|
In most outsourcing deals the client companies fail to take the necessary steps to avoid confusion among the ranks regarding the deal. Most often than not employees and customers are kept in dark regarding the details of the deal. This can brew a lot of trouble.
This is because the impact on the human elements of the outsourcing deal is often neglected. Taking a programmatic approach to outsourcing IT infrastructure ensures that the human and technology elements of your change management process lead to a successful project.
Divining The Human Elements
Outsourcing key IT infrastructure is more than just a business deal that moves elements of your SME's IT infrastructure to a third party. It can wield a blow to your organization. People are often glossed over in IT outsourcing on the customer and employee sides.
Paul Roehrig, senior analyst for IT management and services at Forrester Research, says, "One of the biggest risk conditions in outsourcing deals occurs where customers assume that, 'The vendor is supposed to be driving all of this. We don't need to be too involved.' This is absolutely the wrong way to address change management. There are multiple levels of leadership that have to be considered when implementing a large outsourcing deal, so customer firms should take specific steps to manage change at the executive, senior director/manager, and end-user levels."
Another mistake is to keep employees and customers guessing about the implications of the outsourcing engagement. Leaving employees and ultimately the user community guessing can cause disruption to your small to midsized enterprise's outsourcing efforts. Putting a communications plan in place as part of the initial kickoff of an outsourcing effort can help turn potential cynics around when it comes to the outsourced project.
Managing The Effort
The thoughts of double-digit cost savings and improved service quality dancing through executives' heads can lead to the unintentional sabotage of an outsourcing effort. Taking your SME's eyes off collaboratively managing an outsourcing effort can have devastating effects on employee morale, customer delivery, and ultimately your SME's reputation.
Outsourcing can represent a loss of control for some in the organization, but that doesn't have to be the case. However, those doing the actual delivery of a product or service vs. the corporate officers cutting the outsourcing deals often hold this feeling. Collaborative management over an outsourcing effort requires that your SME define strategy and accountability for the outsourcing engagement as opposed to considering the engagement "out of sight and out of mind."
Internal ownership over an outsourced project is even more of a necessity. "Leaderless change" is a common outsourcing mistake, Roehrig says. "From the customer side, there simply has to be executive sponsorship that is visible and impactful. Senior customer leadership needs to show that they are driving the change by leading from the front. There's a big difference between a CIO saying, 'This is a good idea, now go do it' and 'Here's our strategy. Here's how outsourcing helps achieve that strategy. Here's how it will impact the organization. Here's what I'm doing to minimize personal and business disruption.'"
Roehrig says, "Outsourcing should only be undertaken as part of a solution to a business problem or opportunity. One of the best ways to ensure this happens is to connect sourcing to a defined business objective."
Roehrig says that idea sounds straightforward, but research shows at least 24% of technology decision-makers outsource without having a sourcing strategy that defines who and how they'll engage IT providers.
"In addition to this disconnect, the sourcing vendor selection process is often implemented by IT folks, who naturally focus on the technology components of the solution," he says. "This is important, but the whole process should also include a strong focus on why do this at all and on how the technology will be used and transformed. Also, again, include discrete transition work streams that address HR, communications, and management of change. Connecting outsourcing to business drivers, focusing on the how, and including several specific people-focused transition work streams will help maintain an emphasis on the people using and impacted by technology."
Also, do your best to keep knowledge in-house and don’t fall into the trap of letting project knowledge exist solely with the outsourcing provider handling your IT infrastructure. We aren't talking about a complex knowledge management system; the outsourcing provider needs to provide systems and operations documentation for the system. This documentation should be regularly updated and maintained to ensure its technical accuracy.
Change Management
Developing a programmatic approach to change management doesn't mean your SME has to subscribe to the latest change management process fad. It means you need to define and document a change management process that fits your staffing resources and provides for a replicable change management of your outsourced and in-house IT infrastructure.
Your programmatic approach should take into account the human elements of IT outsourcing and the management tools you put into place to ensure your outsourcing provider is meeting expectations.
A programmatic approach to change management encompassing the (often forgotten) human elements, a replicable change management process, and collaborative management over an outsourcing engagement can help ensure a successful outcome to outsourcing a key piece of your SME's IT infrastructure.
|