EDS Best Shore Strategy: Offshore IT Outsourcing Solutions
06 Feb 2008
The Right Outsourcing Solution in the Right Place at the Right Time
In early 2008, outsourcing companies in India lost nearly 50 percent of their bandwidth and international connectivity when two undersea Internet cables off Egypt's coast were severed by a ship's anchor. Many global companies that use offshore outsourcing to deliver functions like back-office operations and customer service call centers scrambled to re-route services through alternate cables and satellite feeds.
While analysts and experts raised questions about IT network vulnerability saying, “no one, including the West, was immune to such disruptions,” one outsourcing vendor rode out the maelstrom without worry. EDS, which has operated internationally for more than 30 years, runs its offshore IT outsourcing services on a network that is entirely owned by the company and carries only EDS clients' data. This system, which links more than 500 delivery locations, enables its clients to move information across a private Internet protocol (IP) backbone in a secure environment. This state-of-the-art, Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) core network is not dependent on public Internet cables, and gives EDS the ability to instantly move or re-route client work and data to any location around the world.
This 50-node network is spread across 19 countries. So, when trouble strikes in one place, the Global Services Network (GSN) can quickly route IT operations and critical data elsewhere to help avoid the threat. That means the GSN preserves business continuity and reduces the risk and severity of systems outages for both EDS and its clients. The Global Services Network is the core of the EDS offshore, or what it calls “the EDS Best Shore®,” strategy and gives the company's clients a significant advantage in the global marketplace.
In today's world, enterprises are looking for that kind of secure, reliable IT system that provides an “always-on” connectivity to global clients, supply chains and mobile, globally located work forces. They're also looking for solutions that help them address the “pressure points” that drive business today:
- Market influencers like economic growth and business cycles
- Client and customer expectations
- Competitors' actions
- Ongoing work force management challenges that include labor costs and available people with the right mix of technical skills
- Experience level and domain and industry expertise
- Financial concerns including sales and revenue growth with business metrics like productivity and return on investment.
EDS' Best Shore strategy provides a multishore delivery approach that helps balance these factors and helps mitigate risk. It directly addresses the challenges of effectively competing in the global marketplace and successfully managing a global work force. It also helps deliver the desired results that drive sustainable enterprise performance improvements.
The strategy, somewhat surprisingly, also considers that offshoring is not always the best solution for a client. As a seasoned outsourcing vendor, EDS recognizes that its clients need a blend of the “best shores” for their unique business requirements. With delivery capabilities and capacity in onshore, near-shore and offshore locations, EDS teams can custom-fit IT outsourcing solutions to a client's specific needs. And by working in concert, regional leadership, accounts, capabilities, delivery and business support units can develop the long-term plan to pre-position capacity and delivery capabilities to meet these varied business demands.
EDS' leaders say its Best Shore strategy is about creating value that delivers what clients need most – not just IT systems that enable achievement of business goals, but systems that help clients capitalize on market developments driving business today. Among these many seismic shifts taking place around the world are four mega-trends:
Accelerating globalization – Technology has eliminated geographic barriers and enabled business to be conducted with anyone, anywhere. It's also allowing enterprises to work globally, moving functions to other countries where these activities can be carried out more cost-effectively, efficiently and with higher levels of service.
Explosion at the edge – Technology is converging with business to make the world smaller and the workplace more virtual. Workers connect with colleagues and customers around the world via e-mail, cell phones, PDAs and other mobile devices. And innovations like radio frequency identification (RFID) tags and readers are providing real-time, continuous bits of two-way communication about business interactions.
A major shift in how work gets done – As technology transforms the way business gets done, the office-based work environment is giving way to a fluid, decentralized work force. Everyone throughout an enterprise and its supply chain will expect instant access to information, to become one connected force. Technology will even be able to think for itself – to diagnose and solve its own problems.
Business ecosystems will dominate – Organizations are becoming more interdependent and competitive. The successful ones will be those with a strategic business ecosystem that uses technology to adapt to change and to deliver real, measurable business results.
The EDS Global Delivery Model
EDS is responding to these mega-trends through a multitiered delivery model that enables network-linked virtual teams worldwide to work together around the clock. These tiers leverage EDS' Global Services Network and infrastructure, capitalize on a global work force and operate according to industry standards and best practices.
Tier 1 – EDS client site teams – These teams, led by the account executive, manage client relationships, oversee and monitor service delivery, and interact daily with clients and support teams to ensure high levels of client satisfaction.
Tier 2 – Regional Service Centers – These industry-focused sites provide distinctive near-shore capabilities, including unique language call centers, government and defense-related services, and other highly specialized skill sets that need to be located closer to our clients. Experienced business and technical personnel deliver these services.
Tier 3 – Global Service Centers (GSCs) – GSCs are positioned strategically in locations with well-developed education infrastructures and sizeable, skilled work forces. Lower-cost, high quality services are provided via 24/7 operations, multiple shifts and languages, and deeper industry-focused skill sets. Configured to foster campus-style environments, GSCs offer a full range of ITO, applications and BPO capabilities. This approach drives efficiency and innovation while promoting employee retention through a broader range of career development opportunities across EDS' full portfolio.
Global Access, Global Deployment
The strength behind this model is that EDS is a global company and has operated internationally for more than 30 years. Today, it has employees in more than 60 countries and delivery capabilities in more than 50. Having established its first European data centers in the mid-80s and operated in premier offshore destinations such as Brazil since 1985 and India since 1996, EDS has long recognized the global delivery advantage. Brazil is home to EDS' fourth largest work force.
Today, with the acquisitions of MphasiS and RelQ, India is home to EDS' second largest work force. MphasiS, which operates as an independent EDS company, is one of India's 10 largest IT services employers. And in October 2007, EDS launched a world-class applications testing and validation service, EDS Global Testing Services. EDS Global Testing Services combines the methods, resources and intellectual capital of EDS, RelQ and MphasiS and employs 3,000 skilled testing professionals at 14 Global Testing Centers around the world.
And as the stakes get higher and the competition surges forward, EDS is a step ahead of the game. Its Global Service Centers (GSCs) throughout the world are set up to concentrate delivery capabilities and consolidate delivery facilities. GSCs are positioned strategically in high-quality, cost-competitive locations in close proximity to large population centers with robust education infrastructures. This helps ensure an abundance of skilled workers to meet current and future business needs, and allows EDS to deliver a broad array of services from a single, tactical location.
This is good news for EDS' clients. Companies with global infrastructures that are engaged in global commerce need to work where their customers work. They need to do more than move jobs overseas; they need to actively engage in international business, no matter where that business may be. Enterprises working with EDS have at their disposal a technology infrastructure and a team of experts that work where they work, 24 hours a day, around the globe. In an “always-on” world, that's a powerful business ally.