New international standard offers guidance on outsourcing

According to the BSI, for the first time it helps businesses to access a common vocabulary on which to base their communications.

The value of outsourcing has already been noted by organisations who want to increase their efficiency and reduce their costs by sending work to external third-parties. The practice which encourages mutually beneficial collaborative working relationships, has grown over the past 20 years and is estimated to generate revenues in the region of trillions of US dollars a year. Nevertheless, there are challenges and hazards. Not all outsourcing deals are a success. Some can fail dramatically – and publicly - while others simply fail to perform well. BSI ISO 37500 can help organisations to boost business efficiency, gain better value and help avoid costly mishaps.

BS ISO 37500 is designed to assist and support customers, service providers and third-party advisors (such as lawyers and consultants) involved in outsourcing. In particular it is said to help organisations to identify the business case for outsourcing, select the most appropriate customer or provider partner, transition to the new operating model and deliver value through the relationship. It is relevant to all markets such as manufacturing, retail, financial services, public sector and facilities management.

Dan Palmer, head of Market Development for Manufacturing & Services at BSI said: "Outsourcing can apply to any business, in any industry, anywhere. By providing common practices, concepts and procedures that can be used to manage the outsourcing life cycle, BS ISO 37500 will improve the understanding of everyone involved and lead to greater success.”

According to the BSI, benefits of BS ISO 37500 include:

The international standard was developed by experts from countries such as Canada, Germany, India, Malaysia, Netherlands and the UK. Additional UK input came from organisations including AEGON, BP, CapitalOne, DWF, Gartners, IBM, the National Outsourcing Association and PwC.

Adrian Quayle, chair of the ISO committee which developed the standard said: "The benefits of using a standard such as BS ISO 37500 are clear and it provides the cornerstones of what businesses need to get right when outsourcing. The application of this guidance provides all parties involved in outsourcing activities across the lifecycle the assurance that business objectives can be achieved through the utilisation of common governance and processes.”