A major event has taken place whose repercussions will ring down through the ages. I’m referring, of course, to the SSON Online redesign (to the prospect of which I alerted you all last week) which kicked in in all its glamorous glory last Wednesday. Now, at the time of writing we haven’t yet been awarded the Nobel Prize in Website Design (inaugurated in our honour) but it can only be a matter of time, as I’m sure you’ll all agree. Or maybe not: but we’re extremely proud of how the site now looks and we’re looking forward to a new round of iterative functional changes over the next couple of months to further improve SSON’s online offering.

As I wrote in my Editor’s Note for this week’s Gateway eNewsletter, we’re hoping to get your feedback on the new site and your input into what you’d like to see us implement going forwards – we’ve got a few key changes lined up but we’re happy to consider anything else our network might suggest, so please do drop us a line with any ideas. And we’re not just appealing to your altruistic natures: if we incorporate them you could win a trip to the International Space Station and several billion dollars!” (NB: That last sentence might occasionally and in parts stray beyond the realms of truth. Into the realms of lies.)

Another major life-event to take place last week was, of course, the 13th Annual Shared Services Week in Orlando. Although I wasn’t there in person I’ve heard it was an absolute stormer of an event: some of the many highlights included the economists panel which opened the main conference (conveying a determinedly bearish message, by all accounts); Wal-Mart’s Michael Lockard on measuring customer satisfaction; and SSON head honcho Sarah Clayton returned from Orlando singing the praises of the IACCM’s data-rich panel on separating myths and realities: “the idea was floated that sales support was a huge untapped area for costs to be squeezed”. We’ve got some superb roundtables and podcasts from Orlando hitting the site as of this week – keep your eyes on the site.

I have to sign off today with another major event, although this time it’s major for me only: as I also wrote in my Gateway note, I’m leaving SSON at the end of this week to venture out into the world of self-employment. I’ll say goodbye properly at the end of the week – but in the meantime if you’re struggling to cope with this information I suggest listening to this: it’ll help. Trust and believe.

Jamie

OK, so it’s been a while… But before I explain away my absence of the past week, let me begin by saying that the 13th Annual Shared Services Week is now officially underway; a successful day of pre-conference workshops took place yesterday and the main phase of the event kicks off today with some of the most exciting, informative and inspirational presentations to grace the shared services and outsourcing space in living memory. Fact.

Today, as well as the cornucopia of content listed in the event program, Shared Services News editor Barbara Hodge (whose whereabouts in our new competition could win you a fantastic assortment of prizes – what are you waiting for?) hosts a roundtable debate on innovation involving some of the very biggest names at Shared Services Week. We’ll be publishing the transcript of this debate (and a second one being held tomorrow on the topic of HR transformation) on the site over the next couple of weeks along with loads more interviews, presentations and exclusive insights into the future development of the space. Keep your eyes on the site over the next month and all will be illuminated.

Those of you who do keep your eyes (or at least one – total concentration on www.ssonetwork.com while driving, cooking, performing open-heart surgery etc could lead to serious damage to yourself and others) on the website will notice a number of significant changes over the next day or two. As I hinted (ok: blatantly pointed out) in a post a couple of weeks ago, we’re just about to go live with a redesign of the site that’ll shake up SSON aesthetically and functionally with more fizz than the Diet Coke bottling plant being carpet bombed with a few thousand tons of Mentos. Over the past few days therefore (as well as working on the top content that keeps the cogs turning here in the SSON engine-room) we’ve been proofing, QCing and generally perfecting SSON 2.0 – which has unfortunately (or very fortunately indeed depending on your opinion of this blog) kept me from posting for what does really feel like far too long.

Alas, we’re still ironing out the last few little glitches but we hope to be up and running by tomorrow – and we’re really looking for your feedback to let us know how we’ve done. Please send us your thoughts at your leisure; after all, we’re here for you and above all else it’s important that our redesign comes up to your exacting standards. We’ll be rolling out some more additional functionality over the summer and we’ll try to incorporate your suggestions if they’re on the money, so don’t hold back if you think we’re missing any opportunities to make SSON even better and brighter.

Time to get back to the rigorous testing environment of SSON Towers. I’ll leave you with something beautiful: enjoy.

Jamie

There’s only one way to kick this post off today: with a line that will, I feel, go down as one of the great quotations of GD (Great Depression) II. Speaking following the news that certain AIG staff – despite most of the money in the world apparently having been shovelled into the AIG boiler to keep the wheels of finance grinding round – have been given bonuses totalling $165 million, White House adviser Austan Goulsbee opined that “it’s almost like these guys should have gotten the Nobel Prize for evil”.

