Sourcing Professionals Can Use Advisory Firms To Help Architect Healthy Deals

Specialized outsourcing advisors are consulting firms that focus on creating outsourcing strategies and, when needed, supporting their clients through the outsourcing deal life cycle. Sourcing and vendor management professionals considering or initiating an outsourcing deal often wrestle with whether to hire an advisory firm or go it alone. This single decision affects the years of work associated with a long-term deal, but objective data on the value of outsourcing advisors is nearly impossible to find, leaving hearsay and gut feeling to drive strategy. To understand how advisor-led deals develop relative to homegrown deals, and to uncover the benefits and risks of working with a specialized deal advisory firm, Forrester surveyed decision-makers who had employed an advisory firm to help with an outsourcing deal transaction. We compared those findings with data from execs who had implemented a significant outsourcing contract without involving an advisory firm.