OK: it’s been a while, but at long last the SSON editorial blog starts here. I’m aiming to deliver comment and controversy in equal (hopefully coherent) measure, but considering my current companions on this site are two of the industry’s most respected bloggers in Phil Fersht and Peter Allen, my primary ambition is just to keep my head above water (not drowning but waving, etc etc).
It’s been a fascinating few days for me, kicking off with Vivek Wadhwa’s merciless attack on high-end offshore outsourcing (you can listen to the podcast here) and moving directly to the other end of the spectrum with chats with a couple of the most senior figures in the Indian outsourcing industry (in the very near future we’re launching a series of interviews with the head honchos of the biggest outsourcing players on the market: watch this space). Not that I needed reminding, but I was reminded anyway of just how contentious an issue outsourcing can be – and how deeply entwined in modern commerce it is. Regardless of your opinion, it’s not going away, folks… For those of you interested in looming issues (that’s not a textiles reference, btw) I’m running a roundtable on “Offshore Outsourcing: Can We Have Our Cake And Eat It?” towards the end of this month; a full transcript will be published on the site.
Meanwhile: I’ve just returned from SSON’s 8th Annual HR Transformation: Outsourcing & Shared Services 2008 conference in London (we’ll be putting all sorts of juicy content from this event online over the next few weeks so keep your eyes peeled). While there were plenty of takeaways, one thing that’s really stuck in my mind is the sheer volume of disapproval directed at one of the very biggest names in ERP (it’s certainly bigger than three letters…). I didn’t really hear a single positive word said about this particular, very expensive piece of kit – and I was listening hard. Not the best advertisement for [proprietary name deleted by nervous (read "cowardly") legal team].
One last word: I’d like to welcome Phil Fersht and his indispensable Horses for Sources blog to SSON. Phil’s been informing and entertaining the sourcing world for a long time now and we’re ecstatic to have him onboard.
Have a great weekend,
Jamie
Tags: blog, editorial, Outsourcing, PhilFersht, sharedservices, SSON, VivekWadhwa
