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Influence of Machine learning / BOTS on Outsourcing

 

 

The last decade saw a meteoric rise in the levels of outsourcing, the numbers are quite staggering in terms of jobs shifted overseas ranging from IT Ops, BPO, KPO etc.  Now that the numbers seem to have plateaued a bit it has turned the focus on optimizing those numbers.  Big numbers means more disparate teams in distinct locations thus decreasing accuracy and resulting in quality issues,  span of control, cost increase among few issues to contend with.

 

CFOs / CIO  are under increasing pressure to see how they can induce automation in the process and thus reduce costs.  The emergence of big data has given more impetus to use put analytics at center stage.  Advanced tools like machine learning is offering new ways to optimize some of the human intervention and repetitive tasks.

 

Apps and BOTS are driving more efficiencies.  BOTS could be game changer as its adoption increases.  The fact that large silicon valley companies are looking to invest in this technology and see how they can use it more effectively  drive down the need for human labor. 

 Google it and see what you come up with.

Top 10 motivational quotes for Success & Job search

Everyone has down moments in life, and many prosperous people had to go through tough times before they accomplished great things.  Check these 10 inspirational quotes to keep you motivated during your job search.

1. Wayne Gretzky

NHL legend and all-time leading goal scorer Wayne Gretzky said, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” Similarly, you never get a job if you do not try to apply for one. Keep taking shot after shot until you manage to score a goal and land a job. Eventually, you become so good at taking shots that one goes in because you’ve learned so much from the misses.

2. Milton Berle

Comedian Milton Berle’s wisdom is ageless, especially when he said, “If opportunity doesn’t knock, then build a door.” If you have trouble finding a job, then build a professional reputation until someone takes notice of your skills, accomplishments and qualifications. Instead of waiting for others to notice you, do things that get noticed until an opportunity comes your way.

3. Sir Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Churchill once said, “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.” This is certainly true of a job search. Even if you fail a few times, maintain your enthusiasm, so you can turn your mistakes into valuable learning opportunities.

4. Katharine Whitehorn

British journalist Katharine Whitehorn said, “Find out what you like doing best, and get someone to pay you for it.” This is always true as you try to find your perfect career fit. Commit your professional goals to paper, find out what job description syncs with your personality the best, and then put your passion to work. If you mold your greatest passions into a career, people pay you for it for the rest of your life.

5. Mark Twain

Famous American author and humorist Mark Twain said it best: “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you too can become great.” Misery loves company, and negativity is contagious. That’s why it’s important to surround yourself with positive people who can prop you up and inspire you during your job search.

6. Confucius

Ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius spoke the truth when he wrote, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Finding your dream job may take time and dedication, but the effort is well worth it, because once you land it, and you’ll be getting paid for something you would happily do for free.

7. Marva Collins

Chicago educator Marva Collins believed that, “Success doesn’t come to you, you go to it.” She started a preparatory academy in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Chicago in 1975. Collins faced many daily challenges as she tried to bring kids out of poverty, but she never let those difficulties deter her from following her dreams and doing what she thought was right.

8. Estee Lauder

Famed fashion mogul Estee Lauder told someone, “I never dreamed about success. I worked for it.” A potential employer does not pay for your dreams; an employer pays for your work. Similarly, you need to work for every job opportunity that comes your way.

9. Henry Ford

Industrialist Henry Ford had this to say about becoming someone great: “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” This saying reflects that your attitude leads to success. If you believe you can do something, you can accomplish it. The opposite is also true.

10. Steve Jobs

Technological innovator Steve Jobs also believed that people should find out what they love to do. He said, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” The same is true for a job search. Try not to settle, or you may become unsettled as you try to find your one true place in your professional life.

These inspirational quotes come from truly successful people who worked hard to achieve their dreams. You might not achieve the same scale of popularity or affluence as they did, but with the right attitude and the proper perspective on a job hunt, you can certainly find your ideal job that gives you the same level of satisfaction as they enjoyed.

Automation impacting outsourcing

Now that Outsourcing has reached a certain amount of volumes, almost all of the major companies that outsource have started thinking seriously about the need for automation of repeated processes.

