Corporate Tool that Shifts Workload from the UK Employees to Sourcing Centers in Emerging Countries - Essay Example

? Improving a Corporate Tool That Shifts Workload from UK Employees to Sourcing Centers in Emerging Economies Context PageIntroduction What is my research aim? – How GP supports sourcing and contracting activities. History of GP (official HP website and intranet) (ES TS SW) Brief Methodology About the Company and the problem: Business Model of HP. History of GP (official HP website and intranet) (ES TS SW) Brief. (Roles within GP, SBPs, Category Managers, sourcing centers, CDA) Briefly talk about how the problem affects HP? (Getting customer request supported by GP in the most timely & cost effective manner) (Internal & external customers) (Intranet) Theories Procurement Supply Chain – Research Theories Cips (chartered institute of purchasing and supply)– Research (IT procurement) (general GP) Data collection Data collection: Interviews Intranet Books Mike – Questionnaire check. Limitations and conclusion How to implement the solution or improvement Confidentiality Introduction A company is an entity that is involved in the business of making a profit. Profit is made in several ways and there is always the possibility that a loss will be undergone by the end of the day. Every company is started with two main reasons which are to make a profit and leave a mark on the market, and also to serve the public. As always in a company, there are instances where there is something that goes wrong at one point or another. Each problem has a solution of its own. In this essay, attention will be focused on the critical evaluation of global procurements sourcing and contracting activities through sourcecon (Information Resources Management Association, & Khosrowpour, 45, 1997). The aim of this essay is to investigate how Sourcecon support GP’s Sourcing & Contracting activities. Through this, it will be possible to identify the possible flaws & improvements for the end of the essay. Sourcecon by definition is a tool that is used by Global Procurement (GP) & business units (BUs) and it is used for sourcing requirements and sourcing events, contracting with third parties for hardware, software, telecom, labor, services and consulting. It is also a tool that is used for leveraging and amending existing third party agreements (Hewlett-Packard). Another of its many uses is to help with the investigating of existing third party agreements for internal and customer engagements. Most commonly they are used to source third party contracts& agreements (Great Britain, 40, 2006).  Methodology The current problem is discussed below. Hewlett-Packard is one of the leading IT firms worldwide, founded in 1939 by Bill Hewlett & Dave Packard. HP operates many markets within the technology sector including: PC, Laptops, Personal Printers, Industrial Printers, Storage, Networking, etc. HP has been recognized as a leading IT firm since its early days, however in recent times it has become scandal prone through various CEO changes and bad acquisitions. Since January 2010 until now HP has undergone 4 CEO changes from Mark Hurd (April 2005- August 2010) to Meg Whitman (September 2011 – Present), along with the 4 CEO changes came two major failed acquisitions for HP: Palm Inc. (2010) a struggling mobile phone provider was purchased for $1.2billion, 1 year later Palms Smart phones, tablets &webOS devises where discontinued by HP (Information Resources Management Association, & Khosrowpour, 55, 1997).  About the Company and the problem Autonomy acquired for $11.1billion quickly turned out to be overvalued by ?8.8billion and this debt was written off by HP during the last fiscal year 2012.Following these changes HP has been seen as unstable and risky by investors and shareholders, this has reflected in HPs share price by plummeting over %50 in the last 5 years (Hewlett-Packard). Through these struggling times our Voice of the Workforce (VOW) a questionnaire about employees job satisfaction held annually by HP was better than expected but still left room for improvement. The latest VOW from July 2011 – July 2012 resulted averagely with improvements in how we communicate direction and strategy, and an increase in our focus on discussions about employee’s performance and career development (Great Britain, 60, 2006). However, the results did highlight frustrations with the current working environment, including processes and tools that negatively affect employees’ productivity and client experience. Although there is room for improvement, Meg Whitman’s leadership style has proven that we are on a good way to a positive turnaround in the way we conduct business and caring about HPs employees, this was proven by the latest VOW as we saw an improvement across 43 of the 45 core items (Yahoo Finance, 2013, 2). Over the last 3 years our VOW has also improved Year on Year. Meg frequently addresses one of HP’s early HR innovations the “HP Way”, a management style shaped by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. It was revolutionary at the time and the principles still hold true today: As a model for the way we act, the way we treat others, and the way we conduct business, it has encouraged employees to treat the way HP do business differently. The HP way has been revamped to “The HP way now” this year and it stands for having trust and respect for individuals, focusing on a high level of attainment, holding a business in a hostile environment, achieving our common objectives through teamwork, encouraging flexibility and innovation (Yahoo Finance, 2013, 2). As part of HP I have experienced all those attributes to be true in this company and believe Meg is on the right way to turn this company around (Information Resources Management Association, & Khosrowpour, 89, 1997).  