think Marketing to Accelerate Shared Services or BPO Growth No one gets on the bandwagon without scale. So you’ve dragged your organization kicking and screaming through a few transitions to a shared services and/or outsourced business model, and now it’s time to spread the wealth to the rest of the organization.  You and your team […]
Deborah Kops
September 17, 2012
Archive

The Lonely Planet Guide: Succeeding in the Role of Transformation Leader

It may be the loneliest — and toughest — job on the planet. Abused by providers, repudiated by the business lines, asked by management to scale mountains in nanoseconds equipped with very few resources. Only the bravest and thickest-skinned need apply. How can these agents of change thrive, and survive, the almost impossible job of […]
Deborah Kops
September 11, 2012
Archive

The Rise of the Good Global Services Customer

In most nascent marketplaces, the first provider of a service or product enjoys initial market supremacy — that period of time when product offering, terms of purchase, pricing and quality are dictated by the offer. Call it first-mover advantage, market maker or innovation premium — the market naturally takes some time to respond, embrace, accept […]
Deborah Kops
Archive

Don’t be Afraid of the Dark Side

Those of us who have been around the services industry from its infancy speak in code…both in acronyms (BPO, BTO, BTO, PPE), and in highly connotative shorthand — the cowboys, the Indians, nearshore, offshore, onshore, smartsource, resource, eSource, etc. One of the most telling codes is how we differentiate between the unholy trinity in this […]
Deborah Kops
Archive

The Crime of the Century

Companies impose budget and return rigor when managing a range of corporate assets. Yet when it comes to managing portfolios of business services, all discipline seems to be absent. Companies manage a range of assets comprehensively as a portfolio — capital, cash flow, human resources, fixed assets…but forget about the management of what is becoming […]
Deborah Kops
Archive Models

If the Shoe Fits, Wear it

Is there a predictive fit between such characteristics as culture, measurement systems, ways of working, procurement strategy and the type of global services solutions specific companies should implement? Deborah Kops seems to think so Now here’s an analogy — watching women  buy shoes has similarities to observing sourcing sweepstakes for global services. Some shoes are […]
Deborah Kops
Archive

It’s Greek to Me

One company’s multitower contract is another’s bundled deal. Are process and functional outsourcing synonymous? What’s the difference between shared services and captives? Why can’t the industry use the same terminology? Are we destined to cope with a veritable Tower of (global services) Babel? I live and breathe the outsourcing industry, and yet even I am […]
Deborah Kops
Archive

Fast, Clean And Cheap

Third-party and internal providers try to spin the particular benefits of their approach to transitioning work into a global services model. However, when all is said and done, moving work from point A to B merely requires a simple, speedy and focused approach, and work plan, not invention and artistry. The title of this article […]
Deborah Kops