I’ve now done over 40 site visits to service delivery centers–mostly in India, but also in the Philippines, Malaysia, Ireland, Spain, Czech Republic, South Africa, United States and all over Latin America—both as an advisor and as a host, and I still enjoy them. I watched kids open Christmas presents a couple of days ago and could not help but draw a parallel. The wide-eyed excitement that comes with seeing the capabilities of mature service providers is really not that different from the kids ripping the wrapping off their presents.

I love the site visit because it is when prospective outsourcing clients go from skeptical to enthusiastic, from fearful to excited, from “this must happen” to “I can’t wait for this to happen!”  For the customer, it’s the first chance to see how many of their peers are really making outsourcing and offshoring work, and how much more capability is possible in this environment than “back at home.”  For the provider, it is the best opportunity to prove the promises of the sales cycle can indeed be delivered. It’s one of the reasons that we usually advise our clients to bring along their loudest naysayer—it turns them into supporters almost every time!

The promise of outsourcing lies not just in labor arbitrage, but in the focus a specialist can bring to a back-office process or technology, and the advantages of a global footprint in a global economy. A well-designed site visit will showcase all three! Yet even as they build excitement for an outsourcing initiative, site visits are also a great reality check: they highlight the challenges of working remotely, across time zones, and how those challenges are addressed by other companies doing the same things; they can expose the vast cultural and socio-economic differences that will exist no matter how good the commercial relationship; and they show everyone what traveling “half way” around the world—twice—really means!

Because of the intense experience site visits represent, they also carry significant weight in the client’s decision-making process. Providers prepare intensely but the visiting delegation should prepare just as much! If you need help planning site visits, reach out to us—we can help!

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I think you may have heard the news by now, but if you haven’t, then you should know that the telecom advisory firm that I founded, TAG, has been acquired by Alsbridge, Inc. I’m excited about the change, and I know that you will be too. TAG will operate as a service line of Alsbridge, and will offer the same world-class staff and processes that we always have. We’ve even added more staff to our team during this exciting period of acquisitive growth. The combined offerings of TAG and Alsbridge bring a unique value proposition to our clients. We now provide global advisory services dedicated to helping clients reduce costs and improve service levels in information technology and business processes in addition to telecommunications network services. No other advisory firm provides the combined services that we offer.

You can learn more about us, what we do and how we can save you 15 to 50 percent on your telecom network services by checking out our website. And coming soon, you’ll also find resources, such as articles and white papers, that will help you make decisions on managing your telecom expenses.

Have a prosperous 2010!



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I was recently working with a CIO that wanted to know what “operational alignment” truly meant, and how it could affect a sourcing decision.  This client was weighing the pros and cons of outsourcing versus a shared services solution.  The CIO felt that with either solution, the new retained organization had already been defined, and that meant the company had already had achieved operational alignment.  While having the retained organization defined and ready to implement is an important step in the sourcing journey, it is not a component of having operational alignment.

As we walked down the hall to the CEO’s office, I quickly explained the three critical elements to achieving operational alignment:

1.    Process Alignment - This particular client had been in business for over a century and had always done infrastructure and applications development and support in-house.  In order to align with a new potential outsourcing partner, or to align multiple disparate IT organizations, it is important to document current IT processes and align those processes.  I told the CIO that while it is important to use ITIL®V3 as a guideline, it was more important that the company document their current processes and align those with the future way of doing business.

2.    Governance Alignment – Focus on the future governance structure, account management process, and the team that will be in place.  Additional areas to focus on would include: performance monitoring and reporting, service level agreements, tracking, reporting and approach, and the use of tools for reporting to the business.

3.    Transition Alignment – Document the internal transition plan, timeline and milestones.  Create documentation on what capabilities, tools, methodologies, processes and technology are currently available to the company.  Some additional items to document would be transition approach, plan for knowledge transfer, and training milestones and deliverables.

I continued down the hall and left the CIO to introduce the CEO to the three cornerstones to operational alignment:

Operational Alignment = Process Alignment + Governance Alignment + Transition Alignment

Documented processes, governance structure, and transition plans should be vetted with the new provider, or with individual business units if going the shared service path.  Once these processes, structures, and plans have been reviewed and agreed upon, you can correctly say that you have operational alignment and are prepared for a successful sourcing relationship.


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I just wrapped up a site visit with a client in Manila, Philippines.  A lot of advisors don’t like site visits—they take advisors halfway across the world, are usually rushed, and can be repetitive and tedious. I am not one of them. I don’t mind the travel, and I like seeing how the delivery end of our industry works (and especially how it improves over time).

I have easily done over 50 offshore site visits over the years, some as a host and many as an advisor, yet I am still amazed by how well these delivery centers work. The client I was with this time said it best: “There’s no way we have these tools, processes, or discipline back home.”

