Analysts at Gartner say 80% of Fortune 1000 businesses do not have a formal process for strategically procuring IT services. They estimate that Global 2000 companies that outsource technology projects through traditional methods currently spend $35 000 to $75 000 per project to identify, qualify and select service providers.
Lawson Software, the enterprise business application vendor represented in SA by Solit iNovations, has entered into an agreement with services automation software player neoIT to add its services value chain automation technology to Lawson's Services Automation suite. This forms part of Lawson's professional services automation (PSA) software.
The partnership is a response to the growing need of companies worldwide to more efficiently manage the outsourcing of IT projects and services. It is designed to address common sourcing issues by simplifying the processes associated with identifying strategic outsourcing partners and managing their services delivery once they are selected.
"The agreement will enable Lawson Software to offer extended functionality across the services sector, as organisations will be able to assign internal resources using Lawson Services Automation, and engage and manage strategic outsourcing arrangements when external resources are required via the neoIT software," says Gerhard Visser, GM at Solit iNovations.
This solution will extend Lawson Services Automation which automates workforce management processes including demand/opportunity management, resource assignment or management, project management/delivery, time and expense capture, project accounting, knowledge management and analytics.
neoIT's offering, often referred to as strategic sourcing, provides a means of automating the entire outsourcing lifecycle from planning, sourcing and selecting outsourcing partners to managing the collaborative relationship with these partners once they are retained. Where most strategic sourcing products apply to the manufacturing area, neoIT uses the same principles to procure IT services.
"Through this partnership neoIT will be able to offer its clients a services process optimisation suite that provides a full view of its outsourcing needs and processes both internally and externally, delivering control, visibility, cost savings and process optimisation," says Visser.
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