Eclectic notes from Fifth Annual International Smart-Sourcing Conference
Here are my eclectic thoughts from the Smart Sourcing conference I attended this week. I had an opportunity to network with the presenters and researchers and exchanged some really interesting “outsourcing jokes” with a few professors during the Friday afternoon’s lunch session.
Of course it was not just jokes that were exchanged during the conference. Researchers brought some interesting perspectives…to write about all of them would perhaps involve writing a book.
It was a great experience interacting with academics who are studying the intricacies of sourcing and an assortment of practitioners from both the vendor and supplier side. As is to be expected in an academic conference, the presenters and audience switched roles during the few-dozen sessions over three days.
The three keynote talks were interesting.
- Cyrill Eltschinger talked about his experiences in china which were interesting. Cyrill was gung-ho about the potential of Chinese IT, downplaying the communication challenges, language and cultural barriers. Well, he is the CEO of a company with the business model centering around leveraging Chinese talent, so it is to be expected, right? Though, I would have loved to hear more about his personal observations (and challenges) in moving to China.
- Brad Listermann’s keynote address on his experiences working with offshore film team (in Bollywood) was skewed towards international business management than “offshoring” [Yes, some of these challenges also come into play in an offshoring context, especially when organizations work towards establishing joint venture and subsidiaries…but is less of a challenge while sourcing to vendors] . The promo clips Brad played during the session added sound and color to the presentation.
- Suman Taneja succinctly summarized some of the “key” success factors driving outsourcing during his keynote address.
It was interesting to hear the viewpoints of entrepreneurial presenters (addressing the SME outsourcing market segment) Uditya (Omnispan), Prasad (Winsoft) and the representative from KMG
I attempted keep my presentation – the first one on Saturday morning – open-ended and interactive. I was introduced by Prof Hindupur Ramakrishna (who has also reviewed my book for the forthcoming issue of JITCAR Journal). I had abstracted the core theme of presentation from my book though the lively Q&A covered a wide spectrum of issues and challenges. Though I wasn’t speaking for Infosys at the conference (views were intended to be personal) my affiliation with the sourcing juggernaut probably weighted in. Some of the interesting questions included:
- The significance of Project Managers with a global overview in the success of offshoring projects. Based on my observations in the field and interactions with peers, one just cannot undermine this aspect. The right management layer, with managers skilled in the intricacies of sourcing is perhaps “THE” key success factor in ensuring that offshored projects and programs succeed. I have devoted two chapters on this very topic in my book.
- Can the Offshoring Management Framework [OMF] be applied to smaller offshoring initiatives? Sure it can. However, the framework will have to be customized to the requirements of the specific relationship. Aspects such as Governance, and Communication Management are significant but can be performed by an individual or small team rather than a larger, formal group.
- If global travel is expensive and cumbersome -- visa and other issues factored – why are organizations not leveraging technologies to facilitate communication as much? Sure technologies are helping minimize the need for global travel but aren’t at a point where they can substitute for closer interactions, especially during the initiation and handover of larger engagements. I have dealt extensively with aspects of leveraging tools and technologies in my book too.
[a few more that I will be adding to the list since I need to log-off now]
Ps: The team of professors won the outsourcing quiz bowl between industry practitioners and academics [to be expected, right?!]
