Outsourcing: Why the Handoff Isn’t as Easy as It Looks

Manufacturers and automation vendors alike are leaning on IT professional services organizations to lift the burdens of day-to-day activities that impede their ability to achieve business objectives. But buyers beware. When outsourcing IT or engineering, there’s a learning curve that can disrupt corporate culture and customer service.


Companies Mentioned
Posted on Feb 24, 2010

In October 2009, Delphi Automotive was reborn. That was when the company emerged from Chapter 11 after four years, as a trimmer organization with a laser focus on what is mission-critical to its business.

Delphi, a global supplier of electronics and technologies for autos and commercial and other vehicles, has more than 100,000 employees at 270 locations and 24 engineering centers in 32 countries. During its reorganization, the company experienced a transformation that allowed it to streamline and focus its product offerings, diversify its customer base, increase the markets it serves, and shift its manufacturing, supply, engineering, and transaction processing from high-cost to low-cost venues. As a result, it decided to jettison certain activities that could be performed more cost-effectively by outside parties.

For Delphi, which was spun off from General Motors 10 years ago, this new business model relies heavily on professional services partners that have assumed the operational responsibility of running the company’s IT infrastructure.

“After 2005, we made a clear strategic decision that we were going to intensify and extend our outsourcing contracts,” says Jan Powell, Delphi’s executive of IT global services.

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