For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Address The Governance Requirements Of Managed Outcome Engagements

by Bill Martorelli, October 26, 2009

The intensity of the recent economic crisis focused attention on immediate savings exemplified by renegotiation on billing rates for application development and maintenance (ADM) services, among other service types. However, with signs of stabilization . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Checklist: SOW And MSA Considerations For Managed Outcome Engagements  (37 KB XLS)

by Bill Martorelli, October 13, 2009

One of the keys to success in establishing managed outcome relationships is to contract for them successfully using elements of the relevant toolset such as the statement of work (SOW) and the master services agreement (MSA). In practice, the two document . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Operational-Level Agreements Aid In Multisourcing Efforts

by Bill Martorelli, October 1, 2009

As customers have moved to embrace a more selective outsourcing approach, multisourcing techniques are becoming more tangible and less reliant on best efforts and good will. As a result, clients seek mechanisms with which they can manage multiple suppliers . . .

For CIOs

CIOs: New Sourcing Models Mean New Tactics For IT

by Sharyn Leaver, June 25, 2009

As emerging sourcing models such as managed hosting, SaaS, PaaS, and cloud-based services become more prevalent, traditional sourcing tactics, terms, and expectations may no longer be adequate. CIOs should be aware of the challenges their sourcing teams . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Observe The Limitations Of SLA Penalty Clauses

by Bill Martorelli, May 18, 2009

Sourcing and vendor management professionals continue to struggle with devising contracts that balance risk between themselves and their suppliers. One of the most difficult challenges is devising service-level regimes in which a certain percentage of . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Function Points And Application Outsourcing

Usage Is Still Constrained, But Looks Set To Rise

by Bill Martorelli, April 23, 2009

Services buyers increasingly look for a standard, unambiguous way to evaluate the productivity of numerous outsourcing partners so that they can keep their suppliers "honest." Moreover, outsourcing consultants increasingly recommend using function points . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Emerging Outsourcing Models Require New Sourcing Tactics

Adjust Your Approach To The Reality Of New Alternatives

by Bill Martorelli, April 16, 2009

Emerging outsourcing models — including managed hosting, virtual managed hosting, and application hosting and SaaS — are proliferating. They generate interest among business buyers because of their flexibility and cost effectiveness. However, they often . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Inquiry Spotlight: Contract Negotiations

by Liz Herbert, March 17, 2009

In the current economic environment having a solid contract is more important than ever. Forrester clients are recognizing the importance of having meaningful service-level agreements (SLAs) and achieving cost savings through effective contract negotiations. . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Reducing Risk In Global Telecom Services Sourcing

Ask The Right Questions And Follow A Disciplined Process

by Brownlee Thomas, Ph.D., December 12, 2008

Buyers need to address four categories of risk when sourcing global telecommunication services: (1) physical risks to the network and local business operations; (2) geographic risks including local regulations and business practices; (3) commercial risks . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

SLAs For Outsourced Testing Service Relationships Pose Unique Challenges

by Bill Martorelli, December 10, 2008

Related revenue growth among outsourcing suppliers shows that more customers are embracing outsourced testing services. While these engagements run the gamut from consulting, to staff augmentation, to defined outcome relationships, the latter approach . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The State Of Managed MPLS Service SLAs In 2008: Enterprise Requirements Must Define Performance

by Lisa Pierce, October 28, 2008

When outsourcing a WAN, it's important to ensure that the providers your company is considering have the demonstrated experience to meet or exceed all of your specific performance requirements. But today's IT infrastructure and operations (I&O) managers . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Building A "Starter Set" Of SLAs For Managed Application Outsourcing Relationships

by Bill Martorelli, June 23, 2008

Many application outsourcing services customers are anxious to achieve greater value beyond labor arbitrage. One approach that an increasing number of firms are exploring involves restructuring application outsourcing relationships to deliver defined . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Expediting The Services Sourcing Process With Master Services Agreements

by Bill Martorelli, January 25, 2008

Of the complaints about RFP-driven services procurement, one of the most persistent is that the RFP process takes too much time to complete. One of the principal reasons why RFP-driven procurement processes tend to take significant amounts of time is . . .

