MODULE II

MANAGING THE
RELATIONSHIP
Lesson 2 – Communication Management
& Knowledge Management

JOESUA R. MANZANERO
SESSION OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:
• Enumerate elements of outsourcing relationship management.
• Understand work administration.
• Know communication management.
• Understand knowledge management.
• Explain personnel management.
• Know financial management.
TOPICAL OUTLINE
• Communication Management
• Information about the project
• Governance tools
• Information from the vendor
• Blanket e-mails
• E-mails
• Knowledge Management
COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT
Information transfer between client and vendor is of utmost
importance for successful completion of the outsourcing project.

Communication management during the initial stages of the project is

disorganized and seldom goes as planned.

This is only to be expected, as both the client and vendor need time to
adjust to the communication protocol. As the relationship moves into a
stage of normality, the focus should be on trying to systematize the
communication of information.
COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT
One of the key elements is to increase the role played by IT in
communications.

IT can play a major role in helping with the communication of

information.

Two kinds of information in particular concern client organizations –

information about the project and information from the vendor.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROJECT
The former deals with issues such as how the project is progressing,
whether milestones are being met or the sterling amount of costs.

This information is fairly structured and can be handled with ease using
traditional information-reporting tools.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROJECT
An organization should always look for tools that help them simplify
management of the governance process.

As an example, it could have intranet portals modelled to form a

‘dynamic dashboard’, based on a car dashboard that gives all the vital
information needed at a glance while driving.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROJECT
The dynamic dashboard would be a web page that provides managers
with vital information about how things are progressing in the project on,
say, a daily basis.

It would provide executive status reports on all key aspects of the

outsourcing arrangement, such as service-level performance and other
performance measurements.

Similarly, financial information and reporting tools give flexibility to users

in picking suitable reports for their specific organization’s requirements.
GOVERNANCE TOOLS
Why use governance tools? The advantages are many.

1. Reduce the cost and overhead associated with the governing

process.
2. Help the organization achieve continuous improvement in the
quality of performance
3. Help the organization achieve continuous improvement in
satisfaction to end-users.
GOVERNANCE TOOLS
When used effectively, these tools can help maintain the outsourcing
vision and mission alignment with business goals.

In addition, they can be instrumental in identifying issues like

performance, quality and resource utilization. In short, these tools can
help organizations improve their overall payback from outsourcing
investments.
INFORMATION FROM THE VENDOR
For the second kind of information, i.e information from the vendor,
executives cannot and should not eliminate face-to-face discussions.

These must happen on a regular basis so that members from both

teams can work together.

However, through the use of IT, such as the use of extranets, i.e
intranets that can be jointly accessed between clients and vendors,
organizations can make the information flow smoother.
INFORMATION FROM THE VENDOR
Moreover, good e-mail protocols can be set up to ensure that
information requests are routed to the right representatives from each
organization.

One of the problems that commonly occur in communication between

individuals from two organizations is blanket e-mails.
BLANKET E-MAILS
This is where one representative from either the client or the vendor
organization sends an e-mail to the entire team in the other
organization.

In most cases, these e-mails never draw a response due to the

‘bystander effect’ – ie each member of the other team will think that
his or her colleague will reply to the e-mail and in the end no one does.
E-MAILS
Training and education are critical to ensure that e-mails are sent
appropriately, with the right headers, to the right people and are
written in an appropriate manner.

It is very important to train employees on what can and cannot be

written in an e-mail.
E-MAILS
E-mails have been used as evidence in legal proceedings and the
company is, after all, liable for any statement or commitment made in
an e-mail by any employee.

Both the client’s and the vendor’s employees need to be strongly aware
that everything written in an e-mail could be seen by people other than
the recipient, so if someone is unsure about the public nature of the
material, it is probably not a good idea to document it in an e-mail.
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
During the course of an outsourcing project you are bound to gain new
knowledge and experiences.

This can be knowledge about the vendor, the outsourcing process and
the project and can even be knowledge about your business.

The various kinds of knowledge need to be leveraged in order to

improve the outsourcing project, the outsourcing process and
consequently even improve your business.
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
For now it is important to note that there is a plan in place for
knowledge assessment, transfer, retention and development, and
follow up to ensure that all project participants are familiar with the
latest technologies and techniques.
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Knowledge management involves sharing of best practices, ideas,
innovations and process improvements with staff in the client
organization and also between the client and the vendor organizations.

This can be facilitated by having routine meetings of all staff involved in

the outsourcing effort and also through the setting up of corporate
repositories where employees can post their ideas, ask questions and
receive answers.
END OF PRESENTATION
Thank You for listening.

JOESUA R. MANZANERO