You can never provide too much information or data for an RFP. The more information you provide, the less guess-work, the less surprises later on! Very often the vendor or consultant will provide you a complete list of the data and information that they require for the RFP. So don’t hold back unless you feel it’s absolutely...
Don’t fall victim to the aggressive sales approach of some vendors just trying to get a foot in the door. You know, the ones that hound you constantly on the phone and the only way to get rid of them is to break down and agree to include them in the bid process. That’s a mistake in our view.
With the focus on many client outsourcing RFP projects becoming more and more price-driven, as law firms try to cut costs in many areas, outsourcing providers have seen their headcounts cut and more importantly, reductions in their profit margins. Indeed, vendors today admit to single-digit profit margins on some projects, particularly competitive displacements (replacing an incumbent vendor). These low...
With the advent of more and more consultants in the Office Support Services Outsourcing Providers space and their approach treating traditional outsourcing services like a commodity, it’s resulting in retreating margins for outsourcing providers and potentially harmful effects on the quality of the services that come out of these new contracts.
Some of our consultant competitors are all about dispassionate cost cutting in their outsourcing RFP processes, treating office services outsourcing as a commodity. But the only people being hurt are you the customer, as these companies force suppressed wages on the staff that do the work, resulting in higher turnover, mistakes, low morale and service levels failure.
There is a large national law firm outsourcing RFP project that is in progress now where the RFP project management vendor is prescribing a Cost Plus Model for the contracted services. Generally, labor costs make up 75-80% of an outsourcing services contract, so this is primarily in an attempt to “reign in” labor costs. The theory behind a cost-plus...
The office Support Services outsourcing industry has seen some consolidation in recent years with Ricoh acquiring IKON (which no longer exists as of Jan 2013) as well as Canon’s acquisition of Oce Business Solutions (also, no longer, as of January 2013).
If you’re engaging in a closed bid renewal process for your outsourcing services there are a number of keys to remember and to operate by: In any renewal process, in the current economic environment where all business are trying to cut costs and increase their revenue opportunities, nothing should be off the table.
There’s been a recent trend in the procurement of Business Process/Office Support Outsourcing Services where to compensate for stagnant growth, Outsourcing vendors are “buying” a client’s business, typically in a competitive displacement. This is achieved by paying a large up front “incentive” or cash disbursement to the client, for a three-four year services contract. This upfront fee, which is...
A recent trend over the past several years in legal has taken shape where in particular large national law firms have partnered with Procurement Consulting firms such as (Profit Recovery Partners (PRC) to take a hard line negotiating stance with their incumbent office support outsourcing provider. Often the “negotiations” in the renewal process, which are based entirely by the...
