One of the major challenges when outsourcing services or projects is to ensure that there is no “value leakage” over the complete life cycle of the agreement. Most organisations put a significant amount of up-front effort into securing the best possible contractual and commercial terms with a vendor, often through an extensive RFP process, but then find that they have significant additional unplanned costs over the term of the agreement.

Independent research consistently identifies the importance of a disciplined approach to vendor management as an enabler for organisations to control costs, drive vendor performance, manage risk and ensure value for money throughout the lifetime of an engagement. In some instances, 50% of value can be lost due to unsustainable contract terms and poor ongoing vendor relationship management. TORI has identified why and where “value leakage” occurs and developed methodologies to minimise the operational and financial risks.

Through our Business Process Improvement Practice, we can assist our clients through the life cycle of vendor management. This can involve a strategic review of their vendor landscape to actively reduce the number of vendors or re-negotiate existing contracts, linked to such factors as application decommissioning, legacy systems and targets for disinvestment. Or it may involve specialist support throughout the complete outsourcing life cycle from sourcing strategy through to sourcing preparation, supply selection, transition and supply management.

From our experience, good execution processes within a project can potentially recover from poor initial vendor engagement and commercial negotiation but poor project management can completely negate excellent initial contractual and commercial engagement with a vendor. The effectiveness and benefits of a well drafted vendor agreement are only as good as its application when executing individual projects under that agreement.

For example, a reporting regime identified within a vendor agreement is of little benefit if individual Project Managers are not then required to ensure and report compliance by the vendor or if there is no consolidated view of a vendor’s performance across the whole organisation. And an agreement might include provisions that all additional costs should be borne by the vendor, but it becomes increasingly difficult to enforce such a clause if cost overruns are not escalated immediately and before the financial exposure of the vendor has increased to a potentially unsustainable level. Exercising efficient but pragmatic controls over the vendor estate does not have to involve large overheads within a Vendor Management or PMO function.

The further reality is that programme portfolios can extend over significant periods during which the original objectives may no longer be relevant, for any number of valid reasons, or the underlying projects themselves may have got out of control through unstructured project management. In such cases, TORI can help through our Programme Management Practice which uses expertise gained over many years to define and execute successful delivery, turnaround and recovery strategies.

If you have any issues or requirements in this area then please contact Yogi Patel, Head of our Business Process Improvement Practice on +44 (0)20 7025 5555

Each November men in the UK and worldwide sprout moustaches to raise funds and awareness of men’s health issues, specifically prostate cancer and other cancers affecting men, for the Movember charity.

TORI’s two-man team of ‘Mo Bros’, as they are known, did themselves proud, coming in place 3,847 out of 252,566 registrations in the UK. TORI’s contribution has helped Movember to raise an impressive £14.5 million in the UK so far in 2011.

It’s well known that business change must be fully supported by IT to enable smooth transitioning and to meet delivery timescales. But how do you ensure that IT Service Management adopts the right tools, processes and procedures that are appropriate to the business it is supporting?

TORI works with global financial institutions to implement solutions that fit within their existing business and IT culture. The company draws upon the experience of individuals who in the past have held senior Service Management positions within Financial Service organisations. This brings with it a blend of industry standards, combined with relevant experience which manifests itself into the adoption of a pragmatic approach to solve IT Service Management issues.

Chris Harris, Head of IT Service Management at TORI, explains what is different about its approach: “Many organisations believe that implementing a new Service Management tool will be the solution to their problems. This is not the case: the tool is only as good as the processes that wrap around it and the processes are only as good as the people who use them.”

Accordingly, TORI uses specialist technology Alliance Partners and trusted Associates to deliver Service Management improvement programmes appropriate to business needs, whilst remaining responsible for the delivery and management of the overall assignment.

The Challenges of Change
Significant improvements can be made to IT Service Management by introducing the disciplines and standards within ITIL tempered with pragmatism based on the practical experience and knowledge of TORI consultants. TORI’s well-established improvement programmes focus not only on the implementation of technology and processes but also the cultural change aspects essential to the successful adoption throughout the organisation.

With an ongoing and long association with organisations in Norwich, TORI Global is delighted to extend its sponsorship of the Norfolk Tennis Academy.

TORI Chief Executive, Martin Harvey, said: “We believe sport plays a key part in the wider education of our children and we are keen to encourage and nurture future tennis champions.  We also believe that the spirit of the Norfolk Tennis Academy fits well with the guiding values on which our company is based and after which it is named – Trust, Openness, Respect and Integrity (TORI).”

Head of the Norfolk Tennis Academy, Stuart Silvester, added:   Over the last 12 months players at the academy have been competing at county and national level with some great successes. 18 of our players represented the county during this period and we now have 5 players ranked inside the top 20 nationally within their respective age groups. This summer, thanks to TORI, we will be running a tennis talent competition for children under the age of 12. We are hoping for up to 100 contestants from local schools to come and show off their co-ordination and racket skills whilst attempting some fun and exciting challenges.  We are extremely grateful to TORI for extending the sponsorship agreement.”

TORI is the partner of choice for world leading companies that decide to enhance their performance by investing in leadership and management. For many years, we have been working with top international companies that want to further strengthen their position by making improvements in these areas.

Many of the top 500 companies on the Stock Market who have strong staff retention are also the most profitable and, interestingly, research tells us that the majority of people (up to 80%) leave jobs because of management.  Suffice to say that investing in programmes to develop management and leadership cultures in line with global strategies add to the long term health and profitability of a business.

TORI is delivering a Leadership and Management Development Programme for an International Bank to reinforce the company’s values and behaviours, and standardise leadership and management right across the organisation.  Two core programmes: Managing for Success and Leading for Success have been delivered in countries as far-flung as Brazil, Singapore and Hong Kong, and in New York, London, Paris and Brussels. In total, 1,500 employees will take part and as an indication that the programme is delivering results, TORI has been commissioned to expand the programme further.

The content of our programmes are designed to deliver a full curriculum – addressing people skills, leadership traits and charismatic leadership as well as the core areas such as management skills and strategic thinking.  We devise a regularly reviewed action plan for every individual who takes part, coaching them to develop strategies for any scenarios that arise, and being available to listen to their concerns. And we obtain structured feedback so that clients can measure and assess the quality, effectiveness and results of our programmes. But the true measure of success lies in the development of a management and leadership culture that attract staff who are motivated to constantly improve their own performance, bringing its own business benefits.

WHY TORI?  We are not consultants but practitioners with a background in the business we are working with. That equips us to address management and leadership issues, whether complex or straightforward, from a position of experience.