outsourcing

Simple Contract template for Consulting Services

I have loaded a simple contract template for consulting services – mostly clients will have a template already in hand from procurement. If you do not have anything you may find this one useful. It is pretty basic but contains the essential elements. Before signing up make sure you run your final version past your accountant for IR35 compliance and if possible a friendly (i.e. not too expensive) laywer.

I’ll post an affiliate version is there is any demand.

Download template here:

SIZE: 32.11 KB

Article source: http://www.roymogg.com/contract-template-services/

Simple Contract template for Consulting Services

I have loaded a simple contract template for consulting services – mostly clients will have a template already in hand from procurement. If you do not have anything you may find this one useful. It is pretty basic but contains the essential elements. Before signing up make sure you run your final version past your accountant for IR35 compliance and if possible a friendly (i.e. not too expensive) laywer.

I’ll post an affiliate version is there is any demand.

Download template here:

SIZE: 32.11 KB

Article source: http://www.roymogg.com/contract-template-services/

Copywriting a very odd term; and there are quite a variety of jobs that it can pertain to, but the most common probably refers to someone who writes “copy” for an advertising agency. Generally, that’s not what I do, though I have written advertising copy. The term “copy” refers to the text as a design element, so I’m not much of a fan of the term – but there doesn’t seem to be a better one available at the moment. Usually, the people I work for just refer to me as “our writer” or “one of our writers,” which is just fine.

What I do is kind of function as a Jan-of-all trades when it comes to whatever needs to be professionally written for a business. This might include image brochures, internal articles, executive speeches and letters, press releases, Website content and scripts for internal videos. I also do quite a bit of editing and consulting for punctuation, grammar and syntax urgencies and sometimes get to do some public relations strategizing. I don’t get a byline and, in fact, don’t always see the finished product because most of the time, what the people I work for really want is something that’s about 90 to 95 percent there. We might go back and forth several times as the drafts progress; but ultimately, my role is finished and the project is theirs to tweak further as they wish and disseminate.

As for how I approach the work that I do, it varies greatly from project to project – but it’s almost always very collaborative – with the people who assign the work, the stakeholders who are interviewed, and sometimes graphic designers and video producers. Usually, I’m given a verbal briefing on what the message is supposed to be and who is the target audience along with background materials to pull from. Sometimes, additional telephone interviews are necessary. But eventually, there’s no choice but to sit down in front of that blank screen and just hope that something comes. That’s because copywriting requires that you write in a voice other than your own. The posts that I do in the career counselling thread just flow naturally because that’s me talking to you. But when you’re writing an article, similar to a feature article in a magazine or newspaper, or an image brochure, you have to almost conjure an entity and listen to what it’s telling you. It’s difficult. You know the idea you want to communicate, you try to imagine the persona that’s speaking through you… and just hope something comes. So far, it has.

As for how I got interested, it was really a matter of survival and of declining opportunities to do anything else that I might have done. My background is in journalism; but I have an autonomous career anchor (see this week’s career counselling post) – and after five years’ covering health and social services for one of our city’s former newspapers, it became obvious that it was time to move on. A year spent as editor of my college newspaper was more than sufficient to reveal that I didn’t want to manage; and reporting the same events year after year was getting old. There were also some other workplace issues that defied attempts at resolution and had, in fact, escalated into a situation that felt like “learned helplessness;” so one day – I calmly walked in, wrote a resignation letter, handed it to my editor – and left.

One of the businesses that I covered, a hospital, offered a position it its public affairs department; but I thought it would be more interesting to free-lance and see what kind of business could be generated on my own. I really liked the idea of working from home. So, over the next five years, I called on local businesses and acquired free-lance projects writing various kinds of communications materials. It was financially challenging and somewhat frustrating having to write on a typewriter; but eventually, I had a portfolio that was sufficient to secure a “copywriting” position with a large and very well-respected organization in our city. After two and a half years, my position was there was eliminated. It was my good fortune that the organization offered many opportunities for me to write as a consultant, so that’s what I’ve been doing for the past 15 years or so.