Notwithstanding the realisation that Alfred Nobel had really missed a trick with that one, the first thing that popped into my head was “that’s a bit strong isn’t it, old boy?” (I was in Victorian mode at the time). And of course it is hyperbole and rhetoric and all that jazz – but it’s also one hell of a soundbite and a deeply amusing flashpoint in an otherwise very grim tale.

(Also deeply amusing – although not according to anyone else I’ve told this to: did you know they’ve just started showing The Flintstones in parts of the United Arab Emirates? Dubai don’t get it but Abu Dhabi do. Ha. Ha. Ha.)

Away from the maelstrom: I had a good chat earlier today with a couple of members of the network about the future of the shared services and outsourcing space and, specifically, the lessons which this space might be able to take from the contact centre industry. As this will be developed into an article down the line I don’t want to go into too much detail here (“why bring it up, then, you idiot?” I hear you ask, to which I can only respond by smiling serenely and proceeding with my narrative) but it did get me thinking: to what extent are SSCs and contact centres likely to merge over the next few years? After all, a lot of the infrastructural and hiring requirements are the same and it would seem logical going forward to develop processes which can merge the front and back offices as much as possible. I’m interested to hear your thoughts: drop me a line and let me know your own perspective.

Time for me to make like an SSON editor at the end of his day and get out of here. Until next time: check this out…. (spooky laugh; fades to nothing)

Jamie

In times as tumultuous as these (yes, there have been such times – just ask the dinosaurs) the foundations of even the strongest, tightest commercial relationships can shift and buckle like peculiarly accelerated tectonic plates (how’s that for a contrived simile? Eat your heart out Sidney Sheldon!). It’s common sense: the operating environments for both parties at the beginning of, say, for the want of argument, an outsourcing relationship can look very different from how they appear a few months into a downturn. Even in the good times there’s no guarantee that a partnership will work out perfectly; in the bad times the pressures on both sides alter and increase and maintaining a mutually beneficial partnership becomes ever more difficult.

Managing – and, if necessary, extricating oneself from – outsourcing deals was clearly an issue of increasing importance to organisations worldwide even before the C-R-I-S-I-S (that’s my Tammy Wynette tribute); after it, it’s become paramount. Fortunately for you lucky individuals there’ll be plenty on that topic – and, of course, plenty of others – at the 13th Annual North American Shared Services Week taking place later this month in Orlando, where my editorial comrades-in-arms Barbara Hodge and Jolie Newman will be looking forward to meeting you (and grilling you for all your shared services and outsourcing hints, tips and good old-fashioned gossip). Those of you who can’t make it can check out content on the site direct from Barbara and Jolie – and (bringing us neatly back to the beginning of this blog) if you want to learn more about how to renegotiate within an outsourcing relationship but can’t make the Orlando event, check out Mark Reason’s presentation from the Shared Services & Outsourcing Summit in London earlier this year, up on the site as of today.

Changing landscapes of a different kind are around the corner for SSON, meanwhile: in the next couple of weeks we’ll be going live wth the next version of our website featuring a radical redesign, great new functionality and faster and smoother operation. I don’t want to give too much away in advance of what I’m sure you’ll agree will be a significant improvement, aesthetically and functionally; you’ll just have to keep your eyes peeled over the rest of the month…

I’m off: get a load of this.

Jamie

More gloomy news for the financial sector this week: the US government prepares for the failure of a major bank with a new insurance bill introduced in Congress; in the UK, LloydsTSB shares plunge as the government unveils plans to increase its stake to 65%; exports from Japan fall 46% as the world’s second-largest economy sinks further into the mire; and the World Bank says it believes the global economy is in its worst state since the Great Depression. Lest that last story wasn’t wrist-slashingly bleak in the first place, the cheerful chappies at the World Bank go on to say that industrial production worldwide will fall by as much as 15% this year.

However, once again I’ve resolved to try to focus on the positive, so here goes: anyone with a spare few hundred million dollars floating around might want to cast an eye India-wards, where the government has given the go-ahead for beleaguered Satyam to sell a controlling 51% stake in itself in the hope that an upsurge in investor confidence might save the firm, which has lost over 80 per cent of its market value since the revelations broke of former chairman Ramalinga Raju’s extremely creative accountancy. If the early indications are anything to go by, it’s a good plan: Satyam shares rose 15% following the announcement amid speculation that a couple of major outsourcing providers are going to join engineering firm Larsen & Toubro in expressing interest in the takeover.

