Getting To Grips With Outsourcing

Since outsourcing emerged as a distinct commercial practice in the '90s, it has developed its own jargon. For instance, can you tell a BPO from an ITO? What is the difference between outsourcing and off-shoring? Is your agreement first- or second-generation? To the uninitiated, such terms appear as baffling as a foreign language.

Even more off-putting are the frequent news stories of large transactions, often involving government departments and large corporations, where costs have spiralled out of control and the whole deal has gone into meltdown. The result? A mess of underperformance, unjustifiable expense, mutual recriminations and bad publicity for all involved. It is enough to put anyone off.