Jan

Article source: http://www.roymogg.com/copywriting/

Marketing Planning

The process involves a series of workshops where knowledge and ideas are generated, gaps in understanding acknowledged and actions agreed to acquire the missing information for the following workshop. A marketing template is completed including action plans with clear responsibilities and dates for completion. The process also includes agreement on priorities and specific measurements for success.

At all times the focus is on what we need to understand to increase our sales revenue. Weaknesses and threats must be acknowledged and counter-attacks created. Apparent criticisms should not be taken personally (easier said than done, but important to be aware of). Similarly, criticisms should not be made at a personal level; we are all working toward the same goals. We need to be honest about our individual, group, and organizational strengths and weaknesses.

For agreed cases we will try to truncate the process, to focus on immediate market planning concerns. Generally there is a need to focus on key potential unique selling points and try to get a clear understanding of how to emphasise these and raise demand, exploit strengths and counter-attack the competition.

The workshop(s) will ideally cover:

1. A clear understanding of our internal strengths and weaknesses, external opportunities and threats. This will include assessment of knowledge, skills and capabilities, internal influencing factors, strategic intent, alliances and current/past client experience.
2. The specific market for our type of products; potential by segment.
3. The general and specific competition for our product range; current and future; their strengths and weaknesses; where are they going and why; how do we compare?
4. Future scenario focus – what are the implications of possible market/competitor/client changes? What are the risks of our taking specific approaches? What contingencies should we set in place?

The devil in the detail – Therefore… exactly what is our value proposition? Exactly how do we communicate this? To whom? Through which medium?

Market Planning Process – Workshop Scheme

Article source: http://www.roymogg.com/running-a-marketing-planning-workshop/

Last year £901 million of the cash earmarked for front-line services by George Osborne was used to buy care from private and other non-NHS providers, according to the Financial Times. Research by the Health Foundation showed £800 million was spent on purchasing the same kind of care from NHS trusts. The think tank said the figures showed NHS providers have not had the capacity to deal with rising demand – with campaigners saying outsourcing was a “neither fit nor acceptable” way to plug funding gaps.

“The process of privatising the NHS has already begun,” wrote campaign group NHS Million on twitter in response to the news.

Alan Taman, speaking for campaign groups Keep Our NHS Public and Doctors for the NHS, said there had always been some level of outsourcing by the health service “where it was the best use of public money to do so,” such as for cataract operations. “But what is neither fit nor acceptable is the systematic use of outsourcing as a way of addressing chronic shortfalls in service triggered by years of under-funding,” he said.

The Government blames everyone for the NHS crisis – except themselve

The elderly

• We acknowledge that there are pressures on the health service, there are always extra pressures on the NHS in the winter, but we have the added pressures of the ageing population and the growing complex needs of the population,  Mrs May told Parliament.
• Waits of over 12 hours in AE among elderly people have more than doubled in two years, according to the latest figures from NHS Digital. The RCP said Government investment was needed to match the demand placed on the health service by the ageing population with the resources to meet it.
• Pressures in social care are pushing more people into our hospitals and trapping them there for longer, said the letter.
• Without urgent investment, the NHS will fail to live up to this responsibility this winter.

Patients going to AE instead of seeing their GPs

• The Health Secretary has called for a “honest discussion with the public about the purpose of AE departments”, saying that around a third of AE patients were in hospital unnecessarily.
• Mr Hunt told Radio 4’s Today programme the NHS now had more doctors, nurses and funding than ever, but explained what he called “very serious problems at some hospitals” by suggesting pressures were increasing in part because people are going to AEs when they should not.
  He urged patients to visit their GP for non-emergency illnesses, outlined plans to release time for family doctors to support urgent care work, and said the NHS will soon be able to deliver seven-day access to a GP from 8am to 8pm.
• But doctors struggling amid a GP recruitment crisis said Mr Hunt’s plans were unrealistic and demanded the Government commit to investing in all areas of the overstretched health service.