Need for Request is a mechanism used to request GP assistance for Sourcing (Request for Information/Request for Price (RFP)/Request for Quotation/Auction) or Contract related requests such as; evaluating a supplier or market, creating a RFP, reviewing supplier proposals, negotiating a contract, reviewing or signing a contract, and/or requesting general contract information or creation. The NRT tool was used to shift work from BPs to Category Managers and Sourcing centers, this enabled BPs to obtain Category & Sourcing Center support by transferring work to the relevant contact. Furthermore the NRT tool was used to obtain Tier 3 supplier support for BPs & Category (Great Britain, 65, 2006). NRTs function was an internal work routing mechanism for transferring and/or assigning work across Global Procurement Teams. This applies to Contracting and Sourcing work across Resale, Internal Commercial (Trade), and Internal Use/Indirect. The process is transferred or routed via a SharePoint (SharePoint is HP's standard tool for team collaboration and community spaces. SharePoint team spaces are where workgroups collaborate, track and manage tasks and issues, share material during meetings, and store work-in-progress and finished project material). The request would be uploaded to NRTs SharePoint by the requestor (usually BPs),when this step is complete the Category Managers & Sourcing centers will look at the requests uploaded and assign themselves with a request relevant to their work scope (Hewlett-Packard). When the Category Manager or the Sourcing Center obtains the request they have to complete it (Information Resources Management Association, & Khosrowpour, 95, 1997). Finally the completed request will get uploaded to NRTs SharePoint and a notification is sent out to the requestor that the request is complete (Note: This is the only communication between the requestor and the Sourcing Center or Category Managers if there were no complications). The requestor can then access the completed NRT request from the SharePoint and download the completed request. Within HP there are 5 major Business Groups: Enterprise Group, Enterprise Services (ES), Financial Services, Software & Printing and Personal Systems Group (PPS). One of the highest revenue generating Business Groups within HP is Enterprise Services. In this evaluation Enterprise Services is the main focus as my team is responsible for accounts within ES. Enterprise Services help businesses and governments by more effectively leveraging technology to achieve better outcomes (Storey & Salaman, 04, 2005). Theories They provide the IT outsourcing services, consulting, and support that help our customers achieve those objectives. Within this group there are several service segments split up into Application Services (ABS), Business Process Outsourcing Services (BPO) & Infrastructure Technology Outsourcing (ITO) (Great Britain, 100, 2006). Looking at GP’s history and the place it stands today, Global Procurement acts as a support function to various business grounds and units within HP, we create new value for HP businesses through continuous improvement of our global supply chain service capabilities. GP will help transform and optimize HP’s operating costs and return on investment with our business stakeholders through supporting the procurement lifecycle. Within GPs 1000 employee strong function there are various divisions: Go-to-Market, GP Programs, Global Categories, Customer Experience, Strategy & Planning, Compliance & Social Responsibility, Procurement Capabilities, Solutions & Operations and finally Strategic Business Partners which is my department (Hewlett-Packard). GP started in 2000 as an indirect procurement organization, 2 years later the merger with Compaq increased GPs capacity but didn’t have an impact on its function. In 2006 procurement expanded its function by adding services to its function becoming an Indirect and Services Procurement organization (Storey & Salaman, 12, 2005). In 2008 HP acquired Electronic Data Systems (EDS) who expanded our services procurement portfolio and introduced the strategic supplier development program; this led to our organization becoming a Global Supply chain services function. In 2010 a new global factory operating model was introduced. Global Supply Chain services ultimately became Global Procurement through its rebranding in 2011; the incentive for this was the introduction of Regional deal support, Account support, Procurement capabilities and Procurement Sustainability & Innovation (Hewlett-Packard). Finally in 2012 Customer experience & governance organization was formed, this came along with a huge re-org changing teams from regional teams to global teams where its customers are at the heart of the organization (Information Resources Management Association, & Khosrowpour, 100, 1997).  Coming back to 2008 when GP acquired EDS, its size increased heavily. EDS was known for its leading global technology services. This has now been taken on by GP. Although the acquisition of EDS greatly added value to GP through new labor practices and tools unfamiliar to GP, such as NRT the predecessor of Sourcecon was implemented within GP to align our business with EDS newly acquired business practices, although these tools were a value add to our organization they were not fully efficient tools which received negative feedback since its introduction. Global Accounts is responsible for establishing strategic relationships with HP Business Units and Global Functions, and providing value to our Customers beyond savings, by ensuring responsiveness and accountability” (Great Britain, 130, 2006). Our team has undergone recent organizational changes which transformed our team from Business Partners to Strategic Business Partners (SBPs) these are responsible for providing procurement insight, innovative thought leadership, and direction to transform the value HP Business Units & Global Functions receive from Global Procurement to fuel profitability and growth. The day to day function changed from day to day account reporting role to a more strategic account management role driving savings