The most positive news of all, of course (NB: it’s all about your sense of perspective) comes from here within the joyous heart of SSON; we’re glad to announce that our benchmarking study in association with The Hackett Group will roll over for another month as a result of popular demand reminiscent of Beatlemania at its height. (It’s probably fair at this stage to point out that no matter how rabid the demand gets, we won’t be playing any rooftop gigs, nor breaking up and then spending any significant time in bed in the Amsterdam Hilton.) For more information on the survey, check out our promotion in full.

Tangent time: there are still a couple of days remaining for you to get involved in our “The Crisis: Six Months In” feature looking at the impact of the downturn on shared services and outsourcing. For those of you who haven’t been glued to this blog or our LinkedIn group, I’m looking for a few lines from you on each of the following three questions:

• What have been the biggest consequences for the shared services and outsourcing space of the economic crisis over the last six months?
• Specifically (and in as much detail as you can give!) how has the crisis impacted upon your own organisation?
• Six months in, what’s your perspective on how you see the space developing over the next six months?

I’m closed for submissions as of the end of Wednesday: send your thoughts to me at jamie.liddell@ssonetwork.com THIS VERY MINUTE!

Time to go: I’ll leave you with this (clearly Oscar-worthy) epic.

Jamie

The headline news on the BBC website today that a company has been busted (that’s a technical term) allegedly selling workers’ personal details to construction companies looking to vet individuals pre-employment has, yet again, dragged the issue of personal data and its protection into the limelight. According to reports, the Consulting Association had been running – for 15 years – a scheme whereby firms paid a subscription fee, and small usage costs, to gain access to descriptions of labourers including profound insights such as “ex-shop steward, definite problems” and “Irish ex-Army, bad egg”.

Most of the countless stories of data-protection lapses that have emerged around the world in recent years have related to problems caused by that persistent little demon “human error”; here in the UK hardly a week seemed to go past last year without another scandal popping up involving personal information “going astray” (as if memory sticks had suddenly developed the power of independent motion) and I have heard enough horror stories from the US, Australia, and South Africa in particular to know that this isn’t a problem confined to Airstrip One. Quite rightly a good deal of time and effort has been invested nationally and globally in attempting to plug the cracks in the information superstructure and it’s to be hoped that we are indeed making progress on this most daunting of tasks, a mission in which outsourcing firms (and captive centers too, come to that) are in the vanguard.

But every now and then stories like today’s belch forth to remind us that data protection isn’t just about preventing errors: it’s about clamping down on intentional abuses. If the allegations are accurate, personal data was being sold, illegally, by the company in question, thus potentially (and by the sound of it, actually) having serious negative consequences for the employment prospects of the parties whose data was being trafficked. One individual quoted by the BBC said that having won an unfair dismissal case in 2000 he has found himself shunned by potential employers: “Prior to 2000 I could get work on the most prestigious of contracts, but since then not a single agency has called to offer work… Even though I was the victim, they [the companies] have punished me ever since.”

It might not be data like bank details, health records etc; but as the anonymous quotee above found, the misuse of this data can have a catastrophic impact on individuals. It’s all very well making data-related processes as fool-proof as possible to prevent errors, losses, etc – but unfortunately sometimes the problems aren’t the fault of fools, but of bastards. According to the BBC, the owner of Consulting Association faces a maximum £5,000 fine if found guilty of breaching the Data Protection Act: I’m no Draco, but at a time when some people are calling for bankers to be publicly executed (certain bankers or just bankers in general, I know not which) that fine seems a little lenient. Surely stiffer penalties – right across the globe – for such abuses are required if any meaningful deterrent is to be maintained?

(Incidentally, you can read about data protection legislation in the UK in two articles by technology lawyer Dai Davis, on the site now: Data Protection Legislation in the UK: an Overview and Data Protection Legislation in the UK: Summary Notes.)

Need some light relief? Take a look at this. You have to respect the planning…

Jamie

Today’s markets make for pretty depressing reading (quelle surprise!); it’s fascinating – in a tremendously terrifying way – how we’re so deep into this economic hole and yet there’s still no sign of the bottom. The Dow Jones has dropped below 7,000 (in fact at the time of writing it’s below 6,900) for the first time in over 11 years; the FTSE 100 is leading European stocks down the plughole as I speak; and Tokyo and Hong Kong closed down significantly and with an air of misery pervading proceedings. Falls of this magnitude after such a prolonged decline really speak volumes about investors’ faith in a speedy recovery and the fact that much of today’s gloom seems to have come about as a result of sub-par (NB: “sub-par” in this case still meaning pre-tax profits of $9.3bn) performance by HSBC – so far one of the few even vaguely positive stories in the world of finance – isn’t exactly an indication that those sentiments are going to change any time soon.