Robotic Process Automation is still in its in fancy, there is a lot of work to be done here to  separate reality from hype  that the  marketing side of the IT-BPO industry  that loves to hype up any new bell or whistle, and it has done so with robotic process automation (RPA) for the past few years.

RPA involves the use of “software robots” capable of replacing humans for mundane, repetitive tasks commonly found in BPO. However, it will take some time for the real world to catch up with the marketing hype (if it ever will). Industry surveys show only a small percentage of companies have hands-on experience with RPA, and many executives still struggle with understanding the technology and its realistic capabilities.

The advent of new technologies like Big Data, Analytics, improvements in Machine Learning techniques and maturity curve of both software and hardware involved in these areas are scaling new heights and this area will see some traction for see.

Stay tuned.. more to come

Changing outsourcing trends in 2016

Outsourcing will see a paradigm shift as new trends are sweeping in.

Expect a number of sweeping changes in the IT outsourcing industry in 2016. Some of these include renewed focus on digital, newer ways of deal making, maturing cloud
computing,security threats, pressure on costs, gainful in-sourcing in select areas, political trends especially during election year in the USA, emergence of newer providers that offers more niche services in comparison to large firms that cannot connect at all levels.

Closing deals quicker : Gone are the days of multiple months spent in negotiating, now it has become very agile to put all-encompassing teams into a war room and thrash out proposals and sign deals and get benefit right away.

Technology influenced automation is playing a major role, with the advent of machine learning, big data analytics, BOTS etc. it is re-shaping the need and questioning the rationale for cheaper resources offshore. The increased focus on Run better, Run faster is putting pressure on the age-old outsourcing premise of shift high paying jobs to low wage countries while costs increases have begun eroding margins. This will be a game changer.

Newer models in vendor outsourcing have emerged and proven successful, the single vendor approach has been tossed out in many cases, multiple vendors is the norm, clients are not shy bringing in newer entrants without much established expertise, competition among multi vendors to bag more opportunities is helping clients get more out of their deals as well.

Focus on security and cloud computing have brought in newer challenges any of the most powerful cloud technologies will require integration efforts comparable to those required to install large ERP systems. These are long drawn projects needing niche consultants not run of mill resources. Most companies do not have employees capable of managing multiple emerging technology platforms, they’ll have to outsource service integration, incident management, and change management. Providers are notching up partnerships as well to offer more value add services.

Security is top of mind from the boardroom to the break room, and it will influence outsourcing strategy in 2016. It is poised to increase with emergence of  cloud computing, Changes to Safe Harbor and the Internet of Things (IoT) as they  become more prevalent. The ever-increasing threats will use increasingly creative ways to exploit weaknesses, often with devastating effect.  Service providers have often been the weakest link in a company’s security and will need to find better ways to address that concern.

Cloud is emerging stronger as we move forward, clients are not shy of moving more critical work into cloud. Having found success with non-critical systems,  we’ll see more production workloads move to the cloud—and not just AWS, use of multiple providers is becoming a norm, no one wants to put all bets on just one cloud provider. The future of data centers will embody many platforms. The as-a-service outsourcing model makes it possible to combine infrastructure, software, and business process to create a platform that is much more modular, scalable and intelligent. This platform can tackle higher-level processes, creating results that increase revenues, improve margins, enhance customer service, and move the business forward instead of running in place.

Stay tuned to learn how these trends are shaping the outsourcing industry.

Challenges of insourcing

Many a time due diligence is not done before making decision to insource what was outsourced. At times portions of it or entire arrangement. It becomes quite a challenge to pull it off for Managers at the ground level, if combined with their lack of experience in handling an insourcing event earlier it creates further challenges.

Often decisions to insource are made without calculated judgment or ROI. At times it is done just to threaten the vendor or due to non performance, safety breach, skill sets or delivery challenges.

