Co-sourcing on SAP programs

When we did our survey of large S/4HANA programs, I established that over 75% of them had more than one partner engaged (this is not counting SAP who we think should be providing max attention etc.), the split between partners varied.

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·?????? By region, i.e., some partners for some areas of the globe

·?????? By function, one does finance and another supply chain

·?????? An on shore big 4 partner and an Offshore player

·?????? A local client-side partner and an ecosystem

·?????? The engagement of specialist in some areas i.e., Catch weight processing etc.

·?????? By deployment area, one for support one for testing, one for build, one for business integration etc.

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And then many flavors in- between often a hybrid of all the above.

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So why is this happening:

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1.?????? There is a capacity issue and when clients are not being supported well, they reach out.

2.?????? There is a need to keep competitive tension in the system to drive value.

3.?????? Having more than one partner brings in new ideas and experience that is valuable.

4.?????? No one knows everything or has teams everywhere (whatever they say) so it makes sense to use the best people where appropriate (I would struggle to deploy a team in North Korea for example).

5.?????? Putting your eggs in one basket is risky at these times, who knows what will happen, say your SAP partner becomes your audit partner or your partner merges or loses focus on SAP.

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There are other issues this causes, and clearly if you have one partner who is perfect you don’t need to engage any other, but my overall impression that if a partner becomes too tight with a client, then the thinking becomes sloppy and innovation goes missing and very account focused, even with an established ecosystem things can become very cozy and complacent.

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So, all in all, I favor using more than one partner if the scale of work warrants it. It certainly keeps a partner on their toes to do their best, but if you don’t engage multiple partners seriously then they tend to drift off and become disenfranchised, I can think of at least two global SAP clients who I don’t believe have a great experience with their existing SAP partners who tender every time they reach a new phase. They say they are committed to a change, in one case take you out for diner to tell you, drive a great deal, the best team and a load of investment - all to drive a big discount from their incumbent. I am pretty sure they really struggle to get any one to engage anymore, so they miss out on the advantages of co-delivery completely.

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There are a few things I would strongly recommend in order to make co-sourcing work:

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1.?????? Good control of tools and methods, everyone must use the same standards

2.?????? Don’t just cherry pick the best people from a partner and expect them to teach the other partners how to do it, unless you are paying a premium.

3.?????? Sharing of IP/documents, partners must be made to share their best (some don’t)

4.?????? A meaningful workshare for all participants, so not too many

5.?????? The correct culture, pitting partners against each other causes more issues than it solves

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But it can work, it can be beneficial and realistically at this time, it is probably needed in many cases