Three Trends That Will Influence Your 2014 Outsourcing Plans

As enterprises enter the second half of this decade, we will witness a shift in the role external vendors will play in helping clients meet their business objectives. Technology initiatives focused on social, mobile, analytics, and cloud (SMAC) will result in the supplier mix becoming more complicated, as new service models, delivery mechanisms, and skill sets become essential to supplier success. Simultaneously, vendors will become more closely tied to the business outcomes of their customers, and a select few will take on the role of strategic partners. This will require SVM professionals to rethink their role within their enterprise and develop a new set of governance criteria and mechanisms to deal with the vendor-mix of the future. This report highlights the key trends we see affecting the outsourcing marketplace in 2014, and provides a short list of recommendations for sourcing professionals to consider.