Guy Kirkwood

Brussels, Belgium

BPO recruiter and commentator

Until suppliers realise that outsourcing may not be the first and only solution to a client company's back-office problems, mistakes will continue to be made. These mistakes are costly to the supplier, potentially disastrous to the client and damaging to the entire industry.

My recommendation is to discuss the costs and benefits of insourcing, shared services and outsourcing with an independent third party, one that has no vested interest in providing a fixed answer; and proceed from there. To my knowledge, there are currently only two such groups operating in this way in Europe, one is a not-for-profit networking organisation, the other is in effective start-up phase.

The answers are out there, you have to know whom to ask.