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HP client guru offers governance tips

HP client guru offers governance tips

With governance taking centre-stage at IAOP's September forum in Chicago, Hewlett-Packard (HP) client services guru, Ernie Zibert, has outlined his vision of best governance practice in outsourcing relationships. His report – released through Firmbuilder.com – provides clear definitions of governance and its fundamental principles.

In Operationalising Sourcing Governance: Making Governance Real, Zibert defines governance is a formal framework that 1) enables the service provider and customer to mutually manage their relationship, expectations, contractual dependencies and services; 2) allows the service provider to fulfil their contractual obligations, creating a successful customer experience that enables mutual support and growth; 3) is supported by a defined set of standard, documented processes, and 4) is dependent upon the scope and breadth of the engagement.

In order to utilise governance as a key success factor, Zibert recommends firms should follow his set of guiding principles:

  • Governance is driven from the top-down
  • Governance requires management effort from both the outsourcing firm and the customer
  • Governance must be evolutionary and responsive during the life of each contract
  • The Governance model must be flexible to fit all customers

For Zibert, the essential basic building blocks of sound governance are quantity and quality of people, completeness and alignment of process, and discipline and transparency in tools – the latter referring to any official meetings between customer and provider and the documentation arising from them. The goal, he says, is, 'To make explicit the "rules of the game" … who talks with whom, about what and when.'

Zibert manages client delivery for HP's entire South Pacific region.

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