TOO BIG TO OUTSOURCE?
This is the week that the world comes to London for the Olympic Games and already, we British have managed to ruin our reputation with stories about strikes, transport problems and the failure of the outsourced security company, G4S, to provide enough staff.
Now, annoyingly, the G4S blunder is being held up as an example of the failure of outsourcing, even though outsourcing has proved a successful model in both the private- and public-sector for years.
One analyst at Panmure Gordon is quoted as saying: “I think what the Olympics has told us is [that] there are some contracts that are just too big to outsource and the consequences of getting it wrong are costly.”
This is such nonsense! The consequences of getting a major contract wrong are costly whether you outsource it or not. Where the outsourced companies go wrong is to believe that they can manage a nationwide contract all on their own. We’ve seen this happen with Applied Language Services / Capita with the failure to supply court interpreters and now we’re seeing it with G4S.
At thebigword we’ve consistently said that the only way to provide UK-wide on-demand services to high standards of quality is through partnership and collaboration. That’s what we’ve done with our recently-announced contract with London Probation Trust, using our new Word Pie™ technology.
Word Pie™ ticks all the boxes, being an online system that provides interpreters nationwide through a collaborative network of accredited organisations which include small enterprise, charities, and the voluntary sector. This enables organisations that would never be able to bid for Government contracts to benefit from them and simultaneously, meets the Government’s commitment to SMEs and localism. For London Probation, Word Pie™ has delivered 40 per cent cost savings and given them local know-how and coverage whilst providing the seamless invoicing and management information systems of a large supplier.
Word Pie™ operates under the auspices of a Professional Advisory Panel that provides a high level of Governance and ensures that the system can be truly ‘vendor neutral’, providing the best possible service for the customer.
The Olympics celebrates the world’s very best sporting achievements but behind every individual standing on the podium wearing their medal is a whole team of people. Collaboration achieves success.
Have a great weekend,
Larry
I know that these stories have been published in newspapers as far away as Australia but can I just say, if you’re planning to visit the Olympics, please don’t be put off by this because I think it’s going to be an amazing event. As you can see from the photo, even our office mannequins are celebrating the fact that we are providing the interpreters for the Games!
One analyst at Panmure Gordon is quoted as saying: “I think what the Olympics has told us is [that] there are some contracts that are just too big to outsource and the consequences of getting it wrong are costly.”
This is such nonsense! The consequences of getting a major contract wrong are costly whether you outsource it or not. Where the outsourced companies go wrong is to believe that they can manage a nationwide contract all on their own. We’ve seen this happen with Applied Language Services / Capita with the failure to supply court interpreters and now we’re seeing it with G4S.
At thebigword we’ve consistently said that the only way to provide UK-wide on-demand services to high standards of quality is through partnership and collaboration. That’s what we’ve done with our recently-announced contract with London Probation Trust, using our new Word Pie™ technology.
Word Pie™ ticks all the boxes, being an online system that provides interpreters nationwide through a collaborative network of accredited organisations which include small enterprise, charities, and the voluntary sector. This enables organisations that would never be able to bid for Government contracts to benefit from them and simultaneously, meets the Government’s commitment to SMEs and localism. For London Probation, Word Pie™ has delivered 40 per cent cost savings and given them local know-how and coverage whilst providing the seamless invoicing and management information systems of a large supplier.
Word Pie™ operates under the auspices of a Professional Advisory Panel that provides a high level of Governance and ensures that the system can be truly ‘vendor neutral’, providing the best possible service for the customer.
The Olympics celebrates the world’s very best sporting achievements but behind every individual standing on the podium wearing their medal is a whole team of people. Collaboration achieves success.
Have a great weekend,
Larry
