The industry research, commissioned by Orbys Consulting and conducted by Benchmark Research, reported that 29% of organisations found that the contract exceeded expectations and 61% believed it was in line with expectations.
According to David Keighley, CEO of Orbys, these figures demonstrate that the outsourcing market is coming of age. He said:
"One of the clear signs of a growing maturity in the outsourcing market is that organisations are now prepared to renegotiate contracts. Eighty-four percent of organisations had made changes after the contract had been signed. They are obviously far more confident about managing the supplier relationship and therefore able to ask for changes in light of problems arising or a shift in business focus."
Businesses are very satisfied with performance measurements including cost savings, pricing structure, quality of service, ease of doing business with their outsourcing supplier and the suitability of the contract to the business, according to Orbys, which spoke to 100 large organisations.
However, the study also found that organisations are too focused on initial contract procurement – to the detriment of longer term business benefits that include the general satisfaction levels of the service users and the management of their expectations.
Keighley said, "This post contract disconnect is a concern – particularly since organisations are obviously successfully managing the contract process to achieve significant financial and resource benefits."
He continued, "A contract needs constant reinvigoration. While 84% of organisations have made amendments to the original contract how many were focused on both internal and external needs? Did they address price performance, end user satisfaction and relationship management? If not, it is easy to end up with great price performance but unhappy end users and a poor governance model."