What are the consequences of all this for back-office functions? Obviously nothing much has changed from one day to the next – we’re stepp’d so far in the mire that further global drops like today’s presumably won’t have much impact except on individual organizations hit by specific value-falls – but the lack of a visible bottom to the crisis affects morale, planning, contract negotiations and all sorts of other factors right across the board. The pressure on leaders to keep their teams together and working optimally has never been so great; for individuals along the scale, normal life-pressures are exacerbated by fears over job security, career development and a host of other worries. It’s not for nothing they call this type of event a depression – even if, officially, they aren’t. Yet.

If you think all that’s a bit negative – or not negative enough – it’s time to have your say. As I mentioned in my last post we’re running some editorial on “The Crisis – Six Months In” (thanks to all those who’ve responded already – much appreciated); we’re looking for answers to each of the following three questions:

• What have been the biggest consequences for the shared services and outsourcing space of the economic crisis over the last six months?
• Specifically (and in as much detail as you can give!) how has the crisis impacted upon your own organization?
• Six months in, what’s your perspective on how you see the space developing over the next six months?

The deadline remains March 9th – let’s see what you’ve got to say…

Meanwhile I’ve discovered what is either a superb metaphor for the global economy or a very, very funny prank. Check this out.

Jamie

President Obama’s speech to Congress this week has certainly put the proverbial cat among the outsourcing pigeons (note to self: “Outsourcing Pigeons” is a great name for a rock band, as well as a potentially interesting Sunday afternoon pastime): his promise that his administration his administration “will restore a sense of fairness and balance to our tax code by finally ending the tax breaks for corporations that ship our jobs overseas” has led to vast acreage of comment in the business pages and the blogosphere alike.

Of course it’s hardly awash with specifics, that question – what about all the corporations who’ve already offshored jobs, for instance? – but, rather like similar comments Obama made on the campaign, his words have led to a frenzy of debate, particularly in India where several already-antsy BPO pundits have all but proclaimed the death of the country’s outsourcing industry (and where the not-exactly-spin-shy NASSCOM, on the other hand, put out a press release praising Obama’s speech for including an attack on protectionist policies). Once again, as with the campaign comments, it’s too early to see the true significance of this latest pledge – but that’s no obstacle to a good burst of hypothesis, conjecture and all-round speculation and I applaud it wholeheartedly: let me have your own thoughts.

The crisis which prompted Obama’s pre-budgetary oration continues, of course, to rage more or less unabated; to commemorate six months since the beginning of what might (will, in fact, at least here) be called the main phase of the crisis which commenced with the takeovers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the collapse of Lehman Bros, the Shared Services & Outsourcing Network will be running a content series deviously entitled “The Crisis: Six Months In”. Along with some other goodies we’re going to publish a collection of your own thoughts on events (rather like our Year in Review and Year Ahead features at the tail-end of last year), and I’m looking for a few lines from you on each of the following three questions:

• What have been the biggest consequences for the shared services and outsourcing space of the economic crisis over the last six months?
• Specifically (and in as much detail as you can give!) how has the crisis impacted upon your own organisation?
• Six months in, what’s your perspective on how you see the space developing over the next six months?

We’ll be publishing this feature in the middle of March so your deadline, ladies and gents, is March 9 – I look forward to receiving a cornucopia of wondrous opinings at jamie.liddell@ssonetwork.com

(On the subject of great content: don’t forget to check out the Latin American shared services roundtable, the transcript of which I – at long last – put up on the site today. Check it out and let me know your thoughts.)

I’m off for an interview: in my absence, take a look at this. “Fun”, eh?

Jamie

At the end of last week, and in the wake of yet another very well-received presentation of his at the 3rd Annual Shared Services & Outsourcing Summit 2009 in London, I interviewed Tom Bangemann of The Hackett Group, a long-standing SSON stalwart and an all-round good fellow. Tom had presented on “The Implications of Globalization & the Economic Crisis for Mature Shared Services” – topics which he also investigates briefly in our interview, which I’ll be putting up on the site this week, along with the pdf of his presentation.

