Transition and implementation management
The first six months of a sourcing arrangement are the most important in determining its success and tone. Our clients consistently find this period much more challenging than anticipated as post-deal signature euphoria evolves into an exacting transition program involving people, process and cultural change.
In our experience of supporting clients in transitioning to new sourcing arrangements, we have found that rigorous and comprehensive implementation planning is critical to the long-term delivery of benefits. The transition organization must be in place as soon as the arrangement is agreed and should immediately focus on:
- establishing on-going governance arrangements at the strategic, management and delivery levels. Particular focus is required on defining the financial management processes
- conducting due diligence to clearly define and understand the physical assets, people and liabilities that will transfer
- managing people issues involved in any transfer of workforce
- planning a smooth transition of the outsourced services to the supplier
- establishing rigorous supplier management processes and functions (such as balanced scorecards) to measure the overall performance of the supplier.
A key focus is understanding what the client needs to do to make the arrangement work by detailing the retained organization and how the outsourced services will be provided.
The principle challenge throughout the transition phase is to strike the right balance between managing the supplier and managing the service. It is essential to establish transparent supplier management frameworks while allowing the supplier sufficient freedom to re-engineer operational processes to increase efficiency and effectiveness.
PA has unrivalled experience in helping clients prepare for and manage this exacting transition period while simultaneously concluding commercial negotiations. We can ensure rapid transition to the supplier to minimize uncertainty and the risk of service disruption, and to quickly establish the new operating model.
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