To achieve optimum project performance in complex and strategic supplier relationships, you need to enlist the help of skilled people, placed in the right roles, while allowing them the freedom necessary to bring their skills and expertise to bear on…

It has never been more important for your project to have a robust, tried and tested procurement strategy that you can rely on. Agreement on a roadmap for the way you conduct your procurement project is essential to ensure all…

When looking to transition from one complex project or outsourcing agreement (including the supplier) to another, one of the key issues we find is that all too often organisations try to ‘fill in the gaps’ from what was being delivered…

In March The Times reported that outsourcing giant Capita was continuing to go through a troubling period, with significant falls in revenues and headline profits necessitating further internal organisational changes. This may not be either surprising or hugely troubling for…

It was only last month that we were highlighting reports of the multibillion-pound deal that was to see US security company Allied Universal win out over rival GardaWorld to gain the G4S board’s approval to buy the company. With £3.8bn…

Holiday travel is one thing there’s not much of right now. The pandemic has not only put paid to most people’s dreams of relaxing on a golden beach this year, but it has put many in the travel sector in…

For the last four months, the news media has been practically a one-focus outlet. As the health impacts of the pandemic start to wind down, news of the economic consequences it is leaving in its wake have started to filter…

Covid-19 has helped focus the minds of leadership teams in terms of the degree of value and benefits a number of organisations are achieving from their strategic supplier relationships. Over the last two to three months, the reliance on key…

Your strategic supplier in whatever project you have decided to look for assistance on, is a linchpin to its success, to the value optimisation that is achieved throughout the process, and to the outcomes that are actually achieved. Choose your…

In our recent blog ‘Roadmap to More Successful Strategic Outsourcing Relationships’, we discussed a top-level view of the steps any organisation should take to improve their chances of project success when working with outsourced partners, then pointed to our white…

Projects rarely run strictly according to plan. The longer your strategic relationships must last, and the higher the number of individuals, teams and departments involved, the greater the opportunity for things to veer off course. It’s at this stage that…

It’s not unusual for senior management teams to be unaware of the significant value their supplier management and Intelligent Client Function (ICF) teams create for their organisations. And, because this value can often go unnoticed, those at the coalface can…

Outsourcing any aspect of your operations is rarely a walk in the park. For anyone who’s ever been through such a project, the challenges, misunderstandings and potential for clashes when handing responsibility to a third party are likely to have…

Problems can arise at any point within a major strategic partner service delivery relationship. Life with a strategic partner is very much like a marriage – after the first year or so, when the honeymoon period has become but a happy…

Outsourcing challenges, what can we learn from the recent NAO report into the seven-year contract NHS England entered into with Capita in 2015 and worth a reported £330m? The contract was to deliver the transformation of primary care support services for…

When things go wrong in outsourced relationships, the parties will often scratch their heads, blame the other side and then look to escalate or resolve the situation that has brought them to this point. Escalation could mean anything from resorting…

In a recent article titled ‘NEW National Audit Office guidance for supplier operating standards that could change everything’, we took a look at the most recent update of the Government Commercial Function’s (GCF) eight ‘Commercial Operating Standards’ and discussed their…

The National Audit Office (NAO) recently published an insightful report on the state of commercial and contract management best practice in the public sector. We have developed a number of articles on the subject matter contained within this report –…

Reports suggest that it has not been a good year for global outsourcing giant Capita. What with the company’s first profit warning in September, reported project issues and what seems to be a weakening market across some of its core…

If your outsourcer’s shares had taken quite a beating, with the company’s value dropping by a quarter or more over a matter of days, you might be encouraged to start asking questions of those in the know as to whether…

With the recent announcement from the BBC that the NHS’s major complex projects management and procurement support force – the Strategic Project Team (SPT) – will be “closed down”, questions are now being asked and lessons must be learned in…

The NAO have reported that “A third of major government projects due to deliver in the next five years are rated as in doubt or unachievable unless action is taken to improve delivery” NAO Controller and Auditor Amyas Morse believes…

Service integration and management (SIAM) has continued to be something of a buzz-acronym in managed service and outsourcing circles. The way it’s talked about, you might be forgiven for thinking that it’s a silver bullet which in one fell swoop…

In their ongoing drive to reduce costs while attempting to improve services, the government has long believed shared services to be the answer. Annual savings in the region of 20% are commonly cited by those using shared services centres to…

In recent years we have recognised that there has been a marked shift in the way UK supplier managers have been interacting with their provider partners. Where in the past those looking to outsource may have been more focused on…

You will know from experience, as we do, that size and term can impact on the complexity of a project and the relationships that govern such a venture. And, as PFI agreements by their very nature tend to be sizeable…

Currently doing the rounds are rumours that 2016 could see a significant drop in demand for outsourcing services in the UK. Instinctively, when you see headlines like this, it’s reasonable to apply a degree of scepticism to such talk, but…

2015 was a tumultuous year for the outsourcing industry. Somerset Council finally decided to end the remaining elements of their ten-year contract with strategic partner Southwest One, two years early. Cornwall Council won their case against BT to terminate their…

In an ideal world, the relationship you have with your outsourced strategic partners should be a collaborative one. Working together you will better be able to identify how to improve operating practice, reduce service fees and recognise where best to…

As news circulated about Serco’s fourth profit warning in a year and plans for a rights issue to the tune of £550m to stabilise their battered and beleaguered balance sheet, we have seen an increase in contact by some of…

Given the rumours, murmurs and announcements of the last few weeks, BT Global Services’ (BT GS) customers are undoubtedly all asking themselves the same questions – are BT going to sell off their outsourcing division? This question keeps arising as…

Selecting and managing suitable suppliers often requires a much greater emphasis on communicating your business outcomes to them, along with much more subtlety and finesse in managing the emotional stakes, than many realise. The importance of strong supplier relationships from…

As outsourcing continues to gain popularity with both commercial-sector businesses and public-sector bodies, the importance of a strong and well resourced intelligent client function (ICF) team that has the skills and commercial awareness to drive maximum value from complex client/vendor…

With so many pieces in play on the metaphorical chessboard of complex service-provider relationships, to ensure success in achieving your business outcomes it is important to know how each will move. Who are the advocates, the obstructers and the fence-sitters?…

Supplier relationships can be complicated, they can be messy and they can at times be self- destructive. Poor planning, insufficient research, ambiguous contracts and conflicting agendas – all can contribute. These errors or omissions don’t even need to be substantial…

It was only last week that we were (or so we thought) reporting on BT’s latest public sector partnership issues with One Connect and Lancashire County Council… and yet it’s BT’s relationship with Liverpool County Council that is in the…

When complex strategic relationships between public bodies and private sector vendor organisations start to veer off track it can often seem too daunting a task to refocus vendor performance on the original business outcomes expected and agreed. With productivity levels…

In recent years the massive tectonic plates of change have shifted significantly from a status-quo where organisations have been comfortable with long-term, hands-off arrangements with outsourced service provision across a variety of disciplines to one where every aspect of the…

Outsourcing, managed and commissioned services are prone to relationship problems, with around half failing due to partners not performing to client expectation. You will be well aware that a lack of performance kills trust, but may be less aware of…

With the best of intentions, strategic partnerships and major projects can still falter. Such failings are typically down to a lack of quantifiable goals or a failing in the translation of business outcomes to contract terms (which are typically easily…