I have written about this before, but IBM has put out a nice white paper on how an organization should prepare for HRO and how to set pre/post implementation expectations. http://www-1.ibm.com/services/us/bcs/pdf/ge510-4016-hr-bto-risk-strategies.pdf
This is certainly not new news, but it’s possibly the best documented public paper I’ve seen on the topic.
The failure of most HRO engagements (measured by satisfaction – not implementation failures) is that the client organization goes in with bad expectations.
– They don’t know what is going away and what processes stay.
– They don’t know who is going away beforehand.
– They don’t understand the metrics in their current state and can’t compare themselves once in the outsourced state.
– They don’t have good internal project management.
– They don’t have good governance.
The list goes on and on.
A good consulting organization will not only do the vendor selection. If allowed to, consultants will coach the client on expectations, help them understand their current state, and assist with PM and governance. Having said that, go to a real HR consulting firm to do that work...
