Sourcing and Vendor Mgt

Deloitte’s Two Recent Acquisitions Highlight Broader Market Changes

Christopher Andrews — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:37:49 +0000

Deloitte recently made two acquisitions that may not make front-page headlines, but for sourcing professionals, they are noteworthy. In February/March Deloitte announced the acquisition of 1) dcarbon8, a carbon and sustainability consulting company that specializes in supply-chain management and carbon benchmarking and 2) Simulstrat, a company that pioneers “wargaming” and a spinoff from the department of war studies at King’s College in London. The acquisitions are small, but they highlight some interesting trends in the technology marketplace:

Before the recession of 2008, high oil prices pushed interest in “going green” to a peak, but the economic recession cooled some of the green fever -- and many “clean tech” companies we track started repositioning themselves more as enablers of cost savings and efficiency. The acquisition of a sustainability consultancy like dcarbon8 highlights the fact that the interest in green continues – and companies like Deloitte view the green focus as more than a passing fad.
Simulstrat offers sophisticated risk mitigation consulting to companies – all posited at a simulation or “game-like” setting. In this case, Deloitte looked to the capabilities of an academic institution to bring an innovative risk services offering with its private sector clients. While simulations have traditionally been applied in government settings (e.g., war games) the potential for businesses (who are increasingly interested in risk mediation strategies to deal with macro-economic shifts) is strong.

Welcome to our new blog home

Christine Ferrusi Ross — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:16:05 +0000

Forrester's new blog platform went live -- we still have a team blog for Sourcing & Vendor Management, but now each analyst also has an independent blog. Check them out. In the meantime, here are some thoughts from Cliff Condon, the project manager. And of course, feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments.

Christine

Hey everyone. Here it is – Forrester’s new blog network. We made some changes to improve the experience for readers and to encourage more analysts to blog. Feel free to poke around and let me know what you think.

There are a few things I’d like to point out to you:

Everyone’s welcome here. Forrester analysts use blogs as an input into the research they produce, so having an open, ongoing dialogue with the marketplace is critical. Clients and non-clients can participate – so I encourage you to be part of the conversations on Forrester blogs.

We still have team blogs focused on role professionals. Our role blogs, such as the CIO blog and the Interactive Marketing blog, are a rollup of all the posts from the analysts serving that specific role professional. By following a role team blog, you can participate in all the conversational threads affecting a role.
And now we’ve added analyst blogs as well. If you prefer to engage directly with your favorite analyst, you can. Look on the right-hand rail of the team blog and you’ll see a list of the analyst blogs. Just click on their name to go to their blog. Or type their name into “Search”. An analyst blog is a place for the analyst to get reaction to their ideas and connect with others shaping the marketplace. You’ll find the blogs to be personal in tone and approach.

You can monitor analyst tweets. On role team blogs, you will see the recent tweets on the right-hand rail from analysts serving that role. On analyst blogs, the tweets shown are specific to that analyst.

Delivering on SaaS' Promise of Flexible Subscriptions

Liz Herbert — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:00:00 +0000

SaaS has long promised the concept of usage-based pricing, elimination of shelfware, and long-term commitment to value and total cost of ownership (TCO). But some clients have questioned how true this is in practice. With more and more clients signing longer deals of 3-5 years in length and sometimes struggling to get an exit clause, clients question whether they can truly pay for what they use – and eliminate or redeploy unused subscriptions.

Do You Need To Care About Fraud At Wipro?

Sudin Apte — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

I don’t know why, but a financial wrongdoing at an offshore vendor makes big news in the Western world. We saw that happen in instances such as the theft at HSBC’s captive center in Bangalore and the stealing of Citibank’s client account information at Citi’s supplier Mphasis (now part of HP/EDS). The recently reported financial fraud of $4 million at Wipro is the next one that’s making rounds. Frankly, I was surprised when many IT services buyers asked Forrester about this incident and its impact. Here is a snapshot of the story:

The Superbowl's impact on Sourcing & Vendor Management professionals

Duncan Jones — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

As I live in UK, I tend to record major US sporting events and watch them the next day (the Superbowl doesnt start until nearly midnight). That means I have to avoid the internet, twitter, conversations with US colleagues, etc, for the whole of the following day so I can enjoy the game without knowing the score. One client nearly spoiled it for me by talking about the game in an inquiry, but I managed to shut him up. (I think he understood why).

