Organisations embarking on an outsourcing process must often feel they’re on a hiding to nothing.
Not only are they tapping into employees’ deepest fears of losing their jobs, but they have to contend with the threat of clashes with unions, which of course go all out to stop their members being culled.
Suppliers have also been known to complain about the ‘beauty parade’, where they have to line up and pitch their services – a time-consuming and often costly exercise with no guarantee that they will get any business out of it.
On top of that, there’s the pain of having your every move dissected by the media, especially when you’re a high-profile organisation, such as the BBC, which generated headlines when it decided to introduce a shared-services model for HR and recruitment.
And then there’s the threat to the employer brand if there is a marked difference in the quality of service provided by the outsourcing partner.
The fact the BBC believes it can save £50m demonstrates that outsourcing can be worth all the effort. But be sure the figures add up before jumping in to the so-called ‘dog-eat-dog’ outsourcing process, or risk being chewed up by it.
