Building The Services Integration Layer In Multisourcing

When asked about their fundamental approach to sourcing, most services customers still say they embrace a "selective outsourcing" philosophy, one that involves multiple providers. To make these multisourcing arrangements effective, customers must get suppliers to work together, both from the commercial and operational standpoint. The services integration layer, comprising elements of process, tools, service-level agreements (SLAs), and related structures, is absolutely critical to the success of these arrangements. Whether performed internally or with the assistance of a services integrator, the principles of the services integration layer are largely the same and consist of functions addressing both the commercial and operational aspects of multisourcing. Although external integration services have emerged from various suppliers, relatively few customers have embraced them. Meanwhile, services integration involving traditional IT outsourcing (ITO) towers are on a collision course with emerging visions of cloud service orchestration.