Last week I read an article on the ec-bp.org website titled "Difference Between Outsourcing and Managed Services" written by Ken Kinlock. Mr. Kinlock outlines his definition of outsourcing, as well as the variations in the definition of managed services. He further goes on to explain why a company would choose one versus the other.
Why change...this a common question we all ask ourselves when we get presented with a new idea. We are intrigued by it, but are not unhappy enough with how things are now, so why bother? When it comes to technology, the process to make the change just seems too painful and it is never the right time.
As we look into the future, we look at the past. The use of a contract or contingent workforce was extremely light in the early 1980s and decades before that. Business and workforce needs were more predictable, you know...employment for life, along with low levels of automation and computerization requiring a physical workforce.
As business cycles became more varied along with increased use of computers and robotics, resource needs became more varied. In the late 1980s and particularly the 1990s a contingent workforce became more appealing. Reasons why contingent resources became popular, and remain so today, include supplementing current staff, acquiring expertise not available on staff, to get a fresh approach or different perspective on a problem, to acquire experience from different companies in your industry or cross industry experience, to do the repetitive/complex task that no one else wants to do, to off load work (outsourcing or managed services) which enable staff to concentrate on core competencies, vacation/expertise/cross trained backups, try before you buy contract to hire, and so on.
So with a look at the past and present, what does the future hold?
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There are many factors that drive companies to take on a B2B integration project. Below, I outline the major factors that our customers have told us over the past year.
ERP Implementation
A company's ERP system is the core of their business processes. In order to utilize the investment, it only makes sense to extend its value by interfacing with internal and external systems and partners. Maybe your company converted from an existing ERP, which will require new interfaces to the EDI or integration platform or you just implemented an ERP system and you need to start from scratch.
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In my article archive, I found a blog post by Steve Keifer of OpenText | GXS from a few years back entitled The End Of Mapping (In B2B Integration). Mr. Keifer states that maps are the most costly and most important part of a B2B Integration project. He goes on to say that with all the artificial intelligence technology that already exists, we should be able to eliminate traditional maps and automatically map data based on intelligence and historical data.
