Strategic Sourcing ∞ July 8, 2011

Location:  The College Board, Reston Town Center, VA

Agenda

9:00 am – 10:00 am                       Registration and Continental Breakfast

10:00 am – 11:15 am                       Presentation by Dr. Mary Lacity

Dr. Lacity will share in detail what suppliers have been saying to her research team about clients during the past two decades—the things they wish clients knew, as well as some things they wish clients didn’t know. Some of these statements will not shock experienced clients, but what might pique the interest of all outsourcing clients—both novice and experienced—is the comparison of what suppliers say with best practices derived from academic research. Specifically, Dr. Lacity will compare each supplier statement with the findings from her own 22-year research program as well as from a recent meta-analysis conducted on 741 findings from rigorous academic research. Among the 20 things suppliers say, 12 would actually benefit clients if they followed the suppliers’ advice. Suppliers and advisers also benefit from the data; suppliers in particular welcome solid data that show it is in the client’s best interest to actively protect a supplier’s profit margin.

11:15 am – 11:30 am                      Break

11:30 am – 12:30 pm                    Presentation by Dick LeFave

Mr. LeFave will leverage his many years of real-world experience as a CIO to provide a complete tool kit for how to approach global sourcing successfully. His presentation will integrate strategic and operational concepts while providing best practices that can be used by both clients and providers in any environment globally.

12:30 pm – 1:30 pm                        Lunch

1:30 pm – 3:00 pm                          Roundtable/Panel Discussion

We invite the three outsourcing communities—clients, providers, and advisers—to answer the question “What is the one attitude or behavior you wish the other two communities would change in order to build a better outsourcing community?” Each community will have a chance to respond to the other communities’ answers.

Speakers

Dr. Mary Lacity is a Professor of Information Systems and an International Business Fellow at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She is also Co-Chair of the IAOP Midwest Chapter; Industry Advisor for the Outsourcing Angels; Associate Researcher at The Outsourcing Unit, London School of Economics; Senior Editor of Journal of Information Technology; Co-editor of the Palgrave Series: Work, Technology, and Globalization; and on the editorial boards for MIS Quarterly Executive, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Strategic Outsourcing: An International Journal, and Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS). She is the recipient of the 2008 Gateway to Innovation Award, sponsored by the IT Coalition, Society for Information Management, and St. Louis RCGA, and the 2000 World Outsourcing Achievement Award, sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers and Michael Corbett and Associates. She has published 12 books and over 100 publications in academic and practitioner outlets on the topic of outsourcing.

Dick LeFave founded D+L Partners LLC, a CIO consulting company based on over 30 years of IT experience focused on information strategy and execution, in 2005. Mr. LeFave works on IT delivery strategies and has hands-on experience that provides insight into large-scale IT merger strategies, global outsourcing, CIO advisement, synergy attainment, and IT organizational effectiveness/business alignment. He is also actively involved with board-level IT advisory and international IT CIO engagements in global outsourcing and IT ERP optimization. Current engagements include CTO support for a large internet hosting provider; IT strategy with a major telecommunications firm to include global sourcing selection, business ERP transformation, and organizational alignment; and due diligence in support of a major merger/acquisition. Recent publications by Mr. LeFave include a new fictional book available on Amazon.com titled An IT Tale – A Program Manager’s Journey and a recently released sourcing best practices book, Implementing Strategic Sourcing, also available on Amazon.com. LeFave graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in business in 1973, an M.B.A. from the University of Puget Sound in 1978, and an M.S. from the University of Southern California in 1980. He also completed the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program (AMP 165) in 2003.