Misunderstood and Poorly Handled: Change Management for Outsourcing

After years of implementation, the fact that outsourcing triggers a myriad of changes—organization, process, workflow, technology, service levels among others—is still sidestepped by the industry. While most players give lip service to the need for change management when sourcing, there’s still a lack of understanding of the skills and capabilities that make change management strategically important to an outsourcing deal.

The HfS Research/Sourcing Change 2011 Change Management survey reveals a number of critical points: Change management doesn’t get the critical recognition it deserves. To its detriment, change management is often confused with communications. Buyers prefer to do it themselves, rather than looking for outside expertise. Providers think they provide change management support to buyers. Change management requires a cross-industry response to fix the problem.