Has the word ‘outsourcing’ gone past its sell-by date?
The conclusion might be a reasonable one following a decision by the National Outsourcing Association (NOA) to rebrand itself as part of a drive for a global standard in sourcing.
After 29 years operating as NOA, the company late last week announced a new designation and a new purpose. But come what may, it still lost the ‘outsourcing’ word.
The Global Sourcing Association (GSA) is to champion the adoption of a single global standard covering buyers and service providers in sourcing, shared services and global business services.
The NOA has already become the UK chapter of the GSA, which is also the home of the Global Sourcing Standard, a unified view of global industry best practice that organisations in sourcing on both the buy side and provider side can be accredited to.
The standard has been eight years in the making and is a move towards the GSA’s vision of a unified sourcing industry operating to a single global standard of practice. It began as a Life Cycle model, evolving into a Corporate Accreditation programme for buy-side companies and is now a standard critiqued by over 200 organisations, to which both buyers and service providers across the world can be accredited.
The NOA said its rebrand has been driven by the ongoing globalisation of the sourcing industry and the increasing volume of requests for support from the sourcing world.
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Kerry Hallard, president of the Global Sourcing Association and CEO of the GSA-UK, said, “The global sourcing industry is thriving as organisations leverage innovation to become more customer-centric, dynamic and easier to do business with, but with so many operators in the globalised market, buyers operating across borders are becoming increasingly confused, if not bemused, at the varying levels of best practice across our industry. There has never been a greater need for a global standard that both buyers and providers can adopt in their approaches to sourcing in order to unlock optimal value from their partnerships.”
A communication sent out to announce the change in name said, “After 29 years we are saying goodbye to the National Outsourcing Association. But it is with great pride, rather than a heavy heart, that we announce this.
“The NOA has over the last 29 years consistently provided its membership base with an outstanding portfolio of best practice content, industry insight, a wide programme of events, an ever-expanding professional development portfolio and unparalleled networking opportunities among other benefits. Over this period of time we have worked assiduously to promote the positive reputation of outsourcing by driving awareness, education, standards and thought leadership.
“As a member-led association we have executed our responsibility as a custodian for the outsourcing community with great care and always acted diligently as a lens into, and representative voice of, the industry to our counterparts throughout Europe and the rest of the world. Our impartiality and integrity over the years has afforded the Association tremendous respect by a great many other organisations, not to mention foreign governments and their trade bodies, near and far.
“It is at this juncture we feel that we have evolved significantly to warrant a dramatic change for the Association and so it is with great pleasure that we introduce you to…The Global Sourcing Association (GSA).”