Simon Stevens, head of NHS England

• Reports that “key members” of Mrs May’s team used internal meetings to accuse Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, of being unenthusiastic and unresponsive have been rejected by Downing Street.
• Mr Stevens has allegedly rejected claims made by Ms May that the NHS had been given more funding than required, according to The Times.
• The newspaper reported the Prime Minister’s staff have been irritated at Mr Stevens’ “political” interventions, including urging ministers to pay for social care by cutting pensioner benefits.
  Addressing the claims about Downing Street staff, a Number 10 source said: “We don’t recognise any of this”, while a separate source described the claims as “nonsense”.
• Mr Stevens will appear before the House of Commons public accounts committee this afternoon to respond to questions of whether the NHS is sufficiently funded amid calls of a crisis from doctors and leading medical bodies.

Previous health policy, not funding

• In an interview with Sky News’s Sophy Ridge, Ms May acknowledged the NHS faced pressures but said it was a problem that had been “ducked by government over the years”.
• She refuted the claim that hospitals were tackling a “humanitarian crisis” and said health funding was at record levels.
  “We asked the NHS a while back to set out what it needed over the next five years in terms of its plan for the future and the funding that it would need,” said the Prime Minister.
• “They did that, we gave them that funding, in fact we gave them more funding than they required… Funding is now at record levels for the NHS, more money has been going in.”
• But doctors accused Ms May of being “in denial” about how the lack of additional funding provided for health and social care were behind a spiralling crisis in NHS hospitals.

Target to treat all AE patients within four hours

• Mr Hunt (the former health secretary) was accused of watering down the flagship target to treat all AE patients within four hours.
• The Health Secretary told MPs the promise – introduced by Tony Blair’s government in 2000 – should only be for “those who actually need it”.
• Amid jeers in the Commons, Mr Hunt said only four other countries pledged to treat all patients within a similar timeframe and all had “less stringent” rules.

But Mrs May has now said the Government will stand by the four-hour target for AE, which says 95 per cent of patients must be dealt with within that time frame.

No one

• Mr Hunt was accused of “hiding” from the public eye following news of the Red Cross’s comments and didn’t make an official statement for two days.
• He was also filmed refusing to answer questions from journalists who pursued him down the street yesterday to ask whether he planned to scrap the four-hour AE waiting time target.
  Sky News reporter Beth Rigby pressed the Health Secretary on his position on the matter, saying “the public will want to know, Mr Hunt”.
• “Sorry Beth, I’ve answered questions about this already,” replied Mr Hunt.
• “But you didn’t answer questions on this. You said it was over-interpreted in the House of Commons and you didn’t want to water it down. Is that what you’re saying?” said Ms Rigby.
• “It’s very difficult, because how are we going to explain to the public what your intention is, when you change your position and then won’t answer the question, Mr Hunt”. But the Health Secretary maintained his silence until he reached his car and got in.

The Health Foundation report also found that £1 in every £8 of local commissioner’s budgets in England is now spent on care provided by non-NHS organisations.

Claims that the NHS turned to private providers as it could not cope with overwhelming demand itself comes as head of NHS England Simon Stevens prepares to deliver a progress report on his five-year reform plans, reported the Financial Times. Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “The public will rightly be alarmed that £900 million was spent treating patients in the private sector when our frontline services remain in desperate need of increased funding.” “Labour always warned that the Tory NHS reorganisation that no one wanted would mean taxpayers money flowing to the private sector and away from the NHS frontline. It’s a disgrace and Labour will reverse this Tory privatisation agenda.” Anita Charlesworth, director of research and economics at the Health Foundation, said rising demand for emergency care meant “NHS providers haven’t had the capacity to deliver planned care and patients had to be diverted outside the NHS.