targets whilst providing great customer service to the Business and its customers. Our team is only focused on ES private sector customers such as: Shell or Aviva. Although the SBP’s roles have been transformed to be more strategic it remains a newly formed role which still isn’t fully efficient mainly due to missing tools, information & labor (Storey & Salaman, 12, 2005). For HP cost efficient, benefit to the economy of the emerging countries? Leveraging tasks, to emerging economies, up skilling staff in lesser developed countries (Mexico, Hungary & APJ) Supply Chain Management Research Theory is very important in business. These include just in time theories, network perspective and material requirement planning theories (Hewlett-Packard). When well implemented, these theories results to a business practice which if well executed will help in the process of acquiring raw material and delivery of the final products. In the supply chain, there are a number of businesses that are involved. In fact, all businesses, including the outsourcing industry has got supply chain that must be managed (Information Resources Management Association, & Khosrowpour, 123, 1997).  For every supply chain there are a number of business activities like retailers, distributors, wholesalers as well as manufacturers. However, the most important aspect of the supply chain management theories is the fact that, they are able to compel the consumer to go to the product. In addition, Supply Chain Management is very important to all business process since it synchronizes and coordinates all the business activities of the partner businesses. This theory derives these components from five the main principles. Indeed, it is these principles that when properly coordinated will result to the success of the outsourcing and contracting business partner (Van De Kuil, 30, 2008).  Ways in which the theory helps improve the sourcing and contracting activities The theory helps in improving the sourcing and contracting activities through a number of ways. First the theory is very critical for ensuring that HP costs are efficient. They also work towards ensuring that the economy of merging countries through an outsourcing plan is realized (Storey & Salaman, 102, 2005). This because, by emerging countries tasks are leveraged through emerged economies. In addition, the staffs in the lesser developed countries are up skilled and become very competent like their partners in the developed world (Wikipedia). For instance, the just in time theory explains ways of ensuring that all process in the supply chain are managed and handled in the appropriate time. By doing this, the customer service management will be enhanced. The customer service will provide the essential information which when put into practice will enhance the success of the outsourcing industry. Through customer service management, the outsourcing suppliers and manufacturers from one country will know the customer’s specifications and needs in another country. This information will help them to outsource for the skilled persons from a developing country (Information Resources Management Association, & Khosrowpour, 156, 1997). They will only do a little to upgrade skill their talents and make them as competent as their counterparts. Thus, in the long run, they will save on money by employing the cheap labor from the developing countries (Van De Kuil, 45, 2008).  Just in time theory also plays an important role in ensuring that the procurement process is timely, accountable and accurately done (Hewlett-Packard). Through this process, there are outlined strategies that must be undertaken to do accurate and flawless procurement. Thus, through the theory many businesses are able to become good planners, negotiators and supply sources. In addition, when these are practiced, the product that is produced is of high quality, thus, acceptable for global trade. Hence, though this, the theory help contracting partners and outsourcing businesses to end up with large profits. Just in time theory help outsourcing companies to outsource for both the product and the services as discussed above. Thus, the company will be able to put much effort in the value chain where it has got good employees and suppliers. However, in the other value chain where the company is performing poorly, they will be able to outsource for product and services from other countries. Thus, through the just in time theory, the contracting and outsourcing partners are able to increase the business advantage (Storey & Salaman, 89, 2005). Data Collection The way Sourcecon can improve the sourcing centers; I did some interviews on NRT and Sourcecon experience. This interview was based on SBP perspective. Indeed, I conducted the interview using Adrian Vaughan SBP. To gain deeper understanding of the contribution of Sourcecon, I had to find more information on the benefit of NRT. As I mentioned earlier, NRT was introduced before Sourcecon (Wikipedia). Therefore, it is not easy to tell the benefits of the Sourcecon without first knowing the benefits of the NRT. In fact, NRT was the basis of the Sourcecon tool, thus, every functions of NRT are applicable to Sourcecon. Indeed, as was revealed through the interview, NRT contributed a lot to the outsourcing industry. The first and the most important benefit that was outlined during the interviews is that, NRT enabled easy, efficient and effective tracking of the outsourcing requests (Wikipedia). This is because, through the NRT, one would tell exactly the person requests were assigned to (Van De Kuil, 60, 2008). In addition, NRT had the option of allowing access to sourcing center or category manager contacts. Nevertheless, NRT had some weaknesses which made it to slow down the outsourcing process. These were revealed through the interviews (Hewlett-Packard). First, the forms that were given to the third party to fill were too long. In fact if these forms were to be completely filled in a rush, it