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Checklist For Defining And Implementing SLAs  (21 KB XLS)

by Paul Roehrig, Ph.D., March 7, 2007

When building and crafting a service-level agreement (SLA), make sure that the SLA meets nine key criteria, including measurability and a clear statement of end results. This workbook is a checklist for this SLA development process.

For Sourcing & Vendor Management Professionals

Best Practices For Defining And Implementing SLAs

by Paul Roehrig, Ph.D., March 30, 2006

More ink — and tears — have been spilled over service-level agreements (SLAs) than almost any other single topic in outsourcing. Given all of the effort put into SLAs, it's easy to think that the industry should have nearly perfected SLA management, but . . .

For Business Process & Applications Professionals

Salesforce.com: Time For A Standard SLA

Recent Outage Raises SaaS Availability Concerns

by Liz Herbert, January 23, 2006

December tends to be a busy time for sales reps at most firms — and the worst possible time for a hosted CRM solution to go offline. What can firms do to ensure that they are appropriately compensated for lost time when their hosted CRM system goes down? . . .

How To Structure Contracts And SLAs For Hosted Applications

by Liz Herbert, May 17, 2005

The software-as-a-service (SaaS) model frees firms from having to manage IT infrastructure, but it also reduces the control they have over data, maintenance windows, and system outages. Firms should make sure to detail data ownership rules and service-level . . .

Outsourcing SLAs Don't Apply To Offshore Staff Augmentation Relationships

by Stephanie Moore, December 22, 2004

Offshore and on-site staff augmentation relationships are often mistakenly referred to as offshore outsourcing when staff is provided by an Indian vendor or a local vendor with resources in India. The problem with this assumption is that companies then . . .

Mastering Cost And SLA Control Through IT Sourcing

Business Technographics® Europe

by Manuel Ángel Méndez, November 29, 2004

Companies have realized the need to implement a more strategic approach to IT sourcing. Why? In order to rationalize IT environments and reduce costs, they need to formalize their sourcing processes and centralize IT governance in parallel — and have . . .

Sprint PCS Launches First US Wireless Voice SLAs

Providers Sure To Respond

by Lisa Pierce, August 10, 2004

Although US cellular providers have long conducted competitive tests on important aspects of customer satisfaction, such as call completion, no provider was willing to make public commitments about the resiliency of its service. On August 9, Sprint introduced . . .

Multinationals Want Better Telecom Service SLAs

Getting Good SLAs Doesn't Mean You Always Have To Pay More

by Brownlee Thomas, Ph.D., March 11, 2004

Service-level agreements (SLAs) are the foundation upon which customer satisfaction is built. Telecom SLAs for multiregional data, IP, and voice services typically are defined in terms of service delivery, availability and assurance, and network performance. . . .

For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals

Impose Message and Mailbox Size Limits to Meet E-Mail Service-Level Agreements

by Erica Driver, Jonathan Penn, January 28, 2004

We estimate that 60 percent to 65 percent of companies impose total message size limits (the message plus metadata and attachments), and approximately 60 percent of companies implement mailbox size limits.

Penalties for Failure to Achieve Outsourced Help Desk SLAs

by Robert McNeill, Julie Giera, January 5, 2004

Reasonable penalties for missing a service-level agreement (SLA) most often include the refund of a percentage of the monthly fee. However, customers should not stop there.

IT Asset Management SLAs in Outsourcing Contracts

by Robert McNeill, December 1, 2003

The strength of an ITAM SLA will be dependent on how much control the outsourcer has on end-to-end control of the assets life cycle. We believe that outsourcers are the main beneficiaries of ITAM within complete desktop outsourcing/infrastructure deals. . . .

Outsourcers Developing Targeted User- and Business-Focused SLAs

by Robert McNeill, September 18, 2003

We feel more and more outsourcers will move from purely technical SLAs toward SLAs that guarantee business outcomes and improved service delivery.