Disparate Sourcing Strategies Confound Analytics Efforts
Many companies that sourced back office capabilities like IT, finance, and HR in silos are now having a hard time consolidating their data to perform analytics.
Over the last decade, many large companies pursued various models for sourcing low-cost or scarce labor for back office functions. They sent work offshore, whether to third-party providers or company-owned “captive centers.” They outsourced to vendors who performed work on site. And they set up new corporate offices in the U.S. to handle activities like billing, claims processing, or IT. Often, each back office function pursued its own strategy independently.
Now some of these companies are beginning to realize their piecemeal approach to sourcing no longer adequately serves the business. “CEOs are wondering, ‘Why do we have a finance center run by a third party in Mumbai and a captive center for HR in nearby Pune?’” says Marc Mancher, a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP and the U.S. national leader for its outsourcing advisory services practice. “They want to see a cohesive strategy that achieves the company’s collective goals, rather than the individual goals of IT, finance, or HR.”