I am a proponent of insourcing if the outsourcing arrangement is going south, the earlier the better so you don’t impact your business, your customers and your competitive nature among few. Having said that, it is important to do a detailed due diligence before pulling the plug and not after. Depending on the nature of insourcing whether you are bringing it back from a international location or domestic, the challenges can be different and manifold.

I have see several examples of insourcing and each of them needed a separate level of handling to ensure smooth transition without impacting the ongoing business. The most challenging one is to insource from an outsourced vendor located outside the country and build a team right there. At the outset it may look like a cost efficient venture but long term there could be surprise as costs mount both direct and indirect costs. Sourcing is one challenge, and keeping the resources against attrition is another. Rising wage costs, issues with logistics be it transportation, telecommunications, security after hours availability are all issues to contend with. Rampant poaching mean you will see constant attrition and transition from outgoing to newer resources, the need for bench strength will mean higher resource costs. Supervising is another challenge. Frequent need for travel from headquarters to remote location is both expensive and taxing. Visa issues create bottlenecks on free movement of resources. Training staff on both sides including cultural sensitivity needs to be factored as well.

it is advisable to take stock of what you could potentially encounter and have a mitigation plan in place. Bringing in advisors or those that have done this before would savings not just costs but also surprises as well.

it takes months depending on the scale to get to where you want to be. So don’t underestimate the pitfalls. Plan for it.

Gartner Identifies the Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2016

This week at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2015 upwards of 10,000 CIOs and business technology professionals from around the world are gathering to talk all things IT. Gartner regularly polls their clients and today released the Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2016.

Gartner defines a strategic technology trend as one with the potential for significant impact on the organization. Factors that denote significant impact include a high potential for disruption to the business, end users or IT, the need for a major investment, or the risk of being late to adopt.

As this community would expect, IoT dominates the majority of the list.

In this latest report, everything is a device and the general idea is that the digital mesh is a dynamic network linking various endpoints.

gartner-top10-strategic-trends-for-2016.png

IoT related trends include:

The Device Mesh

The device mesh refers to an expanding set of endpoints people use to access applications and information or interact with people, social communities, governments and businesses. The device mesh includes mobile devices, wearable, consumer and home electronic devices, automotive devices and environmental devices — such as sensors in the Internet of Things (IoT).

Ambient User Experience

While this trend focuses on augmented and virtual reality, IoT sensors play a key role in how this is implemented.


Information of Everything

Everything in the digital mesh produces, uses and transmits information. Advances in semantic tools such as graph databases as well as other emerging data classification and information analysis techniques will bring meaning to the often chaotic deluge of information.


Advanced Machine Learning

Gartner explores deep neural nets (DNNs), (an advanced form of machine learning particularly applicable to large, complex datasets) and claims this is what makes smart machines appear “intelligent.” DNNs enable hardware- or software-based machines to learn for themselves all the features in their environment, from the finest details to broad sweeping abstract classes of content.

Autonomous Agents and Things

Gartner Research Fellow David Cearley says, “Over the next five years we will evolve to a postapp world with intelligent agents delivering dynamic and contextual actions and interfaces. IT leaders should explore how they can use autonomous things and agents to augment human activity and free people for work that only people can do. However, they must recognize that smart agents and things are a long-term phenomenon that will continually evolve and expand their uses for the next 20 years.”

Adaptive Security Architecture

Security and IoT should go hand-in-hand. Gartner says that relying on perimeter defense and rule-based security is inadequate, especially as organizations exploit more cloud-based services and open APIs for customers and partners to integrate with their systems.

Advanced System Architecture, Mesh App and Service Architecture

These are three of the ten trends that I’m summarizing into one. All of these require more computing power and new ways of deploying software. Say goodbye to the monolithic approach and welcome agility. Application teams must create new modern architectures to deliver agile, flexible and dynamic cloud-based applications with agile, flexible and dynamic user experiences that span the digital mesh.

Internet of Things Platforms

IoT platforms complement the mesh app and service architecture and Mr. Cearley rounds out the trends by stating, “Any enterprise embracing the IoT will need to develop an IoT platform strategy, but incomplete competing vendor approaches will make standardization difficult through 2018.”

