Outsourcing Dilemma: The Search for Competitiveness, The

Managing more than one provider

There is also the key question of how you manage the arrangement. In its much publicised mid 1990s IT outsourcing, BP Exploration claimed to have solved this problem by appointing three specialists on a worldwide basis, with each provider looking after the same specialist area all over the globe. In addition, however, the BP Exploration world of operations was split into three groups: North America, Europe and the rest of the world and each of the three providers was given control of the operation in one group. In that area the provider was made totally responsible to BP Exploration for the performance of the other two providers. Obviously, an arrangement of this type will necessitate the existence of a prime ...