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.

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. But it isn’t just heft of the contract that makes things complicated. The deal team and the operating team seldom reach the same level of understanding about key points. Consumption metrics are difficult to validate. Underlying data (circuits, CPU data, mailboxes) is not always scrubbed. The result is a sometimes ambiguous, sometimes confusing world that generates a series of outsourcing invoices that must be paid but are almost impossible to audit and validate with perfect certainty.

“Industry benchmarks show that over 80% of outsourcing bills have errors,” said Swingtide senior consultant Kevin Haber. “The hard part is sorting out the de minimis errors from the important things, tying issues back to the source agreement, and doing it all without burdening the whole process with an unwieldy administrative load.”

To help companies with this daunting task, Swingtide has introduced its Outsourcing Bill Audit Service (OBAS). Similar in concept to a telecom or freight rate audit, the OBAS process is necessary not because of a complicated tariff or regulatory landscape, but because of the unique complexity of almost every outsourcing deal.

“Most companies expect people without access or full knowledge of deal language, SLAs and scope to audit invoices successfully,” said Swingtide senior consultant Craig Winn. “That’s essentially giving the outsourcer unfettered access to the company bank account. It’s virtually impossible to exercise appropriate outsourcing governance in this way.”

The Swingtide OBAS employs experts from three key areas – finance, sourcing, and technology – to set up an expedited, cost-effective outsourcing bill audit process that generates immediate savings and puts outsourcing relationships back on the rails to deliver anticipated benefits. “It’s a simple concept, but so often overlooked,” Haber said. “We’re gratified when we’re able to step in and help a company reclaim the value in their outsourcing deal.”

About Swingtide:

Swingtide, Inc. is an organization of high-value consultants with real-world experience, an analytical approach, and the ability to identify and solve IT-related business problems with well-defined methods. Its senior business and IT professionals have the experience required to solve complex business and technical problems in rapidly changing environments. Founded in 2001 with backing from FirstMark Capital and private investors, Swingtide helps its consulting clients reduce cost, efficiently outsource and effectively complete mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, and realize the benefits of new technologies in information-intensive industries including insurance and financial services.