• “NHS hospitals were left squeezed by sharply rising drug and staff costs with little additional funding.The result was big deficits that had to be covered by raids on investment budgets.
• “The health service needs to plan better for emergency demand, fund emergency care fairly and make sure it gets the best possible price for care provided outside the NHS.”
• The Department of Health said the report simply showed the NHS was judging how best to deliver care and and spends less than 10 per cent of its budget on independent providers.
• A spokesman said: “This report simply shows the NHS is making clinical judgments about delivering high-quality care for patients.
• “The truth is that for many years the independent sector has made a contribution to helping the NHS meet demand, now amounting to less than eight pence in every pound the NHS spends.”

Theresa May told Parliament last month the NHS “is not for sale and it never will be” in response to concerns the health service could form part of a post-Brexit trade deal between America and Britain.

Labour had warned a rushed trade deal between the UK and US could become “a Trojan horse for NHS privatisation”, with insurers and private health companies given the opportunity to provide NHS services.

This article is a summary from the independent

Article source: http://www.roymogg.com/half-of-2bn-nhs-cash-injection-spent-on-outsourced-private-care-providers-labelled-a-disgrace/

Generate Leads – How to Write a Compelling Special Report with Ease by Bonita L. Richter

Writing a special report, or ―white paper, as it’s commonly called, is a fantastic strategy for creating leads for your business.
A simple ten to twenty page document that people can request from your website will create a strong desire for people wanting to do business with you. Writing a special report isn’t complicated. In fact, even if you don’t like writing, you can easily and quickly write a report by following these seven tips.

1. State the “Big Problem.”
You’ll get your reader’s attention if you jump right into what their ―point of pain or problem is they’re experiencing. Demonstrate through writing that you: Understand the core problem they’re facing Care they are having this problem Understand how frustrating having this problem is for them

2. What is the cost of this problem?
People respond faster to alleviating problems and pain, than they do to the potential for gain. So, it is imperative in your special report you specifically communicate what this problem is costing them. Perhaps it is they are losing out on money they could be using to fund a desired lifestyle, to live debt-free, pay for their children’s’ college education, etc. Quantify this cost, if you can!

3. Talk about the general solution.
First, start out by giving a ―big picture solution to solving the problem, such as hiring a coach to accelerate achievement of desired results, or implementing a solid, results-oriented marketing strategy.
Second, talk about how people have tried other solutions, have failed, and why. Examples of reasons why could be ―programs are too complicated to understand or are incomplete or ―includes too much technical jargon. Providing the solution in this format sets you up as THE solution to the problem!

4. State your specific solution.
Lay out your method or system to the reader. This section should be a minimum 50% of your entire special report, and is where you briefly communicate your process for solving the problem. Perhaps you have a seven-step marketing system, or a five-step method for attracting the perfect mate.
It is important in this section to tell your reader what you do—but, not how to do it! The ―how is what you want them to pay you for (solving the problem). However, give the reader some tips and strategies they can use to start solving their problem. This helps build a relationship, and their ―like and trust factor with you.

5. Prove your solution works.
Share the results of your solution by sharing case studies of actual clients you’ve worked with previously. A great formula to use to tell a case study is the P.A.R method – Problem, Action, and Result, and works like this:

1. State the Problem a client had before they worked with you
2. Show the Action your client took, and how the problem was solved.
3. Tell the Results the client experienced; quantify results, if you can.

6. State your credibility.
What are your credentials? What is your success story? How did you discover the system or methodology you use? You can include this information in a one-page biography to establish your authority and expertise on the subject.

7. Tell the reader what to do next.
By now, your reader should be aching to work with you, and excited to take the next step. Point the reader in the right direction, and clearly, specifically spell out a call to action. Give them an irresistible offer they can’t refuse, and a time limit for them to take advantage of the offer.
One final tip…make you special report conversational. As you are writing, think about a specific person you would be writing this to, like a friend or person you know. The purpose of your special report is to build a relationship between you, and your lead. This builds their ―know, trust, and like factor with you. Moving them closer to doing business with you!

