Deloitte White paper suggests risk intelligent approach to outsourcing and offshoring

Jan 24 - The global information technology and business process outsourcing market is approaching $500 billion and is growing rapidly.  In today’s global economy, investments in outsourcing and offshoring initiatives have never been higher, or more critical to organizational success. To help companies address today’s significant outsourcing and offshoring risks and maximize the value of their outsourcing and offshoring strategy, Deloitte has published a new whitepaper titled, “The Risk Intelligent Approach to Outsourcing and Offshoring.”

Corporations are facing dramatically increasing risks as they rely more than ever on other parties and/or offshore entities for a growing number of business and information technology processes. The paper, the eighth in the Deloitte Risk Intelligence series, identifies several trends that have increased outsourcing and offshoring risks:

• Companies rely on other parties and/or offshore entities not just for specific projects and back-office functions but more often for core business processes.
• Increased competition for global talent has contributed to shortages of qualified talent.
• Regulatory developments have increased exposure to liability for malfeasance or misfeasance; in some cases, senior management and the board can be held accountable for non-compliance associated with operations of organizations hired to serve the interests of the company.
• Piracy, security breaches, and theft of information can erode brand value, intellectual property, and other intangible assets, in which companies have heavily invested in recent years.
• A volatile political environment or infrastructure limitations in some popular offshore locations can preclude effective and efficient operations.
• Outsourcing relationships often morph into de facto partnerships, albeit without the analysis, reporting, visibility and control that typically characterize true partnerships.

“To deal with such complex and dynamic risks, companies must employ a Risk Intelligent approach to guide decision making throughout the outsourcing/offshoring life cycle,” said Mark Layton, global leader for Deloitte’s Enterprise Risk Services practice. “Aligning objectives, risks and controls throughout the outsourcing/offshoring lifecycle enables organizations to identify, assess, prioritize and mitigate outsourcing/offshoring risks at the right stage.”

The Deloitte report identifies the following critical stages within the lifecycle of an offshoring/outsourcing relationship and addresses in detail the most important risks around each:

• Strategic assessment: Deciding whether, why and how outsourcing/offshoring may support your business strategy.
• Business case development: Analyzing expected cost savings and other financial and operational benefits of the initiative.
• Vendor selection: Choosing a vendor according to criteria related to the strategic assessment and the business case.
• Contracting: Negotiating a contract that captures the needs and expectations of both parties, and addresses compliance and risk factors identified in the previous three stages.
• Service transition: Managing the migration, or initiation, of the service in the vendor or offshore location. Monitoring the ongoing performance and risk of the relationship according to the contract and service level agreements as well as for the attainment of strategic objectives.

“Many outsourcing and offshoring initiatives fail to live up to their potential or the expectations of the parties. Even worse, a fair number of them fail outright, leading the company to either pull the operations back in house or to start anew in the search for a reliable, mutually beneficial partner. A Risk Intelligent approach can help organizations realize the expected benefits and improve relationships among constituents impacted by outsourcing/offshoring,” said Peter Lowes, Outsourcing Advisory Services leader, Deloitte.

“The Risk Intelligent Approach to Outsourcing and Offshoring,”along with the previous whitepapers in the Risk Intelligence series, may be accessed free of charge at www.deloitte.com/RiskIntelligence. Mark Layton and Peter Lowes are available for interviews and briefings.

About Deloitte

Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, a Swiss Verein, its member firms, and their respective subsidiaries and affiliates. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is an organization of member firms around the world devoted to excellence in providing professional services and advice, focused on client service through a global strategy executed locally in over 140 countries. With access to the deep intellectual capital of approximately 150,000 people worldwide, Deloitte delivers services in four professional areas — audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services — and serves more than 80 percent of the world's largest companies, as well as large national enterprises, public institutions, locally important clients, and successful, fast-growing global companies. Services are not provided by the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Verein, and, for regulatory and other reasons, certain member firms do not provide services in all four professional areas.

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