We’ve all heard the tragic stories of outsourcing gone wrong. In fact, the media’s stories only tell tales of companies whose relationships fail, forgetting to mention the bad vendor selection decisions, the dysfunctional day-to-day relationships of frontline vendor managers, and the Byzantine-like division of responsibilities among vendor managers, vendors, and remaining IT/Operations units. Behind every relationship-gone-sour, countless executives and vendor managers were terminated while customers and shareholders failed to receive promised value. That’s only the beginning, of course. For the months and years following the break-up and expensive outside legal fees, employees work hard to put Humpty Dumpty back together. I wonder if some of the damage to companies’ brands can be repaired. If you weren’t worried enough, I’m sure that I’ve now instilled a seed of doubt in all but the most outspoken outsourcing optimists.

The truth, however, is that outsourcing can be successful. Some business strategists clearly see Darwinian morphing of companies’ DNA. The signs abound that global and local competition is forcing companies to reevaluate their traditional fully vertically integrated structures. Companies once designed their own products, marketed them, managed distribution, and supported customers, whilst providing plenty of shared services to support these functions, such as HR, finance, public affairs, legal, and procurement. However, few companies can do all the above well enough to compete. That’s why our CFOs, COOs, and CMOs are looking to the benefits that outsourcing can bring.

And that’s why it’s time to learn how to outsource with discipline. Vendor selection should be objective, not politicized. Vendor scope should be elegantly simple to manage, not designed to resemble the Vietnam War’s rules of engagement. Vendor management should be seen as a certified discipline with well-defined processes, just as PMP-certified project managers use project management processes to be effective.

It’s that type of discipline we’re going to discuss here so that we can outsource successfully. Stay-tuned for more!