Motivating Project Teams

In today’s world with some outsourcing component or the other, keeping the project teams motivated is a bit of challenge.  More so with the global nature of teams, virtual workers, time zones etc.  it becomes more complicated to keep teams motivated at all times.

There are tons of books, authors, speakers and lessons shared. But I would say, two key things are to make your team feel like you value them as individuals and ensure they understand how they are contributing to the success of the project and therefore the company. Regarding the latter I find people are more motivated when they understand the whys.

Help them see that their personal goals and ambitions are aligned with the business goals, including successful completion of the project.

A simple answer may be to ask the team! If you’ve got a healthy enough relationship with your team, ask them what motivates them, rather than making assumptions. You may not be able to promise that you can meet all their goals but at the very least, you’ll find out what motivates them and know where any gaps are.  Understand each team member and what is important to them
Communication, empowerment and involvement. If you don’t communicate effectively, then there is no team. Empower individuals, assign tasks/roles that stretch them and then fully involve them – do not cast them adrift. Encourage them to develop and engage with them in an open and professional manner.
The Team Leaders must try to understand the ideas and attitude of his staff members. If you are implementing mechanical work you must have activities to follow to prevent downtime. The Team leader must make sure that work plan is set for the time frame of activities.

My 2cents contribution: First I´d say that a good way to motivate is to make the team members to embrace the project as their own project, make the team to think they are doing something greater than deliver 1 item on the project but helping to achieve a greater goal

2nd there is nothing more powerful than a loud and proud THANK YOU or GREAT JOB. 🙂 Some organizations do not allow you to spend money ($) with recognition but PM can organize a meeting and publicly thank the resource for his/her great work and contribution it motivates the person to, at least, repeat the behavior.

Be on the same level with your team. And make your team members feel they are a part of the team and their efforts are acknowledged and appreciated.

After many years of leading PM Teams, even through acquisitions and mergers, the one thing I have found most important is “listen.” Listen to not only their direct business needs/issues but more importantly listen to (and HEAR) what other elements are driving their performances. This would undeniably include their lives outside of the workplace. “Lead with your heart…”\

Depends on individuals, culture, environmental factors. Tactical strategies for example it might be money for a North American contract of approved overtime, an Argentina full timer might be recognition with the team and their management (team lunch celebration), for India off shore might be their management escalation to assist in promotions. Project management global teams are more complex than traditional functional management as their reporting becomes matrix and rewards should be targeted to optimize ROI.

Have your stand up/morning meeting in different places, other than work to discuss what everyone is working on or what they need help with. I love to take them out for breakfast or coffee. It helps with the flow of conversation. Ask a new question every standup such as what do you think is working well at this coffee shop or breakfast place? Sometimes unconventional surrounds help a team member think of a different solution.
Acknowledgement of everyone is in the same boat and to get to shore we will all use each others strengths and weaknesses to make it.

If you want to motivate your team be motivated yourself. If the project and its objectives don’t motivate you it’s not likely you will motivate your team. If you’re motivated much of the rest will fall into place….you will be motivated to do many of the suggestions that have been offered in the other comments. You will most importantly want to be successful and for that to happen your team must be successful.

Frequently check with the team and see what their personal interests & goals are; try to align the project goals and objectives with theirs; you’ll see the change

Inject the feeling that you are one among them rather than you are their boss; most of the times, I’ve seen, motivates my team the most

Of course, keep appreciating them, just the 2 words ‘good job’ are enough; quite a few times

The best way to motivate a team is to explain the importance of the project and then involve them in as many decisions as possible. You should let them assist in calculating the durations for activities where they are the subject matter expert. They now have a time based goal that they help create and feel responsible for achieving for the good of the team.

First remember teams are built they are not formed by putting a number of people together and calling them a team.
Second get to know each member of the team and let them know who you are. I have a one page introduction (augmented by verbal expansion); that I use when I take the lead of a team or when I hire a new individual. The introduction tells them clearly what I expect from them and what they can expect from me. This sets the basis of our relationships and how we communicate. I give clear assignments with clear expectations and due dates. Everyone is treated equitably not the same. We build trust with a foundation based on ethics.

