Agility in Sourcing
The accelerating disruption from technology changes and business dynamics is increasing the challenge of providing stable, secure and cost-effective IT delivery. The growing complexity of the IT landscape, with a variety of delivery models, suppliers and interdependencies, only adds to the challenge.
Why Agility in Sourcing?
The accelerating disruption from technology changes and business dynamics is increasing the challenge of providing stable, secure and cost-effective IT delivery. The growing complexity of the IT landscape, with a variety of delivery models, suppliers and interdependencies, only adds to the challenge.
To answer this challenge, we have introduced Agile Sourcing. Agile Sourcing helps you to create lean structures and processes, ensures swift decision making and forges improved client-supplier collaboration. Inspired by the Manifesto for Agile Software Development we use our Manifesto for Agile Sourcing as a compass for our way of working:
The Sourcing Lifecycle
Our Agile Sourcing approach follows the Sourcing Lifecycle and is detailed into 4 proposition area’s:
Sourcing Strategy
“Plan for success”
Successful organisations stand out by making proper judgement where to use in-house expertise and where to use the strengths of their suppliers. We use the Agile Sourcing Strategy Framework to facilitate structured and conscious decision making on make, buy or co-create decisions. And equally important, to understand a number of conditions that support the successful execution of such strategy:
• The relationship model with underlying effective governance, collaboration and behaviors;
• The contract model that supports effective value delivery and adjustments to changing context, and
• The procurement process that ensures swift and controlled decision making.
Selection and Contracting
“Halve the cycle time, double the value”
In our approach to selection and contracting we use Lean Agile Procurement to drastically reduce process lead time, lower engagement cost and reduce Time to Value. Through a process of exploration and interaction we help organizations and their IT supplier(s) to co-create the solution, financial model and agreement. This open and transparent way of working already during negotiations supports collaboration between parties to start off on the right foot.
In existing engagements, the same approach can help to drastically accelerate change implementation and the introduction of new innovations to the business.
The Sourcing Network is proud member of the Lean Agile Procurement community
Transition
“Ahead of the curve delivery”
In our view there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach for delivering successful transition projects. Specific context, scope and transition objectives drive the transition approach and planning. Our many years of delivering successful transition projects have provided many best practices that help us to deliver the transition objectives with – most important – minimal operational impact to the business. These experiences are assembled in the Transition Canvas, supported by a broad variety of best practises. Some of these being:
• Extensive attention to stakeholder management to continuously balance the variety of interests between outsourcer, current and new supplier(s)
• An ‘ahead of the curve’ mindset with focus on what’s to come and how that impacts approach, planning and stakeholder interests
• Anticipate changes during the execution of a transition project
• Actively forge collaboration to enable win-win relationships
And… with every transition project we add new best practices to our way of working.
Dynamic Delivery
“Optimize performance and swift response to change”
During day-2-day delivery of services we help organisations to actively manage their collaboration to maximise value from their engagement. Primary focus is on optimizing service, project and financial performance and monitoring risk and compliance. Whereas we also address other topics like collaboration satisfaction, continuous alignment of interests, impact of business and technology changes and more soft factors like culture, values and behaviour. These topics might be new to address but are pivotal to delivering a long-term win-win. Through frequent and structured feedback loops we ensure organizational learning is captured.
Next to pragmatic and down to earth communication, we use a broad variety of workshops, tools, templates, intervention techniques and coaching skills to support organizations in mastering this way of working.