Fracture
Definition:
A "Fracture" refers to a situation where there are one or more negative consequences in the delivery of outsourced services, that occurs where (or when) the outsourcing firm interacts with the outsourcing client. These fractures generally occur in a "total outsourcing" program, rather than a program where the various parties of the outsourcing program work in partnership.
When a program is completely outsourced, and managed as a service, inefficiencies tend to develop at the point where the client and the vendor interact.
The situation is analogous to rebuilding a standard production car into a race car. If the rebuilt car is "stressed" (run to 100% of the design specification... or beyond) it will be likely to fail where the new car components were added to the original structure of the car. The same is true for outsourcing programs. These fractures are where the program may fail or may generate problems.
An example would be an outsourced call center. To effectively route calls, the center needs access to an up-to-date corporate directory, preferably an on-line directory. However, access to that directory may be restrictred to employees, and therefore denied to the call center. Individual fractures may be no more than annoyances, but the accumulated impact of many fractures measureably reduces the value of an outsourcing program. See also, "Total Outsourcing" and "Outsourcing Partnership."
A "Fracture" refers to a situation where there are one or more negative consequences in the delivery of outsourced services, that occurs where (or when) the outsourcing firm interacts with the outsourcing client. These fractures generally occur in a "total outsourcing" program, rather than a program where the various parties of the outsourcing program work in partnership.
When a program is completely outsourced, and managed as a service, inefficiencies tend to develop at the point where the client and the vendor interact.
The situation is analogous to rebuilding a standard production car into a race car. If the rebuilt car is "stressed" (run to 100% of the design specification... or beyond) it will be likely to fail where the new car components were added to the original structure of the car. The same is true for outsourcing programs. These fractures are where the program may fail or may generate problems.
An example would be an outsourced call center. To effectively route calls, the center needs access to an up-to-date corporate directory, preferably an on-line directory. However, access to that directory may be restrictred to employees, and therefore denied to the call center. Individual fractures may be no more than annoyances, but the accumulated impact of many fractures measureably reduces the value of an outsourcing program. See also, "Total Outsourcing" and "Outsourcing Partnership."
