Creating Outsourcing Service Agreements

by Ian S. Hayes

Success in an outsourcing engagement is determined by the ability to set performance expectations properly and to manage the engagement to meet those expectations. Misalignment of these expectations is perhaps the most common reason why outsourcing engagements falter. In some cases, the client is disappointed with performance even though the outsourcer has exceeded its performance commitments. In other cases, the outsourcer struggles to meet commitments that are clearly unobtainable. Differences in terminology and interpretation arise, as do arguments about which efforts are "in scope" or "out of scope." Despite the best initial intentions of both parties, the engagement goes awry over divergent expectations.

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Creating Outsourcing Service Agreements June 2000