Elix-IRR Articles & White Papers
An Elix-IRR Team teleconferencing
Elix-IRR fills the gap in the market for advisors with real operational experience in all forms of sourcing. We have published a number of “thought pieces” based our points of view, and welcome any opportunities to discuss these with you. Find below a summary of our most recent White Papers.
Articles & White Papers
The Vickers Report – what does the new regulations mean for banks?
What do proposed new regulations mean for UK banks? Elix-IRR’s latest white paper gives a summary of the implications of the recent Independent Commission on Banking report, the outcomes of which will shape the future of the UK banking industry. There are a number of key considerations that Banking Executives must address in 2012 to in order to respond effectively and make the most of the opportunities that are opening up to them, rather than perceiving the reforms to be an obstacle to success.
To read more: Download PDF
The Outsourcing ‘Fashion’
The latest wave of outsourcing has clients, advisors and suppliers all focusing on the number of FTEs to take offshore and the average cost of those FTEs in low cost locations. This has been motivated by executives wishing to cut costs and reduce the administrative burden of managing large back office functions. As conceptually simple and fashionable as this may be for company boards faced with volatile and declining revenue streams, it only leads to an increase in the very problems companies are trying to resolve!.
To read more: Download PDF
Operating Strategy
How do you make a business strategy real and avoid such an output from gathering dust in a Chief Executive’s in-tray? How do you connect an overall vision with practical operational change at the coal-face and ensure individual contributors to your capability landscape recognise and are explicitly linked to the underlying measures of success? And how do you maintain robust change control throughout the lifecycle of a business strategy when market changes or opportunities for growth avail themselves to you?
To read more: Download PDF
Why use an advisor?
Most clients who have embarked upon a ‘sourcing’ journey with the services of a well qualified advisor would not have to ask these questions. It is also true to say that some of the more established suppliers will no longer engage with a client unless they have secured the services of an advisor. This paper seeks to clarify why this is the case and further, why it is just as important to secure the services of the ‘right’ advisor as it is to ultimately contract with the ‘right’ supplier.
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To RFP or not to RFP?
When embarking upon an outsourcing journey, most advisors in the market today will suggest putting the bid out to tender amongst suppliers. Request for Proposals (RFPs) can be an efficient way of comparing vendors in terms of commercials and agreement to contractual terms. But it is also an efficient way of making sourcing advisors healthy margins, delaying the business case by up to a year, and of disconnecting the solution from the original strategic intent. Whilst the RFP process certainly has a time and a place, it should not be the default journey companies embark upon. Indeed, often it is simply the wrong commercial decision.
To read more: Download PDF
Compliance – Year 2 and beyond
Doing it more easily, more effectively, with less pain and lower cost. When building something for the first time experience tells us to ‘be prepared to throw the first one away’! Those of us involved in Sarbanes-Oxley compliance can certainly relate to this – who would want to do Year 2 the way we did Year 1? Our researchers interviewed executives from 470 different companies, including 437 compliance managers, 22 software providers, 3 research firms, 43 auditors, 32 CFOs and 19 CEOs. We have analysed and cross-referenced their responses into this executive summary – things to consider when selecting compliance software or comparing vendors.
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Cloud Computing – What Is It?
‘Cloud Computing’ is the new great thing that will save our souls. Of course, the consultants can tell you what it is, as the dollar signs whizz round in their eye sockets, but most of them talk in the language of the land of fluff. So what is ‘Cloud computing’ to the rest of us?
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Managing Risks In Outsourcing
An article published in Financier Worldwide, written by Ian Ferguson and Stephen Newton.
“Outsourcings can offer significant commercial benefits but they also present challenges and risks throughout the outsourcing life-cycle whether during supplier selection, contract negotiations, implementa- tion and day to day operation, or on exit”.
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Elix-IRR and Pillsbury Outsourcing
An article providing an overview of the Elix-IRR and Pillsbury approach to outsourcing advice.
To read more: Download PDF
Outsourcing Training
Elix-IRR understands that your team need the knowledge and skills to design, build and operate successful sourcing relationships that also work for you. Better Sourcing is a highly effective training service that levels the playing field with unique insight from the sourcing trenches, so you too can achieve better results. We offer a number of different training services designed specifically to cater for varying levels of engagement – from in- depth and intensive to half day modules.
To read more: Download PDF
