For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Work Closely With Enterprise Architects During Vendor Consolidation Projects

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, April 3, 2009

Many sourcing and vendor management teams are looking for ways to cut costs — and consolidating vendors is a logical part of that effort. But doing spend analysis only starts the ball rolling. Other considerations like "is this vendor going to be important . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Why Sourcing Professionals Need To Get Aggressive With "Bring Your Own PC" Programs

IT Initiatives To Allow Self-Provisioned Devices Could Cause Big Headaches For Sourcing Professionals Who Don't Get Involved Early

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, March 25, 2009

Bring your own PC programs are gaining a lot of interest with infrastructure groups today. Why? Because the idea of lower IT costs, less complaints from employees, and overall less conflicts with the business are too much to overlook. Today's employees . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Sourcing Alignment Assessment  (66 KB XLS)

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, Caroline Hoekendijk, October 30, 2008

The integration of sourcing in the company is here to stay and Forrester sees the need to guide their clients in the governance of their processes by outlining the different processes that should be in place.

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Sourcing Professionals Must Analyze And Manage Risk Across The Global Supply Chain

Forrester's Best Practices For Risk Mitigation

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, August 27, 2008

The issue of vendor risk has become an increasingly critical topic among sourcing professionals. With that in mind, we wanted to highlight this great report on mitigating supply chain risk — much of which is within sourcing's purview. While it was written . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Sourcing Professionals: Get Ready To Deal With Volatility

Business Change Will Drive Conflicting Demands On Sourcing And Vendor Management

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, Caroline Hoekendijk, July 24, 2008

Most business people would regard volatility as a given even in the best of times. Even so, volatility looks set to be historically high for the coming decade. In this context, sourcing professionals need to make sure that they keep up with the business, . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Consolidating Vendors Brings Operational Benefits As Well As Dollar Savings

Demand Management With The Business Is Key To Avoiding New Proliferation

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, Caroline Hoekendijk, June 13, 2008

The theoretical basis for vendor consolidation and its potential profits has been out there for quite some time. Yet, many companies are struggling with their supplier base in terms of the number of suppliers. This has to do with the fact that most sourcing . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

How To Demonstrate Sourcing's Value In Times Of Recession

Heightened Spending Concerns Can Bring Sourcing Professionals Closer To Their Business Users

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, Caroline Hoekendijk, May 5, 2008

In general a recession — or even the fear of one — forces companies to focus obsessively on cost-effective solutions. Many companies turn to their (sometimes newly created) sourcing teams to help achieve that cost savings. As a result, sourcing professionals . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Topic Overview: Outsourcing

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, April 8, 2008

Outsourcing in the context of today's IT organization means partial or complete delivery of an IT service by a third party. Outsourcing promises significant benefits, but those benefits are achieved through proper coordination with internal systems and . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Five Trends That Will Shape Sourcing And Vendor Management In 2008

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, December 14, 2007

One year into our role-based transition, the Forrester Sourcing & Vendor Management (S&VM) team distilled all of the knowledge gained from our research and conversations with sourcing executives at large firms and the insights gained at our recent . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Hiring Consultants: A Quick Guide  (254 KB PPT)

by John C. McCarthy, Christine Ferrusi Ross, November 12, 2007

This presentation offers Forrester clients a highlight of our best practices for hiring a consultant. Trends among client usage of consultants is included along with best practices that address hiring consultants for strategy, business transformation, . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

IT Services Overall Budgeting, 2007  (128 KB PPT)

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, October 19, 2007

This data chart presents results from Business Data Services that explore how much enterprises allocate from the overall IT budget to IT services.

For B2B Market Research Professionals

IT Services Budgets For New Initiatives, 2007   (131 KB PPT)

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, October 19, 2007

This data chart presents results from Business Data Services that explores how much of IT services budgets at enterprises are devoted to new initiatives.

For B2B Market Research Professionals

IT Services Outsourcing Satisfaction, 2007  (156 KB PPT)

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, October 19, 2007

This data chart presents results from Business Data Services that explores trends in client satisfaction with IT outsourcing services.

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Outsourcing Clients Can Expect 12% To 17% Savings

Fifty-Three TPI Outsourcing Clients Have Unlocked Billions In Value; Have You?

by Paul Roehrig, Ph.D., Christine Ferrusi Ross, Allison Thresher, August 30, 2007

The business disruptions, changes to operational and enterprise risk, financial engineering, and the sheer time commitment to build and implement a deal drive potential clients to ask: Is outsourcing worth it? To help sourcing and vendor management executives . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Checklist For A Healthy Offshore Renegotiation  (36 KB XLS)

by Stephanie Moore, Christine Ferrusi Ross, July 12, 2007

According to information from our client base, a large number of offshore outsourcing contracts were signed during the second, third and fourth quarters of 2004. Now those contracts are coming up for renewal and clients are wondering what to expect and . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Managing Multiple Outsourcers: Readiness And Service Scope Self-Test  (34 KB XLS)

by Paul Roehrig, Ph.D., John C. McCarthy, Christine Ferrusi Ross, April 18, 2007

Answer each question and place your score in the adjacent box. Tally the scores for each section to find your sourcing readiness level and service scope.

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Consulting Project Cost Estimator  (24 KB XLS)

by Sean Sweeney, Christine Ferrusi Ross, April 18, 2007

This model is based on conversations with many end users and providers over the past six to nine months. It is an aggregation of rates from multiple firms for many different project types.

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Topic Overview: Professional Services Provider Selection And Governance

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, December 12, 2006

Project success hinges on appropriate vendor selection. A thorough selection process minimizes risk and lays the foundation for a winning project. Forrester's research helps clients compare potential vendors to find the optimal solution for their business . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

The Forrester Rapid Decision Tool For Services RFPs  (150 KB XLS)

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, December 12, 2006

The Dark Horse In Technology And Services Decisions: Taxes

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, December 7, 2006

Smart buyers have started to include a new factor in their sourcing decisions: tax implications. Understanding how taxes will be affected can help companies make better sourcing decisions and fund new projects. To do that, clients need to include tax . . .

Topic Overview: Outsourcing, Q2 2006

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, April 18, 2006

Outsourcing in the context of today's IT organization means partial or complete ownership or delivery of an IT service by a third party. Outsourcing promises significant benefits, but those benefits are achieved through proper coordination with internal . . .

Topic Overview: Business Process Definition, Improvement, And Management

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, Connie Moore, April 6, 2006

Focusing on business processes is a deceptively simple concept. At its core, business process is all about how work gets done. But knowing how and where to start in defining, improving, and redesigning a business process can be daunting. In spite of the . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

US IT Services Pricing Trends

Consulting And Systems Integration Billing Rates

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, March 2, 2006

Consulting rates have started to climb very slightly, but rates for senior talent are rising at a faster rate. This is due to high demand for strategic projects that require small teams of partner-level consultants and few junior associates. There are . . .

Firms' Software Outsourcing Plans For 2006

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, January 3, 2006

Forrester recently surveyed software and services decision-makers at North American firms to understand their plans for outsourcing software-related work in the next 12 months. We found that demand remains strong, and in 2006, clients will continue to . . .

Confronting Outsourcing Myths

by Christine Ferrusi Ross, December 13, 2005

There are several popular myths about outsourcing: that clients aren't happy with their outsourcing arrangements, that dissatisfaction will lead to a wave of insourcing, and that adding more complexity to sourcing contracts will prevent dissatisfaction. . . .