Leslie P. Willcocks

This book is an indispensable guide for executives, programme leaders, and business owners on maximising value from automation and digital transformation. It provides a real-world journey map of automation, from RPA through to intelligent automation, with a focus on practical strategy and management principles intended to help seize the trillions of dollars that are still being left on the table by companies that have not yet made this leap. Though grounded on the research and advisory work of the author team, this book offers clear eyed, easy to read advice for avoiding the ‘transformation bog’ where many organisations find themselves, struggling to maintain their strategy in an environment that feels increasingly dynamic and confusing. This book is not blinded by the brilliant new technology and hones in on what works and what distracts. It provides a total value of ownership framework for navigation and identifies seven core digital capabilities required for success. Ultimately a book for realists rather than digital idealists, it will be a vital resource for professionals who must chart a course to verifiable business performance improvement through digital enterprise empowerment amid often conflicting priorities.

The central concepts of information meaning, embodied cognition and semiotics are hugely relevant to contemporary organisations and personal and social lives. However, these concepts are not well understood and are frequently under-represented, misrepresented, and their importance seriously underplayed in the study of management. This is particularly noticeable in the study of the information systems and digital technologies that underpin so much of business operations, personal and social life, organisation, communication and management today. This book seeks to fill the obvious gap. It provides detailed understanding of fundamental concepts and develops a useable, integrative semiotics framework. The framework is grounded in rich social theory and philosophy, and, as the book demonstrates, provides a valuable exploratory and explanatory framework for researchers. This takes shape as a 12-step research process, that has the general features of most research methodologies but also provides distinctive rich resources for in-depth research into semiotically related phenomena. It will be of great interest to academics undertaking research in digital technologies and business model innovation, as well as scholars of research methodology, organisation studies, HRM, marketing and information systems.

This book is an indispensable guide for executives, programme leaders, and business owners on maximising value from automation and digital transformation. It provides a real-world journey map of automation, from RPA through to intelligent automation, with a focus on practical strategy and management principles intended to help seize the trillions of dollars that are still being left on the table by companies that have not yet made this leap. Though grounded on the research and advisory work of the author team, this book offers clear eyed, easy to read advice for avoiding the ‘transformation bog’ where many organisations find themselves, struggling to maintain their strategy in an environment that feels increasingly dynamic and confusing. This book is not blinded by the brilliant new technology and hones in on what works and what distracts. It provides a total value of ownership framework for navigation and identifies seven core digital capabilities required for success. Ultimately a book for realists rather than digital idealists, it will be a vital resource for professionals who must chart a course to verifiable business performance improvement through digital enterprise empowerment amid often conflicting priorities.

The central concepts of information meaning, embodied cognition and semiotics are hugely relevant to contemporary organisations and personal and social lives. However, these concepts are not well understood and are frequently under-represented, misrepresented, and their importance seriously underplayed in the study of management. This is particularly noticeable in the study of the information systems and digital technologies that underpin so much of business operations, personal and social life, organisation, communication and management today. This book seeks to fill the obvious gap. It provides detailed understanding of fundamental concepts and develops a useable, integrative semiotics framework. The framework is grounded in rich social theory and philosophy, and, as the book demonstrates, provides a valuable exploratory and explanatory framework for researchers. This takes shape as a 12-step research process, that has the general features of most research methodologies but also provides distinctive rich resources for in-depth research into semiotically related phenomena. It will be of great interest to academics undertaking research in digital technologies and business model innovation, as well as scholars of research methodology, organisation studies, HRM, marketing and information systems.

Global sourcing is a complex area, and one that managers must get to grips with as business investment in outsourcing continues to climb. This book provides invaluable guidance for the reader, walking them through the fundamentals of global sourcing to very recent trends, including intelligent automation, cloud services and crowdsourcing. Replete with key examples and cases, it allows students and managers alike to relate academic theory to practice, acting as a roadmap to a rapidly evolving field. For the last decade, the authors have studied the full spectrum of activities involved in global sourcing from both client, supplier and advisory viewpoints. Their research has shown that while more firms engage in global sourcing activities, many of them are still struggling to extract value from sourcing relationships. While past research has produced numerous practical frameworks regarding the management of global sourcing of services, little of this insight has been put into practice. This book addresses such shortcomings by exploring the impact of theory on practice. It is important reading for any academic, student or practitioner concerned with global sourcing either from the client or supplier perspective.

