Insights

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What a surprise to outsourcing providers…people actually matter to the CEO

The prevailing belief in the sourcing world is that cost is king and people are fungible. Yet a study by The Conference Board, The Conference Board CEO Challenge 2013 (www.ceochallenge.org), flies in the face of this, and other commonly held tenets, about the way the C-suite regard sourcing initiatives. Today’s study, based upon a survey […]
Deborah Kops
January 10, 2013
Archive

Barista or Bangalorean? Time to source shared services (and outsourcing) talent at Starbucks?

Barista or Bangalorean?  Time to source shared services (and outsourcing) talent at Starbucks? Recently I had the privilege of chairing The Conference Board’s vaunted annual Shared Services Conference. Since I’ve always had trouble sitting still, and chairing a conference means listening intently in every session, I was blown away when Paul Nicolaisen, VP Shared Services […]
Deborah Kops
January 8, 2013
Archive

Which Planet are Outsourcing Equity Analysts from?

2013 is bound to be an interesting year. With a host of rumors and suppositions out and about in the first five days of the year:  outsourcing saving companies faced with the economic implications of the U.S. fiscal cliff, the oft-imaginative Indian press declaring that this is THE year for M&A, and visions of social media and robotics effecting indelible changes on the industry, […]
Deborah Kops
January 5, 2013
Archive

Finance Transformation

ACCA: Expert Insights on Shared Services and Outsourcing This report presents insights from global experts of companies at the forefront of finance transformation activity.  It explores the issues, challenges and opportunities facing businesses transitioning to new finance models to improve business performance.  This is the first in a series of reports exploring aspects of finance […]
Deborah Kops
December 20, 2012
Archive

Merry Sourcing Change Year

  What is Santa putting in the stockings of all you shared services and outsourcing change agents this year? Seats  at the table when the sourcing strategy is first formulated so you don’t have to clean up afterward Business lines that don’t see you as empire builders Understanding by fellow team members that change is […]
Deborah Kops
Archive

It’s the water cooler chatter that sinks outsourcing and shared services change.

You know the situation well; the sponsors are all bought into outsourcing and shared services, but the stakeholders-at-large have mounted own guerilla war, trying to sink the program. Finding, and managing, the ringleaders is often like herding cats. You know who I am talking about: those self-appointed keepers of the corporate flame who position themselves […]
Deborah Kops
December 14, 2012
Archive

Sourcing Change Management Lessons from the Fiscal Cliff

Government is the gift that just keeps on giving…when they’re not taking through regulation and taxation.  Check out my newest post at http://www.ssonetwork.com/business-process-management/columns/sourcing-change-management-lessons-from-the-fiscal/
Deborah Kops
December 12, 2012
Archive

Behave and Believe—The Ultimate Goal of Shared Services and Outsourcing Change Management

  Last week I was wading through a pile of change management methodologies—you know, the standard ones that are actually quite good—the Kotter and the PROSCI frameworks and strategies, tools and techniques.  It struck me that the change management challenge for outsourcing and shared services is not the dearth of methodologies—there are plenty of templates […]
Deborah Kops
December 11, 2012
Archive

Never Fear, a Sourcing App is Here.

Tired of wading through voluminous reports? Want to see and hear, rather than read fine print? Want to manipulate the data yourself? Check out a market-first app on the success of finance and accounting shared services and  outsourcing. Co-authored with Jamie Lyon of ACCA, the app can be found here. This app presents findings from […]
Deborah Kops
December 6, 2012
Archive

Around the World and Back Again…Sourcing Services to the USA?

The immigration officer asks “what do you do?” And, returning from India or wherever, you really don’t want to tell him that your role in life is sending or managing processes offshore.  Most of us wish that the US could compete–it certainly would eliminate contextual communications and travel headaches. Can American talent compete? Check out […]
Deborah Kops
December 5, 2012
Archive

To brand or not to brand (shared services and outsourcing). That is the question…

  Now, I fundamentally believe that branding any corporate business model change that happens through shared services and outsourcing is a good thing. After all, people buy brand. Brand is shorthand for what we get, and what we expect to feel like after we buy a product or a service. It’s a promise.  And when […]
Deborah Kops
December 4, 2012
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

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