A dilemma that many first-time buyers of global services face is whether to take small steps into outsourcing or dive right in. Many end up putting in minimal effort, which results in failure. What this says to me is that although they know it will be successful, they don’t want to go full throttle because it isn’t easy to do so. No CEO is interested in spending time on just the small stuff and it ends up in a self fulfilling prophecy where you go in putting little effort because you think you might fail, and you do end up failing because you didn’t put in enough effort!
An ideal way that works both for the buyer and the supplier is to go ahead with one process, Finance and Accounting for instance, and as soon as you start seeing results, move forward and get all your ducks lined up for the next phase and so on. That’s what most companies do. Frankly, it keeps the supplier on their toes because they know there is no chance of getting the next scope of work, unless they deliver on the first phase.
The industry has seen clients who’ve doubled the services they have globalized every year for 5 consecutive years. The only way you do that is by adding more and more scope through success.
Several years ago i was listening to talk radio and happened to hear a story of "Plan B". I don't recall the speakers name, but he was an older gentleman with a long-standing broadcast. The basis of this story was much like Tiger's words above and is summed up as such: By having a Plan B, part of you is admitting that Plan A is going to fail. Why not improve you Plan A before commiting to that course of action?
ReplyDeleteI will admit, this is me. I make choices quickly witht he information i have and move forward like it is the best choice available. Sometimes new information becomes available and renders my first choice obsolete (not wrong). From there, the process repeats itself. Life, business or personal, is a series of choices. Rarely, if ever, do you make one deision on a topic and never revisit it for one reason or another.
In complete agreement with Tiger, if you don't put in the required effort you won't get the desired results. You only get out what you put in!