Bonita L. Richter, MBA, teaches coaches, consultants, and solo professionals how to market their businesses to increase sales , income, and generate wealth. To download her popular and *FREE* Money and Marketing spreadsheet tools, and BONUS gifts visit Profit-Strategies.biz

Article source: http://www.roymogg.com/how-to-write-a-compelling-special-report/

Writing effective sales copy is a skill and is vital to any business. Luckily, you can learn this skill by reading about it and by using common sense. Most of what you will learn is common sense and will go a long way in increasing your sales. Of course, all elements of writing sales copy cannot be covered in one short article but I have touched on many of the basic rules and strategies to remember and the mistakes to avoid.

The ten basic mistakes to avoid

1. Not knowing and/or believing in your product. You need to know as much as possible about your product so this knowledge will come through in your sales copy. Also, if you do not believe in your product, this can also show through in your copy. Research your product, if you have to, and be prepared when writing your sales pitch.
2. No sub-headings. Most people will scan over the sales page to see if the product would be something of interest to them. You need sub-headings to emphasize the important points of your copy so as to capture the reader’s attention. A good sub-heading would be something like: “Discover the secret to healthy fast weight loss.” Keep your sub-headings as short as possible but make sure they pack a psychological punch!
3. Not stressing the benefits. People want and need to know what is in it for them. Use a bulleted list to stress the benefits of your product. Pretend you are the customer. What would you want to know about the product you are selling? Let the customer know how your product will solve their problems.
4. Not using testimonials. Testimonials will show the reader that real people have used the product and it has worked for them. Be sure to use credible testimonials that detail what the product has done for the customer. Use something like: I have more energy now than when I was in my 20’s, as opposed to something like: This product works great!
5. Not using a P.S. Adding a P.S. at the end of your sales letter can have as much effect as a beginning headline. It could add that extra punch the customer needs to make the decision. For example: P.S. Order now and receive a free 2 hour consultation on how to use our product.
6. Not learning how to write an effective headline. Take note of headlines that grab and keep your attention. Model your headlines after those. A headline has to contain power words that will trigger a response from the reader. For example: PainBGone gets Rid of Pain or Free Yourself from Pain and Live a Happier Life
7. Not using the right words. A simple change like using the word “discover” rather than “learn” can make a big difference in the “feel” of your sales copy. Rather than “Get the Job Done”, you should say “Achieve Your Goals”. Using the right words can get a psychological response that the customer cannot ignore. Here is a quick list of some effective power words: Discover, Secret, Proven, Invest (instead of buy), Innovative, Reveal, Success, Free, Save
8. Not making your copy believable. You’ve seen the ads that were so full of impossible promises and guarantees nobody could believe them. If the customer doubts the validity of the copy then your chances of a sale are next to nothing. Be straight-forward, honest and use simple everyday language. There is no need for using the language of a rocket scientist. If people can identify with what you are saying, they will be more apt to trust it.
9. No sense of urgency. Sometimes people will need a little push to get them to order. This is when you need to add phrases such as: Limited Time Offer, First 10 Customers Only, Order Today for Your Free Bonuses – Help get your customer in the “Buy Now” frame of mind.
10. Not proofreading your copy. Who would put any trust in an ad that reads like this: by now to get you’re free gift today. Limited time offer for all order. click the link below to order know.

Be sure to check all spelling and grammar before publishing your ad copy. You do not have to hire a professional to get good results from your ad copy but you do need to make sure you learn the basic strategies and mistakes when writing your sales page.

Article source: http://www.roymogg.com/writing-sales-copy/

Worrying times for local public sector outsourcing contracts.