Over time I have found that over 90% of the team members rise to the expectations. Those that do not, find something else to do.

Celebrate the team’s accomplishments and do everything possible to set them up for success.
The theory of motivation is about as broad and deep as anyone would want to go. As much as Maslow’s hierarchy has had all kinds of reviews, I think it’s a good place to start. More recently I have begun to include the pursuit of Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. For me personally, I try to use these 4 skills:

Speak confidently and accurately about the future in a way that creates meaning and purpose, because what people hear they talk about, what they talk about they come to believe and this shapes their future.

Think critically about the current situation. Never underestimate the magnitude of the change required to move from “as is” to the “to be”. Accurate perceptions are vital for effective communication and good decision making.

Act with integrity and enthusiasm. I can’t think of a better way of influencing people to volunteer their willing cooperation and active participation in a project.

Relate to others in a way that serves (without ego or selfish ambition). Relating this way sets an example for others to follow. Our measure of success is directly related to how effectively people work together.

Finally, there is no single answer to the question you’ve asked. The fact is, team dynamics and team members vary according to project, organization, and local cultural norms. So, I can’t give the one single thing that will be most effective, but I will add to the many excellent suggestions here, is to treat understanding and motivating the team as a critical success factor, meaning that it will require time, effort and thoughtful consideration to get right. Far too often, personal or team issues appear less of a priority than the technical management issues. But they are every bit as important, particularly early on in large projects. To that end, as Project Manager, it is important to set the frames of reference and structure up front, and as people become comfortable with the project and the team, give them opportunities to contribute, to lead and be heard. So 1) provide clear expectations, 2) get to know the team members, 3) demonstrate your leadership in protecting the team from distractions, 4) be proactive in checking on things, 5) allow the team to take ownership and lead on their own. That’s a good start…

Staying relevant in outsourced environment

Every outsourcing engagement goes thru the pulls and pressures of work.  The concept of do more with less has pushed both sides of the outsourcing engagements to the brink at times.  The combination of pressures arsing from people, process and technology impacts people (human beings) the most.

Sometimes finding the way forward takes some self-reflection. If you’re feeling stuck, frustrated or tired of dealing with the same problems again and again, there might be solutions right in front of you that you just can’t see.

Lack of mentoring and support structures on both sides at times leaves resources perplexed.

Here are the four questions can help clear away your mental blocks so that you can move forward.

1. What’s your mindset?
Start by looking at your attitude about your situation. What are you telling yourself? For example, it could be:

  • “I don’t have the energy to deal with this.”
  • “Why try harder? It won’t really make a difference.”
  • “Things will never get better.”
  • “Why do I care”
  • My loyalty is limited to myself”

Your mindset may be the very thing that’s holding you back, because it affects your choices and how you engage with others. If you find that your self-talk is negative, what messages do you want to replace the current ones with so that you can make more progress?

2. What are you tolerating that you need to let go of?
We all have things, large and small, that we tolerate in our lives. When you hold onto them for too long, they can significantly affect your progress. Take a look at the list below to see if any of these apply to you:

  • Being disorganized, resulting in unproductive time
  • Failing to plan ahead, allowing lower priority work to take over
  • Doing work that others should be doing because of a failure to hold others accountable or delegate

What one small change can you make to free up some energy, and create capacity to find a solution?

3. What choices are you making that are keeping you where you are?
Things typically don’t just happen to us. Outcomes are usually the result of a series or choices that we and others have made along the way. When we make some choices over and over again, they form patterns that may not serve us well.

So, if you’re frustrated by what’s going on around you, ask yourself how you are enabling that situation to continue. The following questions may provoke some ideas:

  • Do you keep trying the same approach, but expect a different result?
  • Are you putting off a difficult conversation?
  • Have your engaged others in solving the problem with you (e.g., escalated the issue that needs to be addressed)?

As you consider the questions above, what do you notice about your own behavior?

