Team spirit, culture and strike power

Wolter Smit, one of TOPdesk’s two directors, on a daily basis comes in contact with organisations that outsource IT services. Wolter also chairs Young Management VNO-NCW – an association for young employers under the age of forty, related to VNO-OCW [VNO-OCW is the confederation of Dutch industry and employers]. Furthermore, Wolter is a member of the executive committee of VNO-OCW and of the subcommission improvement of the employment situation for migrant youth, which is part of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands (SER).

Should every organisation outsource supporting company processes?

“Whether or not to outsource processes, activities or entire departments depends on the situation in which an organisation finds itself. An organisation should carefully consider which aspects of the company processes it can and wants to outsource. The question that needs to be asked when considering the outsourcing of certain services is: how closely related is this service to what we really want to accomplish? Which processes do we, as an organisation, really want to control ourselves?”

“Sometimes the decision of whether or not to outsource is simple. For example, a notary’s office with about twenty PCs does not need to manage their own hardware and software; managing this is not one of their core competences and in most cases they lack the knowledge to do so. What often happens is that a system manager comes by once a week who can also be contacted in case of emergencies. This allows the notary’s office to focus more on their core business and it provides more continuity for a small organisation such as theirs.”

And how about larger organisations?

“Larger organisations often outsource entire processes, for example supporting services such as administration, catering or their help desk. One of the reasons for doing so is a reduction in costs. Another reason is the (lack of) attention within such an organisation for these kinds of supporting processes. Larger organisations have to deal with the complex decision of which processes and activities to put the main focus on, which in most cases will concern their primary processes. Outsourcing a supporting service to an experienced external party allows them to schedule free some extra time and money for their core business. This external party has the advantage of being experienced in the specific business culture and the people working in this field. It would also allow the personnel more career possibilities.

Is outsourcing problematic departments always a solution?

“What you’re dealing with then is a management problem. The solution would not primarily lie in outsourcing, but in employing the right people and properly managing the department in question. Contracting the department to a large partner and letting them do the cutting and pruning, may indeed seem the easy way out in such a case. However, I would say that the more you depend on a certain department or expertise, the closer to home I would want to keep it. Banks for instance rely heavily on ICT, as it directly influences their company processes. On the other hand, banks are often not skilled in the ICT area, which creates a field of tension.

Does the concept of outsourcing create expectations that cannot be met?

“Outsourcing an entire department, including personnel, can lead to problems. It will take a while for the employees to adjust to the new situation and another culture. Another disadvantage can be that it gives rise to the discussion on services versus finances; services that are provided outside the determined service hours can for example be charged heavily. The idea that a service can be precisely recorded in a contract is utopian. And in practice, it is very hard and time-consuming to switch sourcing supplier.

“Outsourcing introduces some interesting topics for discussion between the organisation and the sourcing partner: which service level can be expected for which price? And what if costs rise above that price? You basically trade in one problem for another; instead of having a management problem you will have a negotiation problem. It is up to the management to decide which problem you would rather  face. Outsourcing would certainly help to resolve a management problem. Then again, employing or recruiting a competent IT manager who has a good judgement of human character may be a better solution to revitalise the department; this could help in putting the right people in the right places, or replace people if necessary. Ultimately, I feel that a manager should be able to recognise quality in people and to enthuse them into cooperating. I have noticed that such a form of leadership is often lacking in an organisation. They don’t seem to know what they’re doing.”

And you probably think that a service management tool such as TOPdesk can help them to manage their own ICT affairs?
“Haha. Don’t forget that service is always provided by people. And if management does not recognise this, a tool like TOPdesk will not instantly solve their problems. However, calling in an external expert, in this case for instance a service management consultant, could be very useful.”

Can you explain why Anglo-Saxon countries like England, Canada, the U.S. and Australia are outsourcing more services than the Netherlands do?

“The Anglo-Saxon culture tends to be  more rational-minded; if outsourcing can save money, they will do it. They tend to be quite reductionist (1+1=2) by nature, whereas the Europeans have a more holistic attitude (1+1=3), believing the total to be greater than the sum of its parts. I feel that having the work done by your own staff will reward itself, for example in flexibility, strike power, knowledge, satisfied employees, etc. These things can hardly – or not at all – be measured in terms of money. Which is better? Americans have outsourced a lot of services to India. There is no rational reason not to do this.”

Will TOPdesk ever outsource services, for example their development department?

“Basically, I too hold the holistic view that team spirit, culture and strike power are essential in an organisation. Besides, I also don’t feel like flying back and forth to for example Slovenia. But necessity knows no law; if we were not to find good developers in the Netherlands – and finding technical students is a problem in the Netherlands these days – we might one day set up office in a country that has many developers. If that were to happen, I would want to have our own TOPdesk office there. I would not want to contract such a service; developing is a primary process in our organisation.  My ideal is for TOPdesk to be a very open organisation, in which all branches know the same TOPdesk culture and each branch forms an intrinsic part of the organisation.