Nathanson and Company provides the leadership, experience and skills to make outsourcing successful and deliver on the promise of service improvement and cost savings.  We offer a broad array of outsourcing advisory services to support our customers in every phase of the outsourcing lifecycle. Our consultants are seasoned, hands-on leaders, each with a minimum of 19 years of industry experience developing and delivering complex outsourcing programs.

Over our company’s history, we have completed ITO, BPO and BTO transactions valued at over $20 billion.  Using our services, customers have saved over $5 billion while improving quality and service levels. Our customers are based in North America, Europe and Asia with operations in over 66 countries and represent leaders in the High Tech, Manufacturing, Telecommunications and Financial Services industries. 

In each outsourcing advisory engagement, we apply a common set of principles to derive the best outcome for our customers.  Our techniques and tools have led to an average customer savings of 28% and a return on our customers’ investment in our services within 30 days following service commencement.  The following describes the core tenants of outsourcing advisory services that are engrained in everything that we do:

We use our operational know-how to rapidly assess your operation and identify the universe of service improvement and cost savings opportunities, paying careful attention to the current state and the underlying conditions influencing your business.

We build a model that establishes a financial baseline for your operation and the business case for optimization.

We work closely with the supplier to shape an outsourcing solution that eliminates waste, maximizes savings and captures the entire value of  the opportunity.

We shape an agreement that protects your interests, keeps you in control and links the supplier’s success to the attainment of the future  state and incents them to solve problems quickly.

We are our customer’s representative at the negotiations table, facing off with the supplier to address the tough issues and advising on every step of the negotiation.

We maximize the use of your legal resources (internally or outside counsel) to leverage their experience in the most effective and cost effective manner.

We prepare your organization to successfully manage the agreement and navigate the inevitable changes that will occur.

Each engagement is led by full-time Nathanson Partner and supported by a combination of senior Nathanson consultants and customer resources.  We shape the size and composition of each engagement to match the customer’s unique requirements and their operational and financial realities.    We leverage an extended team of client resources to get the work done.  This approach provides the most cost effective solution and facilitates knowledge transfer.

The following describes our advisory services and the key elements of each offering and the benefits derived for our customers.

Competitive Bid.  Nathanson and Company leads all aspects of outsourcing transactions initiated through a competitive bidding process.  We have well-worn processes and tools that provide a structured and repeatable approach that can be adapted to any competitive bid scenario.  Our consultants will work in lock step with your team to plan, execute and implement an outsourcing agreement that will save you money and improve performance in the shortest amount of time possible.  We have worked with all of the major outsourcing firms and are well oriented to their capabilities and their selling, solution development and negotiation strategies.  Whether you are outsourcing for the first time or replacing an incumbent supplier, Nathanson has the skills and experience to ensure you get the desired business results and cost savings.

In addition to our structured Outsourcing Methodology, we have developed a Rapid RFP process that is ideally suited for our customers that need to conclude a RFP, contract and negotiations within 12 weeks.  This service, typically delivered by a single Nathanson consultant with limited legal support, provides an exceptional value without sacrificing quality.  This service is ideal for smaller, less complex outsourcing transactions or for the surgical replacement of an existing supplier.

Single Source.   Nathanson specializes shaping and executing outsourcing transactions that are conceived outside of a competitive bid process.   The inherent challenge with any single source transaction is to ensure that the final agreement and underlying solution is comprehensive, competitive and can be completed within the tight timelines that are characteristic of single source transactions.  We have deep experience shaping all aspects of commercial agreements initiated through an unsolicited proposal or as a component of complex buy-sell relationship where our customers and their prospective counterparty are selling and purchasing goods and or services from each other.   We have developed techniques over our history that allows us to rapidly assess the situation and build an agreement that will deliver on the promised results without slowing you down.

Renegotiation.    Change is inevitable, so we offer services to give you assurances that your outsourcing agreement is still effective and competitive.   Our rapid assessment service for your outsourcing agreement provides you with an express evaluation of your current outsourcing deal in order to tell you if it is still competitive, is meeting its defined objectives and aligns with your evolving business strategy.   Our service analyzes and evaluates your supplier’s performance to determine if they are performing the services in the most efficient and cost effective manner at a price that is competitive.  If it’s not competitive, we will develop and execute a comprehensive strategy and plan to renegotiate your agreement or, if necessary, help you to re-source or insource the work.   Through our renegotiations support, our customers have realized at 22% savings with a 6000% ROI.

Transition.  The transition plan defines all of the activities that you and your Supplier must perform in order to assume responsibility for the services and describes they key transformational activities necessary to improving the business and attain the future target state.  Failure to execute the transition in a timely manner can have devastating effects to the operational and financial success of the program, not to mention strain the relationship between you and your supplier.   Our consultants will lead your team in the execution of the transition plan and make sure that each transition milestone is met on time with high-quality.   We perform end-to-end management of the transition, or lead your team until your resources are up to speed and capable of assuming full responsibility.

Governance.   Nathanson consultants prepare and train your team to fully manage the supplier and the underlying agreement and achieve the program benefits. 

Our governance services provide the following benefits to your organization:

Establishes clear roles and responsibilities between your executive, supplier management and operations teams so that they collaborate to  drive the best performance from your supplier.

Aligns your business strategy and objectives with the supplier’s objectives and makes the supplier’s success contingent upon your success.

Integrates the supplier’s operations with your retained operations and carefully defines the systems, processes and tools to achieve seamless integration.
Provides a measurement system to make sure that the program benefits are realized and driven to the bottom line.

Defines a communications plan that provides timely information regarding the state of the services and adherence to plans while keeping you in control of the information flow.

Establishes an effective system for measuring and verifying the supplier’s service performance and quality, and taking corrective actions when performance is suffering.

Provides a crisp mechanism for identifying issues and disputes early and resolving them quickly without jeopardizing the program and provides a well-defined escalation path so that executive sponsors are engaged to address the tough issues early.

Creates a change process so that each change is evaluated to conform with the agreement and the parties do not get bogged down in change orders or new service requests.

Establishes a run-book that describes each of the core governance processes and procedures which can be used by your team as a reference guide or as training guide for new team members.

Mergers and Acquisitions.    Nathanson has represented customers who have purchased a division of another company where the acquired entity was not a stand-alone business.  In this scenario, the buyer negotiates a Temporary Service Agreement (“TSA”) with the seller to provide various services such as IT, Procurement, HR and Finance during the divestiture and transition period.    Too often, the buyer does not fully comprehend the costs, complexities and risks inherent in a TSA or the exit strategy which will erode the value of the acquisition.  As former outsourcing executives we know how to take over an operation quickly, integrate those operations with the core business and drive savings and synergies.

Prior to the purchase, Nathanson provides assessment and consulting services to determine the size, scope and commercial value of the TSA and each TSA element so that it can be factored in the business case for the acquisition.   We work closely with your team to plan the integration of the new entity and to ensure the agreement is structured in a manner that maximizes synergies and provides the greatest flexibility and financial benefits for the buyer.  We then help our customers construct the TSA and provide advisory support throughout the life of the TSA including the eventual wind down of the services.   

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