Update

Mallesons held a CIO/Senior Technology Counsel Summit in Melbourne on 19 November 2003.

It involved over 20 key technology leaders from the major ASX 100 corporations in Melbourne, with key note speakers being Jeff Smith (CIO - Telstra) and David Boyles (COO - ANZ). The event was co-hosted by TPI.

The open forum facilitated strong discussion and interaction from all participants. The main theme for the discussions was the current state of outsourcing in Australia - particularly prevailing trends in the present phase of mid-term/end-of-term reviews.

The key points highlighted were:

• customers are increasingly focussing on quality and predictability of results over pure price savings;
• end-to-end, business output based service levels and performance measures are increasingly being demanded by customers (particularly in the multi-provider context);
• customers are becoming more sophisticated in supplier selection (eg. looking in detail at a supplier's leadership, personnel and existing customer base);
• off-shore outsourcing (particularly to India) is likely to continue and increase - it is no longer just for major companies;
• mid-term/end-of-term reviews need to follow a careful methodology to ensure the right results are achieved by the customer;
• sourcing relationships need proactive management to ensure the customer’s business objectives and negotiated benefits are realised;
• leading organisations who have chosen not to outsource (for example, if technology is viewed as a core competency), have adopted internally many of the disciplines commonly associated with outsourcing (quality process strategies and clear service definitions/service level regimes internally); and
• regular market-testing is conducted by most successful customer organisations - to ensure supplier/internally provided services continue to be market competitive.

Similar events are planned for Canberra and Sydney next year.

Quentin Lowcay
Senior Associate
T +61 2 9296 2080
quentin.lowcay@mallesons.com