One of the crucial things to come out of Tom’s presentation is that while “world-class” as defined by the Hackett methodology is clearly a reasonable state to which to aspire, there’s no one single path to the Holy Grail (fortunately, since anyone familiar with either Indiana Jones or Monty Python would otherwise probably seriously consider the merits of mediocrity); for example, Tom told the conference that while the majority of world-class organizations have a single-instance ERP strategy, one world-class company has an incredible 83 ERP systems (frankly, that’s just greedy, in my opinion).

A logical corollary of this diversity of approaches, surely, is that there’s no single answer to the more-than-pressing questions being thrown at companies worldwide by the current economic turmoil. Flexibility and agility are more important now than ever and with so many of the old uncertainties out of the window new ways of working are emerging which will, in the long term, change business fundamentally and forever. One thing’s for sure: what’s world-class in a few years’ time will look very different from how it does now.

(This is an ideal time for a – to quote the esteemed Dr Hannibal Lecter – “ham-handed segue” into another plug for The Hackett Group and SSON Service Center Benchmark Study – if you haven’t signed up already, why not?)

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the ever-expanding universe that is SSON: the 6th Procure-to-Pay Summit is underway in Miami, and to commemorate this event (ok, not really – it’s plain old serendipity again) we’ve launched our long-awaited P2P Special Focus series, with an interview with Julienne Sugarek of CenterPoint Energy which you can listen to or read depending on inclination and taste. The Summit itself enjoyed a successful workshop day yesterday and the main conference opens today with keynote presentations from Julienne, and from Amgen’s Ramesh Krish – who’ll also be appearing on SSON next week with a look at applying Six Sigma methodology to P2P processes.

I was going to sign off by linking to something related to The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, which I read over the weekend and which is a truly phenomenal novel (albeit with very little relevance to shared services and/or outsourcing) which I can’t recommend highly enough. However I couldn’t find anything appropriate so instead I thought I’d give in to the incessant demand for more goat-related content: check out these little fellers. I challenge you not to laugh out loud.

Jamie

The devil’s banquet of our present economic travails has been spiced and seasoned by the unmasking of a few ALLEGEDLY unsavoury individuals; the apparent exploits of Sir Allen Stanford might not quite equal those of Bernie Madoff in scale but $8 billion’s not to be sniffed at, and according to my diligent research (ie, Wikipedia) “the FBI and other agencies have been conducting an ongoing investigation of Stanford since 2008 for possible involvement in money laundering for Mexico’s Gulf Cartel” – and THEY’RE a lovely bunch, of course. Salt-of-the-earth types. Keep their heads while all around them are losing theirs etc etc.

Anyway: surrounded by such a miasma of ALLEGEDLY nefarious activity, it’s good to know some people are still striding the straight and narrow – and working to ensure the rest of us do too. I’m thinking in particular of the good ladies and gents of the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team (PAPT), an agency of the Filipino government made up of representatives of the national police, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and the Optical Media Board (OMB).

As the Filipino outsourcing industry grows at a precocious rate (helped by some opportunistic marketing – the country has made solid capital out of the hits taken by Indian outsourcing following the Satyam affair) the risks posed by piracy and other software theft have grown accordingly – recent reports suggest that piracy now costs Filipino tech companies over $155 million annually with an increasing portion of that afflicting ITO and BPO providers. The PAPT – driven no doubt by the need to safeguard the vital revenue generated by outsourcing to the country as well as by sheer high-minded virtue – has launched a campaign entitled “Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late!” aimed at firms using unlicensed software; a number of firms – foreign- as well as domestic-owned – have already been raided by the team, and “the [national police] will be enforcing the law to the fullest extent as it is duty-bound to do,” according to police chief Jesus Verzosa.

Why does this matter? Because at times like these – and with the ripples of the Satyam scandal still, unfortunately, making waves in the minds of firms considering offshore outsourcing – it’s vital for companies to have faith that their outsourcing providers are completely above board. The kind of partnership created by an outsourcing deal requires a great deal of that most precious of commodities, trust: trust not just that your partner will behave as it should with your data and your mission-critical processes, but that it will still be around, rather than closed down for infringements of software legislation, for the duration of the partnership. Hats off to PAPT for its efforts to ensure that trust remains a viable proposition.

On a completely different subject far, far away from all that has gone before: I was very interested to see the discussion regarding the Black Book of Outsourcing has been reopened following my fellow blogger Phil Fersht’s recent post on “The Black Book of Hollywood”. Will the debate reach the heights (and depths) of last year’s exchanges? I’ll be following it closely and would welcome any of your thoughts on the matter.

I’ll leave you with a golden oldie: I spent yesterday evening rediscovering Tom Lehrer and thought that even those of you familiar with it would appreciate listening to this once again. Awesome.

Jamie