4. Are you burnt out?
Finally, your physical health could be a surprising factor that’s keeping you from making progress. Are you getting enough sleep? What does your diet look like? Feeling physically drained can lead you to make more emotional rather than rational decisions. Even getting 15 minutes more of sleep, making sure you don’t skip a meal, or taking five-minute breaks throughout the day can make a big difference

Handling underperformers on your engagement

Managing performance across boundaries in a outsourced environment is always a challenge.  More so not having direct control over your outsourced partner’s resources whose performance is the key to your success.

On the larger teams it is often not unusual to be frustrated with a team member who isn’t performing as you need — and who’s showing no signs of changing?

As frustrated as leaders are in this situation, sometimes they aren’t giving employees the honest advice and specific feedback they need to change. They might be worried about damaging the relationship, or they think that an employee should “just know” what to do.

You can take an approach, though, that helps the employee (and keeps your relationship healthy) while getting you better results. Here’s the process that could help you in dealing with a “stuck” employee.

Look at Your Mindset

Think about how you’ve been engaging with this employee. What role are you playing in the current situation? How are you enabling it to continue as it is? For example, I’ve noticed that when a leader starts showing frustration or micromanaging, it can put his team member in a place of fear and self-doubt. That can make it much more difficult for the employee to make change happen. What would help you get centered so you can address the situation in a more constructive way?

Set Clear Expectations

Sometimes leaders assume an employee should know, without being told, how to handle an assignment. Then they’re disappointed when the employee doesn’t read their mind and meet all of those unvoiced expectations. You’ll do more to boost the employee’s performance when you delegate with clear expectations. Spell out the deliverables, define their decision-making authority, and specify how often the employee should check in and any other key parameters of the project.

One of my clients has a boss who’s discouraged by her performance but doesn’t communicate expectations. He gives her assignments to test her capabilities – but doesn’t tell her this upfront, or let her know what skills he’s looking to assess or build. That approach hasn’t served either one of them well. He would improve his effectiveness if he communicated at the outset, “I’m giving you this assignment to see how you’ll do and where I need to coach you, to help you be successful.”

Give Specific Feedback

Think about whether you’re offering the employee tangible, specific feedback. Are you communicating regularly about what’s working and what’s not? If you want her to make a shift in a certain area — say, being more strategic instead of tactical — are you letting her know this and explaining why this would help her succeed?

There is a  two-part formula for giving feedback. This approach gives the employee useful information she can take action on and keeps the emphasis on performance and results instead of personal criticism.

  1. As objectively as possible, tell the employee what you observed her doing. Share facts without interpreting them.
  1. Describe the impact of those actions. Your goal is to help the employee understand what she did and how it affected others. For example, did the actions she took (or didn’t take) lead to a missed deadline? Misalignment of goals? Wasted time?

Managing Time – How to stay ahead

One of the most fearsome things facing people today is all of the things which seem to conspire to distract use from what we are supposed to be doing. From cell phones to the internet to TV, no matter where we go there is something to do other than our assigned tasks, and it is so very easy to goof off and get nothing done.

Time and tide

Here are a few principles that can help you manage your time so that you can use it as effectively as possible.

First off, it is important to recognize that we as people have a limited amount of time and an unlimited number of things that we can do with it. Thus, we have to prioritize and use our time to do the things that will help use to achieve our goals and accomplish the tasks that are most important to us.

An important time management skill is the ability to break big tasks into smaller tasks. We often are confronted with huge projects or jobs that will take lots of time to complete. The good thing is that many times we are given a large amount of time in order to complete these projects. The bad thing is that often we are intimidated by the these big projects and we don’t start them until the last minute, meaning that we are left racing to get whatever it is done on time and left with a bad taste in our mouth. So, figure out how much of your job you can do each day and each week, basically what it will take to get it done, and then pick a day to begin.

This leads into the importance of making a plan and sticking to it. If you do not have a plan that you follow, you will be disorganized and you will not be able to make the most of your time. You will sit down to work on something but you won’t have a clear idea of what you need to do, and often this means that next time, you won’t have the hear to sit down and you will do nothing at all. All of this can be prevented by proper planning.