Continue reading "Report from Manila"

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Unlike others perhaps, I didn’t learn the adage “you never have a second chance to make a good first impression” until I had graduated from college and was in my early working years.  I know for sure there have been times I did not put my best foot forward.  It may have been that I was just too nervous to know how best to make that good first impression.

Over the last year or so I’ve dealt with dozens of service providers both onshore and offshore who have had the opportunity to make a really good first impression.  For some reason, several have made it more difficult for themselves in the next scheduled interaction with the client because they came off as looking not as good as they really are to the client.  I am not sure if they didn’t take the time to plan for the meeting or couldn’t muster the right resources to engage with the client.

I know this is going to sound a bit too trite… but it’s the simple things that make the difference to clients.  Let me cite three that stand out: 

1) Take notes - Sounds a bit ridiculous but I have had clients who after an interaction came away with the impression that the people they met with were not really interested in their business.  I believe this was quite to the contrary, however, there sat five executives who just listened, nodded, but didn’t take a single note.  Taking notes demonstrates you are interested in what the client is saying.

2) Engage - More often than not I’ll see three or four people attending a meeting and one or two of them do all the talking.  After they leave, the client is not sure why the others were brought along.  Everyone should have a defined role to play and needs to contribute to the topic.  Otherwise leave them behind.

3) Push back - I think sometimes service providers go too far in agreeing with the client.  We had one client recently who told a provider, “Tell us what we need to hear, not what you think we want to hear.”  The clients I have worked with want to hear the truth.  If you don’t agree with what they say, tell them.  But do it in such a way that you can factually back up your position, not just provide an opinion.

I realize these sound very trivial, but whether you are a service provider seeking new business or interacting with your own senior executives, all three apply.  I have to remind myself every time I meet a new client or service provider that I too am held to the same standard of making a good first impression.  Make yours count.



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Over the years I’ve worked with dozens of tier one and tier two outsourcing providers.  I recently asked some of them to provide their perspective as to “why their clients and potential clients should hire a sourcing advisor.”  One would initially think that a provider would be opposed to having a sourcing advisor involved as it might slow down the process and lessen the advantages that a provider could have over the client without the benefit of independent advice.  I found quite the contrary.

Listed below are a dozen “uncut” reasons why providers believe clients should hire a sourcing advisor:

A Dozen Good Reasons
1.    Ensures objectivity – brings in impartiality to the provider selection process
2.    Acts as a catalyst – a good sourcing advisor spurs the sourcing discussion within the client environment
3.    Provides a financially sound approach and rigor – develops a sound data-centric business case for sourcing options leveraging a data-driven approach

Continue reading Provider’s Point of View: 12 Reasons to Hire a Sourcing Advisor


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What a way to kick off the New Year?  Alsbridge continues to grow organically and has just added a new service line to our suite of offerings to clients.  I’m excited!

We’ve just introduced what I believe is a step-change in the sourcing advisory space by acquiring TAG, the leading experts in procurement, contract negotiation and expense management of telecommunications services including voice, data, wireless, internet, local, and international services. 

In my opinion, Alsbridge already had the best methodology and database of information to assist clients to reduce costs and improve services levels in information technology and business processes.  Now, we have data-driven capabilities in the telecommunications network space as well. 

I’ve watched the outsourcing industry grow up and seen its sibling – the telecommunications network services industry – growing side by side.  And since moving to the sourcing advisory space in 2003, we’ve worked side by side with consulting firms in the telecom network spaces.  Combining the expertise in both spaces has long made sense to me, but I hadn’t found a firm with the right focus on service delivery excellence until we began talks with TAG.  The acquisition of TAG is a continuation of a strategic plan to acquire data-rich consulting capabilities to be able to provide a wider set of services to our clients and meet today’s as well as tomorrow’s need to reduce cost across the enterprise.

Simply put, no other sourcing advisory firm can provide clients with the depth of expertise in sourcing information technology, business processes and telecommunications network services.  Our current and future clients will benefit greatly from the synergies!



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Outsourcing is comparable to the synergies created by an acquisition in which the algebraic properties are no longer applicable to the rules of mathematics.

The value of acquisitions create the concept of revenue growth multiples through product and service line leverage; additional geographic penetration; and sharing innovation through research, development and best practices.  At the same time, redundant processes, expenses and staffing are eliminated, and the benefit result of lower costs increase the bottom line.  Benefits also flow through to the final customer, higher sales and lower costs are achieved by one entity (as opposed to the two, separately) and shareholder value is increased exponentially.  Combining the two entities achieve results of:


Placing processes with an outside provider brings lower costs, leveraged industry experience, improved processes and innovation that was not readily available while working in an isolated environment away from others.  Companies not using outside providers define its best practices as what employees know as existing, and the only reference point is oneself.  Outsourcing algebra equation is:



Here are some of the pieces of value creation and how it works:

•    Labor arbitrage
•    Elimination of tools
•    Training costs reduction
•    Leveraged environment
•    Capital preservation
•    Buying by the drink
•    Cost control and avoidance
•    Soft savings in telephony, benefits, environmentals and human resources

Savings opportunities exist with the elimination of a layer of management staffing that is no longer required to oversee the staff and replaced with a leaner vendor management organization to manage the provider.  Available department time allows for greater focus for supporting company strategies and business growth.