Has the third bus arrived with the latest big outsourcing company to report troubles? Following the collapse of Carillion and the losses reported by Capita along comes the announcement of a massive drop in Interserves’ share price and the inevitable ongoing discussions about the viability of the outsourcing model – especially within the public sector.

These three companies share many similarities they are – (or were, in the case of Carillion) – companies spanning the continents and offering services in an array of diverse sectors. Capita for example a multinational business operating in Europe, Africa and Asia, with  a split in its services about fifty-fiftyhalf between the public and private sectors.

Business logic suggests the wide range of skills and experience offered by this kind of international, inter-sectoral organisation, can be a big plus to local government and other parts of the public sector. And most certainly the NHS could benefit from the know-how of senior personnel in business.

Should care be outsourced?

But such size and diversity can also be a weakness when an organisation becomes too big and geographically spread, it can become difficult to coordinate its service delivery potentially leading to confusion, duplication and waste.

Nevertheless, we should not overstate the problems of giant outsourcing companies. They have become part of the local government landscape and many councils depend on them. And most, close to 90%, of all local government contracts work and deliver positive benfites in cost and the delivery of services.

But taken together the recent spate of crisis stories suggests to local authorities and other parts of the public sector that to become too dependent on huge multinationals and to become at risk to uncontrollable market forces is something to be avoided. Public perception of outsourcing is poor and any short term crisis that impacts the delivey of public services receives due attention from the public and politicians alike.

The important lessons coming from the recent crisis are well known and researched. Large scale companies often will under-bid to gain the business, and there is evidence that these organisations continually grow by acquisition, or the under-bidding of contracts to gain turnover share rather than a more organic growth approach. They have to keep running to avoid the collapse. The way it was put to me on one of the bids I was involved with was ‘we bid low to get the contract then when we are in we can get the contract changed to our advantage.’ But sometimes it does not work out like that!

For the public sector contract and procurement managers the pressure to get costs down over-rides sensible decision making and evaluation of bids. They are too tactical in their decision making and think they are doing a good job by squeezing down the price and pushing all the risk onto the suppliers. Well that gets them no-where when the contract collapses! So there are two sides to these problems: aggressive selling by suppliers to get the business and force out competition, and poor procurement and contract management prectices within the public sector.

Article source: https://www.localgov.co.uk/A-crisis-in-local-government-outsourcing/45223

Article source: http://roymogg.com/a-crisis-in-local-government-outsourcing-localgov-co-uk-your/

Outsourcing agreements often include TUPE provisions designed to apply when the contract terminates, which could be years, or even decades down the line. This briefing considers how to future-proof your outsourcing contracts so that they can withstand the possibility of TUPE being significantly amended or repealed entirely after Brexit.

After Brexit, it is possible that the UK Government will amend or repeal TUPE. It is too early to know whether that is likely to happen (and the current Government has said nothing will change for the time being), but if it does, it could have a significant impact on employment costs in outsourcing contracts. 

Without TUPE, the default position at the end of a service contract would be for staff to remain with the outgoing provider, likely creating a redundancy situation, potentially at significant cost to the outgoing provider. Current outsourcing agreements will have been drafted on the assumption that TUPE will apply in the future, and so employees would transfer to an incoming provider, or the client itself on an insourcing. If TUPE is repealed, there may be the unintended consequence that employee liabilities remain with the outgoing provider instead. 

Existing contracts should be reviewed to assess whether there is a risk of previously unforeseen employment costs on termination. When drafting new outsourcing agreements, particularly those which apply to long term projects and which involve significant staff numbers, consideration should be given to the possibility that TUPE will not exist, at least not in its current format, on termination. Agreement should be reached on what will happen to staff in those circumstances. There are three main possible approaches:

1. Will the outgoing provider assume the risk of the law being changed and being left with a redundancy liability?

2. Will a commercial agreement be reached to share the financial and practical risk?

3. Will the parties agree to proceed as if TUPE applies, even if the law has changed during the term of the contract?

Article source: http://roymogg.com/are-your-tupe-outsourcing-terms-brexit-proof/

Telefónica accused of being irresponsible

The Communications Workers Union (CWU) has accused Telefónica UK of being irresponsible with its outsourcing strategy, putting livelihoods at risk and eroding employee rights and benefits. The union has pointed out the obvious point that outsourcing from an employee perspective can be a risky business.