would take as long as ten minutes. Worse still any mistakes in the form would results to the failure of the contract (Wikipedia). This because, wrongly filled in form meant failure to get the contract. The reason that was outlined for the failing out on the contract is the missing information. However, there were no notifications to inform that the information was missing. Hence it became hard for one to know about the mistake and correct it in time. Indeed, as revealed through the interviews, the Soucecon has really helped. Since, it is an auto assigned request, any missing information will be established and corrected in time (Van De Kuil, 79, 2008). Soucecon has enabled timely notifications which mean that any form that is incorrectly filled in will be corrected. Therefore, through Sourcecon, it is not easy to lose out on the contract based on missing information. Moreover, the Sourcecon interface is very appealing to look at. This means that it is very attractive and motivates whoever fills in the form. Most importantly though, it was noted that the form is very easy to fill in, hence saves on time. However, like its predecessor it Sourcecon also has its weaknesses. It lacks process management as well as workload management (Storey & Salaman, 34, 2005). Therefore, workload is not evenly distributed due to human errors. For instance, the Soucecon should be automatic such that incase one manager is held up, and another is free, the request should automatically be directed to the free manager (Van De Kuil, 90, 2008).  It is also apparent that Soucecon forms are not very clear. Thus, it gives the assigned person hard time to look for additional information. In fact the assigned person has to request for additional information for a number of times. Furthermore, there is no timing tracker on the Sourcecon request. All the same, the Global Procurement Mission and Value Proposition, has really benefited though Sourcecon introduction. This is because; Sourcecon has managed to solve the initial challenges which were experienced when using NRT (Needle, 67, 2010).  Sourcecon reports –From sourcecon website (check around 20th of Feb for new reports) Sourcecon reports have detailed out the progress so far. In February, October 1st to January 31st implementation report was released. Through this report, it was evident that reporting was distinct for every region (Hewlett-Packard). However, the variance was tracked down to the vacation and shut down time which was widely experienced in the month of December. In addition, through the reports it was evident that, during holidays, activity levels goes down. Thus, request increases were noted to climb for EMEA and AMS. These were revealed through the ES1B activity. Besides, the requests volumes for APJ were noted to decline since the end of January. The Sourcececon reporting is very easy to understand. It has three interfaces which can be interpreted by nearly every person. The first interface reporting screen contains the New Request Entered into System. The second interface has got the Status new, whereas the last interface shows Sourcecon Pas Due (House & Price, 300, 2009). Limitations and conclusion and How to implement the solution or improvement In summary, I will say that like any tool, Sourcecon has its weaknesses. These as I mentioned earlier have limited the success rate of the Sourcecon tool. These include the lack of clarity with the Sourcecon forms, the inability to be automated in work and process distribution and management. However, these weaknesses are just but driving strategies that need to be resolved to enhance the efficiency of the tool (Van De Kuil, 101, 2008). This is because; the benefits of the tool are far much more than the weakness. Therefore, as discussed above, the new tool will increase the efficiency and effectiveness in the management of the turnaround times. This will happen through the following four critical Sourcecon successes; one, the request pipeline will be managed by the GC’s Delivery Assurance team (Hewlett-Packard). Two, the BP’s and stakeholders will receive automated notification in case there are any changes in status. This will enable them to timely correct the forms in case of any mistakes. Three, the requests will be automatically directed to the solution owners (Dignan, Ian, Dawn and John, 2012, pg. 4). The Sourcecon tool will also enable the solution owners to keep a narrative tool detailing all the progress. Furthermore, this tool comes in hand for helping the CDA to develop a regular reporting cadence. Thus, I can conclude by pointing out that SourceCon adds E2E process (Wikipedia). This gives the tool ability to track contracts from sourcing. It also enhance email notification, has fewer fields to fill in, automated request routes and robust measuring and tracking SLAs development and reporting (Lenssen, Gasparski & Lacy, 100, 2006).  Confidentiality To implement Sourcecon, one must first access the GP followed by BUs access. Through the procurement central home page, one will be able to access Sourcecon. Here, there will be detailed interface showing the key roles of the SourceCon requester, recipient assigning manager, recipient solution, GP Strategic Business, Partners/Go to market. In addition, one will be able to access the roles of the CDA. Thus, depending with the interest of the user, he/she will choose the most suitable role. After which, one will be able to access the SourceCon request form. It is this form that must be filled in. after submitting the request form; it is possible to see the submission response. In addition, one will receive any updates and notifications. Usually these are received through the request life cycle. The SourceCon information’s are confidential and cannot be accessed by any unauthorized person. This means that, there is no fear or call for alarm, unlike the NRTs (Van De Kuil, 120, 2008).  Bibliography BBC Business News, 2012. 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