Bnm748: Strategic Global Outsourcing Assessment Answer

MAS7032

Outsourcing Management Assignment

Purpose:

The essence of the individual assignment is to apply various theoretical frameworks and other module materials to a scenario where you are acting as an outsourcing consultant for a company. Your credibility as a consultant depends on you being able not only to provide relevant advice but also to demonstrate that your advice is based on analysis of the lessons learned (i.e., past experience and knowledge) in similar or related situations. Therefore when providing advice, you need to support your recommendations with examples of how other companies have dealt with similar issues. Your examples should come from analysis of the case studies included in the module textbook (The Handbook
of Global Outsourcing and Offshoring (2015), 3 rd edition by Oshri, Kotlarsky, and Willcocks) and demonstrate that you understand the situation/issue and how it has been dealt with in each case. You can also include real-life examples from professional media (e.g. Outsourcing Magazine, CIO magazine, Business Week) and official company websites.

Scenario:

You are an outsourcing consultant hired by a UK-based Bank. Three months ago the bank has merged with another, a smaller bank that is specializing in online banking services and since the merger has been struggling to integrate IT systems and services between the two banks. Different IT infrastructures, software applications, and inconsistencies in services that the two banks have been offering to their customers created the needs to standardize the IT infrastructure and centralize provision of IT-enabled services (support functions and online banking services) as a matter of strategic priority. Since the Bank does not have enough in-house expertise to devise such transformation, outsourcing is considered the way forward. The Bank has limited experience with outsourcing, therefore it was decided to hire an experienced outsourcing consultant (You). As a consultant, you received the following brief describing background and key characteristics of the two banks that have merged:

Questions:

1) What sourcing models should the Bank consider? Identify potential benefits and risks associated with these models, from the Bank’s perspective.

2) What supplier configurations the Bank should consider? How to approach supplier selection?

3) What alternative types of contracts should be considered and why?

4) What knowledge/skills the Bank needs to retain (or develop in-house if don’t have now) and why?

Part 2:
Transition and ongoing management of the outsourcing relationship.

5) How to design the transition of IT systems and services from the Bank to the supplier(s)?

6) What governance mechanisms should the Bank implement in order to ensure that delivery of the outsourced services meets Bank’s expectations?

7) What formal and informal aspects of the relationship with outsourcing supplier(s) should the Bank develop and why?