For example, the rights of employees being outsourced is protected by the acquired rights directive under EU law so in principle they can continue with the new employer with no reduction in their employment rights. However, it is far from certain whether they can return to their old employer should things go wrong especially if the outsourcing company changes its business model in the interim and the outsourced functions no longer exist, or, where the contract is re-let to another outsourcer who delivers the service in a fundamentally different way. This can be exacerbated several years down the line when the contract could change hands several times.

The CWU points out correctly that should a third-party supplier ‘get into bother’ there are few assurances outsourced employees would be readmitted on the same terms and conditions as they used to enjoy with their ‘old company’. The CWU also seems to be hinting at nefarious strategies to reduce risk and corporate responsibility for employees is taking place such as using outsourcing to get rid of employee’s surplus to requirements.

Employees can get caught in the middle

As a small vignette several years ago, a company I was involved with provided IT services to a major UK chemical industry player and had taken over their staff entirely. When the contract came up for renewal the IT services were re-contracted to a new supplier who established a new mechanism for services delivery and refused to take over the ‘old support staff’. The chemical outsourcing company also refused to take its employees back and said ‘it’s your problem’ and the supplier, caught in the middle, had to carry the high redundancy cost of staff – So it does happen.

Here is an extract from a post on this topic from telecoms.com that goes into more detail:

“Back in 2013 the CWU vociferously objected to the outsourcing of the thousands of jobs in the Voice Channel and escalated the issue to the then CEO, Ronan Dunne, expressing our dismay,” said CWU Assistant Secretary Sally Bridge.

“We stated then that we did not believe that outsourcing to a third party supplier was in the best interest of the customer or Telefónica as a business – and in February we once again raised the question as to why Telefónica would want to continue to risk using Capita to handle a major piece of its customer-facing work.”

Telefónica has been on a mission to reduce operational cost over recent years, though the company’s position has always been that of voluntary redundancies and not replacing those who retire; this is certainly a different rhetoric than the more reprehensible suggestions from the CWU. Looking at the numbers, the headcount stood at 122,718 at the end of 2017, down from 127,323 a year earlier.

Streamlining the order of the day in Telco

Streamlining the workforce is not a new trend we are seeing in the telco space, but what needs to be ensured is that it is being done responsibly. A couple of weeks ago BT announced it was trimming 13,000 jobs, and Vodafone also announced it was cutting thousands across its international operations, while increasing pay-outs to the management team.

It not an uncommon occurrence for the telcos to be their own worst enemy, this is a scenario which has been created by the blood-lust of the rest of the digital ecosystem. OTT players has continued to destroy the cash-cow business models in the telco space, SMS and voice calls, while simultaneously encouraging the consumer to be more demanding and data-intensive. The telcos are less profitable and expected to underpin (and fund) the growth of the digital economy. With such an unbalanced equation, there are always going to be difficult decisions to be made.

Some might point towards a lack of foresight and innovation from the telcos, suggesting inaction and reliance on dated business models was the cause of such fiascos, however the economy which sits on top of the infrastructure, getting the first pick of the profits, has been biting the hand which feeds it for years. Little concern has been offered to the telcos who are expected to uphold the digital experience, yet not been offered a share of the digital bounties.

The difficult position telcos are finding themselves in has been thrust upon them, though we would hope there is an element of responsibility and finesse when making the tough decisions.

Article source: http://roymogg.com/outsourcing-strategy-of-telefonica-critised-by-cwu-union/