Opinion Pieces
Islamic finance: the key questions and opportunitiesby Islamic_Finance.pdf
Islamic codes make traditional finance and outsourcing difficult in many cases. Here Accenture presents an overview of the key issues, opportunities and challenges in the growth of Islamic finance and products compatible with Muslim beliefs.
more Beyond BPO: the move to knowledge process outsourcing (KPO)
by Martin Kochman, Cognizant
Martin Kochman, Cognizant, explains why the role of business process outsourcing is changing, and how sourcing global talent can unearth valuable new business opportunities
more The need for Application Portfolio Management
by Julian Dobbins, Director, Product Management, Micro Focus
The diffusion of applications across increasingly complex and diverse globalised enterprises has understandably seen the management of these systems grow correspondingly in complexity. Here Julian Dobbins discusses this rise in complexity and tries to reach some kind of calm amongst the storm...
more Undestanding the nature of deals: a marriage made in outsourcing heaven
by Perot Systems
Successful outsourcing relationships are built on trust and on mutual understanding. As with marriages, in a long-term IT outsourcing contract, if both parties are not communicating effectively and working together to reach the same objectives, there is a risk that it could all end with a costly and messy break-up.
more Construction: first to feel the pinch
by Neil Davidison, Maconomy UK
Dig deeper into the construction industry's success and you find that the London Olympics is facing a shortage of over 180,000 skilled construction and building workers, let alone the spiralling costs and deadline extensions. What's the answer? ERP says Neil Davidson
more The e-Borders project: dispelling the myths about Government projects
by Simon Colvin, Pinsent Masons
It is rare to read about the successes of Government IT projects. Public perception associates such projects with 'delay', 'failed solutions' and 'poor customer experience'. Of course, not all public sector procurements are fraught with difficulty, but reporting successful Government projects does not sell newspapers. In this article Simon Colvin, partner at law firm Pinsent Masons, provides some key messages learnt from the recent e-Borders procurement. He suggests how complex procurements should be planned to ensure that the myths of public sector procurements can be dispelled.
more Failure to comply is not an option
by Matt Fisher, VP marketing, Centennial Software
Matt Fisher, VP marketing, Centennial Software, examines how organisations cannot afford to ignore their software licenses in times of economic turbulence if they are to remain competitive.
more Outsourcing success with ALM: watch profits go up and costs go down
by Matt Scholl, COO and president of Aldon
Getting an outsourced organisation to share your IT culture and understand your rules means that it’s imperative that you have systems in place to ensure everyone is communicating well and moving in the same direction. Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) solutions are designed to help meet this challenge. With ALM you gain control, processes, visibility and accountability at each stage of the development cycle.
more Outsourcing Data Banks
by Michael Porter, Director, Blake Newport
Recent headlines regarding the DVLA and the Child Benefit agency have highlighted how data loss as a result of negligence can springboard an organisation into the headlines for all the wrong reasons. With data controls set to get stricter, those companies looking at outsourcing data banks need to be aware of both the legal requirements, and the associated risks. Michael Porter, Director of commercial and contract management at consultancy Blake Newport explains…
more Communication: The challenge to distributed Agile
by Clive Jenkins, delivery and assurance manager, Exigen Services
There is a secret to successfully distributed Agile development, and it has nothing to do with AJAX, Java, .NET or perfect hours. In cases where English is a second (or third) language and employees have different cultural morals and religious affiliations, successful communication is the key issue.
more Addressing the contact centre habitat - homeshoring in perspective
by
Will homeshoring – the use of distributed virtual callcentres that allow workers to work from home – take off in the UK?
more Is IT bleeding the value from your acquisition?
by Charles Andrews, Celona Technology
With M&A activity once again buoyant in the telecoms market, Celona Technology’s Charles Andrews examines how financial and commercial value can be devastated by a failure to consolidate IT systems quickly and efficiently and looks at what can be done to prevent this.
more Strategic document management is the key to compliance
by Hywel Benjamin
More than ever business continuity is threatened by non-compliance with regulatory regimes; regimes that are growing in number and power. Hywel Benjamin of Iron Mountain’s Records Compliance Unit explains that strategic document management is critical, both to business survival and to business success.
more The whys and wherefores of telecoms outsourcing
by Keith Gurden
Outsourcing in telecoms used to be a controversial option, but is now a key operational strategy. Keith Gurden of Hutchison Team Telecom looks at how this has happened – and how to choose the right outsourcing
more To affinity and beyond: creating the right outsourcing relationship
by Martin Waters, head of commercial operations, Steria
The traditional outsourcing contract is on the brink of extinction. As the capabilities of modern IT become ever-more closely aligned with businesses needs, so too have the requirements around the classic outsourcing deal changed and matured. Yet despite a burgeoning trend of more strategic outsourcing relationships, the majority of contracts are still renegotiated within two years of signing and second or third generation deals are still the exception, not the rule. Is there a way to ensure modern outsourcing marriages are built on genuine compatibility and survive beyond the honeymoon period? asks Martin Waters, head of commercial operations at Steria.
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