Joomla! site syndication http://www.swingtide.com Sun, 05 Feb 2012 05:57:14 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.swingtide.com/images/M_images/joomla_rss.png http://www.swingtide.com Joomla! site syndication http://www.swingtide.com/swingtide-bill-audit-service-closes-the-outsourcing-governance-loop.html Outsourcing deals are always complex, and their complexity is almost always underestimated by everyone except the poor person who has to carry the printed bound agreement to the conference room for the handshake ceremony. Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:46:30 +0100 http://www.swingtide.com/swingtide-introduces-t-minus-deal-approach-to-outsourcing-governance-in-new-cio-monogra.html Outsourcing governance – the set of roles and functions that make up the oversight and management of an outsourcing relationship – is universally seen as essential but not, alas, universally performed adequately. According to the latest white paper in the Swingtide CIO Monograph Series, Bringing Governance Upstream: The T-Minus Deal Approach, a contributing factor to the inadequacy of governance is the fact that it is begun too late. Wed, 05 Jan 2011 10:15:11 +0100 http://www.swingtide.com/swingtide-sourcing-options-analysis-helps-cios-make-outsourcing-decisions-for-the-right-reasons.html The confusing welter of outsourcing, in-sourcing, back-sourcing, multi-sourcing, and off-shoring can tax the re-sources of any CIO. The decision to outsource, which only a few years ago was a relatively straightforward business decision to contain costs while maintaining service levels, has become overwhelmingly complex. The experiences of the last ten years have left so many judgments, founded and unfounded, in the minds of IT sourcing decision-makers that getting back to the basics of the business case is becoming harder and harder in many organizations. We understand the angst that many companies feel over sourcing decisions, said Swingtide senior consultant Craig Winn. There have been lots of bad experiences, false starts, repatriated functions, and recriminations. The problem now is to find one's way back to the underlying business benefits that created the outsourcing boom in the first place. For companies mired in sourcing confusion, Swingtide's SOURCING OPTIONS... Fri, 10 Dec 2010 08:40:00 +0100 http://www.swingtide.com/swingtide-discusses-how-outsourcing-is-weathering-the-current-economic-storm.html Swingtide President Diane Carco and Senior Consultant Christopher Herman today joined legal experts Steve Gold and Brad Salmon of the outsourcing and technology transactions practice of international law firm McGuireWoods in a morning presentation to a Richmond, Virginia audience on the effect of the economic downturn on current and contemplated outsourcing arrangements. Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:49:06 +0100 http://www.swingtide.com/diane-m.-carco-appointed-swingtide-president.html Swingtide, Inc., a leading management and technology consulting firm specializing in CIO business issues, announced today that Managing Director Diane M. Carco has been named President and Chief Operating Officer, effective January 1, 2009. Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:48:36 +0100 http://www.swingtide.com/swingtide-introduces-tbo-concept.html What do you call everything that happens in an IT department that isn’t directly about applications and infrastructure – you know, all the things like IT sourcing and relationship management, the IT business office, and the management and oversight of outsourcing and complex transactions? Until now there has not been a convenient designation for these things that constitute the “other” category in a CIO’s day. Which is why Swingtide is advancing Technology Business Operations, or TBO, to fill the void.“CIOs find themselves increasingly judged by their ability to align themselves to corporate goals,” said Swingtide CEO David Wroe. “That’s why the TBO concept, which puts a spotlight on the strategic activities in an IT department, is so timely and long overdue.”“The day of the technology CIO is over,” said Swingtide managing director Diane Carco. “It’s time that we all acknowledged that the centrality of information technology to the achievement of... Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:12:46 +0100 http://www.swingtide.com/swingtide-outsourcing-health-check-to-be-cited-by-idc-as-alternative-to-traditional-benchmarking.html With corporate acquisitions, divestitures, and other realignments affecting more and more IT departments, the need for practical transitional advice and guidance has never been greater. But while the need has traditionally been seen to reside almost entirely with the divesting entity (to plan for the IT costs and delivery implications of a divestiture), Swingtide has identified a growing need among those companies or entities that are being spun off.“Spun-off companies typically begin their independent life with IT covered under a transition services agreement,” said Swingtide senior consultant Christopher Herman, “but they often get lulled into a false sense of security by the length of the agreement and are unprepared for that day a year or two after they’re divested when they have to provide for all their own IT needs.” Core technology services that are provided under a transition agreement frequently take longer to replace than is anticipated by the... Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:07:45 +0100 http://www.swingtide.com/swingtide-presentation-to-discuss-how-to-set-the-right-amount-of-it-financial-controls.html IT financial controls are a motherhood issue. Everyone is for them. But being for them, and knowing how much time, money and organizational attention to devote to them, are two decidedly different things.So how exactly should an organization attack the problem of setting the right level of investment for resourcing IT finance controls? At what point is the game no longer worth the candle? Diane Carco and Chris Herman of Swingtide will explore this topic on Wednesday, April 1st, at The World of IT Financial Management conference in Atlanta. Sponsored by ITFMA (the IT Financial Management Association), this conference attracts hundreds of IT finance leaders.“We’ve seen the pendulum swing from a period of excessive controls, with hundreds of cost centers and unmanageably complex chargeback systems, to relaxation of controls, Sarbanes-Oxley causing a retightening,” said Swingtide managing director Diane Carco. “In our presentation we will show how to find a common-sense... Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:57:24 +0100 http://www.swingtide.com/12-19-08-swingtide-outsourcing-health-check-to-be-cited-by-idc-as-alternative-to-traditional-benchma.html In IDC’s Q1 2009 report on alternatives to traditional benchmarking, Swingtide will be noted as one of the few firms that practices and recommends an alternative approach called the Outsourcing Health Check. Swingtide maintains that many IT outsourcing deals fail because of a disconnection with current client objectives and a growing asymmetry between the business cases of the outsourcer and the client organization. Healing this disconnection and resolving the asymmetry is at the heart of the Swingtide approach, which differs from benchmarking in that it does not attempt to force a comparison of deal terms and pricing with other “like” deals. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:26:56 +0100 http://www.swingtide.com/swingtide-offers-innovative-30-day-state-of-it-report-for-new-cios.html For Immediate Release August 14, 2008 Information technology jobs are notoriously short-lived. CIOs are among the most mobile of C-level executives. During a CIO's career she or he will likely be faced with the challenge of learning and adapting to a new environment many times. The ability to hit the ground running is thus a crucially important trait. The sooner a new CIO can understand the structure, issues, and managerial imperatives of the IT department, the sooner improvements can be made. To that end, Swingtide, a management consulting firm specializing in CIO issues, is offering a service designed to assist in the new CIO's acclimation process. The Swingtide 30-DAY STATE OF IT REPORT gives new CIOs a rapid and comprehensive assessment and action plan. Swingtide senior consultants take a swat team approach to collecting and summarizing all the important features of the organization's technology environment, including applications,... Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:18:00 +0100