Search

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)-the sourcing of business services through external third parties-is a global phenomenon, which generated nearly $300 billion worldwide in 2012. BPO is highly IT-enabled, and on a growth trajectory that impacts across functions of major, medium and small enterprises, including procurement, human resources, accounting and finance, sales, marketing, legal, asset management and key administrative processes. Despite this size and spread, BPO services and the ability of clients to manage their providers, are still evolving and have a mixed record. In the course of their research, the authors have found only 20% of outsourcing arrangements are world-class performers. A further 25% are 'good', 40% are 'OK' and 15% are 'poor'. This book pinpoints and describes in detail the effective practices that characterize the top global BPO performers, including Microsoft, BP, EMC and TalkTalk. The authors provide case illustrations and examples throughout of how world-class practices were generated and evolved, and how they can be applied to real life settings and problem areas.

The hype and fear, globally, that surrounds service automation, robots and the future of work need to be punctured by in-depth research. This book, by Professors Leslie Willcocks and Mary Lacity, captures a year's worth of learning about service automation based on a survey, in-depth client case studies, and interviews with service automation clients, providers, and advisors. The authors cleverly embed today's empirical lessons into the broader history and context of automation, as a vital key in understanding the fast-rising phenomenon of service automation. The authors give a balanced, informed and compelling view on gaining the many benefits, as well as managing the downsides, of present and future technologies. The book has a number of key selling points: The authors are globally recognised for outstanding, world-class research; the book describes types of automation and gives evidence for multiple business benefits; in-depth case studies are included - from clients, providers and advisors of service automation; 25 key lessons are given, on how to deploy service automation in the workplace and there is a focus on the future of work, including robotic process automation, with valuable predictions and critique.

Here, Mary Lacity, Leslie Willcocks and Andrew Burgess present practices used by clients, providers and advisors to realize value from LSO. The book is based on data from 27 LSO providers, interviews with clients, consulting assignments and lessons learned from prior Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) research. Based on the authors' deep understanding of the evolution of ITO and BPO, and their experiences of sourcing LSO, The Rise of Legal Services Outsourcing addresses the transformation of legal work, LSO strategy, provider selection and contractual governance, as well as predicting the trends that will come to shape the LSO market.

The authors focus on the actuality of implementing CRM. They uncover the micro political, behavioural, psychological and knowledge issues that are all too often neglected in CRM implementations. Implementing CRM links CRM systems implementation with organizational change for the first time. It looks into the factors that distinguish firms that are more capable of connecting with their customers and awarded with customer loyalty with firms that are not as successful. Implementing CRM provides frameworks and ideas for how implementing CRM can be better handled.

Survey and study background In an effort to gain some answers on the 1ST capital investment (project selection) decision criteria used in practice, a survey was undertaken in 1990 of 80 American, British, Australian and New Zealand companies. A one-page survey form was used that provided 15 possible 1ST investment criteria, a means of indicating whether they are used or not, the percentage of projects to which each criterion is applied, and an overall ranking in terms of total project value for each criterion. The criteria are shown in Table 2.1. The criteria are categorized into financial, management, and development criteria. They were developed, first, through interviews with some 20 chief information officers (CIOs) in Britain and the United States. These CIOs were questioned on what criteria their organizations use in selecting 1ST investment projects, with the aim of developing a full list of the criteria used in practice. Secondly, the criteria and the form were tested and refined in a pilot study with some 12 companies. The criteria used in the survey and listed in Table 2.1 are primary level criteria.

This book is the definitive guide to leveraging the external services market for business advantage. Based on 30 years of research into over 2100 organizations and advisory engagements throughout Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and Africa, three world authorities detail the frameworks, lessons and practices that inexorably produce high performance. They pinpoint the who, where, and how of leadership, establish the strategic agenda and configure the outsourcing arrangement, how to manage across the outsourcing lifecycle, the vital client and supplier capabilities needed, how partnering evolves, and its real attributes, how clients innovate through outsourcing, and how they harness offshoring effectively. Up to date, with on-line follow-on materials to address market changes, this book provides the most authoritative single-source handbook for practitioners who want to be at the top of their game.

This book is an indispensable guide for executives, programme leaders, and business owners on maximising value from automation and digital transformation. It provides a real-world journey map of automation, from RPA through to intelligent automation, with a focus on practical strategy and management principles intended to help seize the trillions of dollars that are still being left on the table by companies that have not yet made this leap. Though grounded on the research and advisory work of the author team, this book offers clear eyed, easy to read advice for avoiding the ‘transformation bog’ where many organisations find themselves, struggling to maintain their strategy in an environment that feels increasingly dynamic and confusing. This book is not blinded by the brilliant new technology and hones in on what works and what distracts. It provides a total value of ownership framework for navigation and identifies seven core digital capabilities required for success. Ultimately a book for realists rather than digital idealists, it will be a vital resource for professionals who must chart a course to verifiable business performance improvement through digital enterprise empowerment amid often conflicting priorities.

A close look at the main developments in IT, business processes and offshore outsourcing. This book studies these topics in both theory and practice, exploring the rising prominence of outsourcing with a multi-dimensional, contextual perspective.

"For a painter suffused with history and the traditions of art, Caroline Williams is frighteningly contemporary. This book presents her landscapes. The powers of nature collide with technology as a product of human energy, ingenuity and arrogance - are they in a dance of technological victory or mutual destruction? Often beautiful, frequently taking the observer outside any comfort zone, always intriguing, highly intelligent and powerful, Caroline William's paintings embrace humour, joy, scepticism, event and warning in distinctive and compelling ways that reveal a true artist at work. Leslie Willcocks' interests are technology, politics, organisations and globalisation. The vital question, as we extend our power through such technologies, is whether we can control their limitless expansion or whether we are dooming ourselves to, not just techno-failures, but much larger human and eco-disasters. The narrative in this volume relates to the history of art, humanity's present predicaments, and how Caroline Williams, through a hard-won, distinctive form of imagining, provides warnings and lessons that we would do well to heed." -- Publisher's web-site.