How Your Service Requirements Impact Desktop Outsourcing Pricing

Andrew Parker — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Recently I’ve been working with my colleague Wolfgang Benkel, to analyze the pricing trends for desktop outsourcing, and look again at how different service requirements and service level choices affect the final price of a contract.

Bad news for IT buyers: Oracle sues Rimini Street

Duncan Jones — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000

January 26th, 2010 was a black day for the enterprise software business.Late yesterday, Oracle launched a lawsuit against independent support provider (ISP) Rimini Street, alleging 'massive theft' of its intellectual property. Industry analysts had been expecting something like this - Oracle is already suing Rimini Street's predecessor TomorrowNow and was clearly worried that a competitive market would force it to cut the price of its hugely profitable maintenance offering.

SAP Brings Back 'Standard Support'

Duncan Jones — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Along with its 2009 results, SAP today made another attempt to undo the damage of its clumsy attempt to hike its maintenance % up to Oracle-like levels, by announcing the reinstatement of Standard Support as an option for customers. “SAP’s new support model is a direct response to the many discussions we’ve had with our customer and user groups,” said Léo Apotheker, chief executive officer, SAP.

Social Computing Becomes An Enterprise IT Sourcing Issue

Andrew Parker — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000

If you believe the outpourings in the media, social computing is set to turn our lives on their heads. It's true that we've all had to learn a new Internet language over the past decade. A recent poll made "tweet" (posting a message on Twitter) the word of the year for 2009. But how important is social computing in the workplace? No doubt many individuals (even some outside California) have welded tweeting into their lifestyles.

What’s Your Sourcing Archetype?

Euan Davis — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000

In 2010 the bottom line for sourcing groups is where and how you deliver value to your business. Successful teams are those that truly recognize what it is that line of business stakeholders need from their IT providers — either cheap cost effective service delivery; better operational performance or unique and competitive solutions that change the game. Based on my dealings with clients and analyzing Forrester inquiry data, I’ve detected three distinct sourcing archetypes at work, each guided by different motivations, metrics and engagement types.

Software Sales Proposal - Burn After Reading?

Duncan Jones — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000

Software vendors like to claim that their sales proposals are highly confidential, For Your Eyes Only or even, if you prefer the Coen brothers to Bond, Burn After Reading. I help dozens of clients every year with software negotiations, but I cant do that unless they share with me the vendor’s proposal, including price details and contract terms. Many clients are reluctant to do this, worried that doing this might break confidentiality clauses in their agreement.

Desktop Virtualization — How Will It Impact Desktop Outsourcing Costs?

Andrew Parker — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000

When it comes to desktop computing, sourcing teams find themselves getting to grips with a whole range of change drivers — from the arrival of Microsoft Windows 7 to the new desktop usage preferences of younger employees, while still striving to keep costs down. In Forrester’s discussions of these trends with vendors, service providers, and buyer companies, desktop virtualization has been one of the most commonly mentioned areas of interest.

When is enterprise mobility not really ENTERPRISE mobility? (hint - most of the time!)

Tim Sheedy — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:23:37 +0000

We often hear about how important enterprise mobility is to businesses. For years ICT events companies have been holding events about "enterprise mobility" and "the future of wireless" etc - and they have filled halls with attendees and sponsors/exhibitors.

But really - is mobility really that important to businesses? Weren't the people with "mobile" in their title the first to go when the global financial crisis hit? And point me to more than a handful of businesses whose business relies on their mobility capabilities.

Is IT Sourcing Getting Less Strategic?

Andrew Parker — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:33:43 +0000

Recent findings from McKinsey’s annual global survey into IT strategy and spending, conducted in October this year, made me stop and think. These concerned IT executives’ own view of the strategic sourcing effectiveness of their IT organizations. Most respondents — two thirds of the sample — rated their strategic sourcing approach as effective. But this endorsement looks less impressive next to the 2008 findings.

An Early Peek At The Sourcing & Vendor Management Team’s 2010 Roadmap

Christine Ferrusi Ross — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:41:50 +0000

We recently finished some research into what clients need from our research – role “deep dives.” Those of you who are clients of the sourcing and vendor management (SVM) role might remember having done one for us a while back. When SVM piloted that research last year, we used the information to refine our research strategy and create an SVM Roadmap. We then shared that roadmap with our clients in a teleconference to get more feedback into what you needed (and didn’t) from us.