Share your comments with others about how outsourcing achieves:  2 – 1 equals something < 1; Value Creation > 2



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Let me start by saying you better have a really good reason for leaving a perfectly fine company and launching a new one in an economic downturn. I don’t have one.

I have 24.

From “power broker” to “biz pimp” to a “Craigslist for businesses,” just about everyone has had their unique take on how to describe Core24’s business model and mission.

So, I thought I’d make my first blog entry all about what I’ve been up to since leaving D Magazine Partners (D CEO Magazine) where I had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know so many of you, Dallas’ movers and shakers, and make this my official “Introducing Core24” announcement.

Core24’s concept is simple. We represent areas of expertise that executives are likely to need while running their companies and offer an arsenal of experts – 24 of them, that have been hand-selected for their impressive track record of helping companies achieve desired results in a variety of disciplines – all important to an organization’s overall success.

My time with D CEO Magazine made me realize that there was a major need to identify the cream from the crop of over 450,000 service providers in the Dallas market alone and offer the executive community a "short cut" to experts that they can trust -- especially in a challenging economy, when companies are feverishly looking for ways to cut costs, increase revenues and be smarter than ever about every aspect of their business.

The best part of my job is I get to work with people that aren’t only very good at what they do, but are also GREAT people who all share a sincere desire to help others. Bottom line is, and we all know it – expertise only pays the entry fee. People do business with who they like, who they trust and who truly care about their business. In fact, a recent study by US News & World Report revealed that when clients leave their current provider it’s not because of a pricing or product problem, but a "people" problem. People that no longer value their business, or seem indifferent to it. A whopping 68% of them. A fractional 14% defected because of a pricing issue followed by 9% who were successfully wooed by a competitor.

I invite you to get to know the Core24 team by exploring the Our Experts area on the www.Core24inc.com site and find out for yourself how much easier it is to work with an exceptional team of people that are as knowledgeable as they are passionate about helping you succeed.

Please don't hesitate to contact me direct if I can visit with you about Core24's collective capabilities should you have current or future needs that we can help you with.

Wishing you the Best of Everything in 2010!

Sunny Morris
President/Founder
Core24
469.865.6394 direct
Core24inc.com
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it


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In recent work with a client and major IT sourcing provider, I discovered how important organization really is!  Getting organized to begin a transition with multiple towers is critical to your success, and perhaps more importantly, to reducing transition management efforts.

In this particular case, it was clear the transition planning was aligned by tower rather than for an overall transition effort.  The provider, with good intentions, created a transition reporting structure with leads for each tower.  The leads in turn created their transition plan, in some cases a Word document rather than a MS Project plan.  This would no doubt add challenges to the transition manager’s responsibilities because the plans were not integrated into a single plan.  Additionally, the provider did not include the client in developing the plans – the client’s detailed tasks, efforts and interdependencies were only estimated.

Here are some thoughts surrounding setting up a TMO, Transition Management Office, with an integrated project plan in mind:

1.    Begin with a TMO structure that outlines the areas of responsibility and identifies individuals who will be held accountable.  Include representatives from all parties, at a minimum the client’s organization as well as the provider.  There may be multiple providers and outside advisors too.  Starting at the top, the TMO structure will include a TMO Steering Committee with IT executives responsible to the stakeholders affected by the transition with an executive from the provider.  I recommend a “2 in the box” TMO structure for daily management activities with the top level being the overall transition manager from the client and provider.   The “2 in the box” approach should have a transition lead from the client as well as the provider for each area of responsibility – doing so tower by tower is a good example.

2.    In our writing classes, we learned to start with an outline.  In project work, start with a Work Breakdown Structure, or WBS.  Now that we have a TMO, outline in a WBS the highest level deliverables in a collaborative effort with all the parties.  From there, drill down to the next level prerequisite deliverables.  Once you have organized your deliverables, tasks and interdependencies will be well-organized in your project plan.

3.    Development of an integrated plan is best practice.  Interdependencies and prerequisites, especially with multi-tower transitions, will be easier to manage as well.  As discussed above, organizing your deliverables first in a WBS will support the creation of a well-organized and complete integrated plan.  The management and report of this plan will be simplified, which will allow more effort and time to focus on the fulfillment of the transition.

A mentor of mine shared this with me: “Plan your work, work your plan.”  With this front effort, or planning, you should be organized to deliver a successful transition by working your plan.




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