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Sourcing the Skills
If not procurement, then what skills should a global sourcer have? Given that sourcing professionals have to straddle the needs of internal business units and external service providers, they need a mix of business understanding, program-management, governance, relationship-management, cultural sensitivity and communication skills.
And where can companies find such skills? Most seek one of three types of sources: People from the business, IT professionals from within the company, and people who may have earlier been on the service provider side.
Understanding of Business Processes
People from the business are perhaps the best suited for the global sourcing job. They understand the business domain and the organization’s work culture. Sound domain knowledge gains such people acceptance from being part of the internal business units, and gives them the potential to drive the processes with the outsourced provider. And they can build upon this solid base by adding the skills of program management and governance, which can be learnt in short time.
Tuck Chapman, for instance, has experience in line banking and commercial banking, and one banking skill that she draws upon as a global sourcer is the ability to analyze the financial viability of the service providers she works with. “Commercial lending requires you to do in-depth financial analysis of companies. As a sourcing officer, I now draw upon that experience when working with providers,” she says.
She has also worked in the human resources function of banks, where she learnt how to implement change, grow and develop workers — another skills that is valuable in a global sourcing role, which depends heavily on people.
The third skill that Tuck Chapman brings to her global sourcing role is that of strategizing. At Bank of Montreal, she was associated with a learning organization and was responsible for linking learning with the bank’s business strategies. “Sourcing is about enabling business strategies. I learnt how to do that early in my career,” she says.
Tuck Chapman has an interesting way of describing her work experience. “I’ve had three careers,” she says, “I’ve been a banker, I’ve been in human resources and I’ve developed strategies.” And as a global sourcer, she has drawn upon her experience across her three careers.
The skills that Tuck Chapman brings to the table are rare, but well suited for global sourcing — she can strategize and manage operations. “A global sourcing office needs a combination of strategy, sourcing and vendor relationship skills,” says Nikhil Rajpal, VP, Global Sourcing Group, Everest Research Institute.
| TOP SKILLS |
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Global Services and the Human Capital Institute (HCI) polled a group of top sourcing professionals to understand the must-have education and workplace competencies they look for in individuals likely to populate strategic sourcing teams.
Interestingly, while there was no unanimity in terms of the rating, there was a consensus around the type of skills most advantageous for business. A majority of the respondents feel sourcing talent need to have hard technical skills in purchasing and procurement fundamentals, budget analysis/management, contract management and awareness of contractual and legal terminology.
Yet, respondents stressed that while procurement skills are important, people with such skills cannot lead the global sourcing function. Procurement people are typically seen as purchasers of hardware, software and office supplies — and extending their roles to the sourcing of services in complex environments (multisourcing, across geographies, across the captive and third-party models) is a recipe for failure.
Typically, multifunctional teams kick in depending on the size and complexity of the outsourcing project. This may also ease the pressure on sourcing professionals with not-so-strong IT exposure. IT people are obviously on the team if it is an IT outsourcing deal, but resources from other functions, including legal, HR, external relations and finance are also called to the table.
Similarly, with regard to necessary workplace abilities, survey respondents were divided over ratings, but near unanimous in their choice of top key skills. They all agree that interpersonal communication, relationship-management skills, negotiation skills, leadership and motivation, and the ability to manage projects in a multi-supplier geographically dispersed environment are the hallmarks of competent sourcing talent.
While a majority of the professionals surveyed hold the view that these are a generic set of skills that can prevail across industry and function, they also contend that depending on the nature of the outsourcing project the equations may change.
In the case of outsourcing of IT services, for example, individuals with an IT background are an asset but those without it aren't discounted completely. Linda Tuck Chapman says, "While it is helpful to have a sourcing leader with IT-specific sourcing capabilities, it is equally important to note that few sourcing relationships do not incorporate a significant IT reliance, and therefore unless the sourcing event is specifically to support IT services, a well seasoned sourcing professional is valuable for any and all sourcing programs."
There is no gainsaying the fact that the need for skilled sourcing professionals will intensify as global services volumes hit the roof. Moreover, as the outsourcing world gears up for 2008, billed to be the year of multibillion dollar outsourcing contract renewals, sourcing contracts and sourcing performance will increasingly come under scrutiny. Thus making it all the more imperative for firms to attract, recruit, develop, deploy, reward and retain their prime sourcing talent.
By Sumeet Varghese, Country Head, India, HCI
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