Robotic Process Automation will continue its exponential growth over the next five years. This book brings a new focus on RPA's strategic potential: the innovations made possible and how to deliver through effective sourcing stakeholder-buy-in, governance, change management, and capability development practices.

The aim of this book is to investigate the discursive power of two original, theoretical lenses when applied to real outsourcing arrangements and phenomena. The Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) and Foucauldian perspectives are brought to bear on five outsourcing relationships in order to test the application of these discourses to rich qualitative data over the outsourcing contractual life-cycle. This will be the first study illustrating the relevance of Foucauldian concepts of governmentality, discourse and power relations to the study of outsourcing arrangements, and will also incorporate the perspectives of both client and supplier organizations. Using discourse analysis, the objective is to critically deconstruct and provide fresh insight into the normative ‘outsourcing’ discourse that has grown up around global sourcing practices over the last 30 years.

This pioneering guide offers the first comprehensive analysis to Robotic Process Automation (RPA) risks as actually experienced and dealt with by organizations. The authors present analysis and findings from a two-year study. As more organizations adopt RPA, they find that best practice companies are able to gain a 'triple win' from RPA: a win for shareholders, a win for customers, and a win for employees. But while such results are impressive, they are far from guaranteed. Service automation, like all organizational initiatives, is fraught with risks that need to be mitigated. The RPA risk mitigation framework reveals the significantRPA risks, and identifies 30 key risk mitigation practices that the research found to be successful. Whether an organization is just beginning its RPA journey or has reached maturity, this definitive guide serves as a key source of knowledge.

The hype and fear, globally, that surrounds service automation, robots and the future of work need to be punctured by in-depth research. This book, by Professors Leslie Willcocks and Mary Lacity, captures a year's worth of learning about service automation based on a survey, in-depth client case studies, and interviews with service automation clients, providers, and advisors. The authors cleverly embed today's empirical lessons into the broader history and context of automation, as a vital key in understanding the fast-rising phenomenon of service automation. The authors give a balanced, informed and compelling view on gaining the many benefits, as well as managing the downsides, of present and future technologies. The book has a number of key selling points: The authors are globally recognised for outstanding, world-class research; the book describes types of automation and gives evidence for multiple business benefits; in-depth case studies are included - from clients, providers and advisors of service automation; 25 key lessons are given, on how to deploy service automation in the workplace and there is a focus on the future of work, including robotic process automation, with valuable predictions and critique.

Since 2007, South Africa has been one of the world's upcoming Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) offshore destinations. This book is based on the authors' most recent research into high performance BPO globally and new research streams specifically on South Africa.

Now in its third edition, this is the only outsourcing and offshoring book to offer a broad but coherent guide to the strategy, operations and management of ITO and BPO outsourcing and offshoring, from how to source new relationships to managing business processes in a national and global context.

While China is known for its huge manufacturing base, in recent years the government has given high priority to science and technology services. This book provides an in-depth, contemporary view on where China is heading, how it is going to get there, and how companies and countries can engage with China's emerging outsourcing capabilities.

A close look at the main developments in IT, business processes and offshore outsourcing. This book studies these topics in both theory and practice, exploring the rising prominence of outsourcing with a multi-dimensional, contextual perspective.

A close look at the main developments in IT, business processes and offshore outsourcing. This book studies these topics in both theory and practice, exploring the rising prominence of outsourcing with a multi-dimensional, contextual perspective.

The authors focus on the actuality of implementing CRM. They uncover the micro political, behavioural, psychological and knowledge issues that are all too often neglected in CRM implementations. Implementing CRM links CRM systems implementation with organizational change for the first time. It looks into the factors that distinguish firms that are more capable of connecting with their customers and awarded with customer loyalty with firms that are not as successful. Implementing CRM provides frameworks and ideas for how implementing CRM can be better handled.

The relationship in information technology (IT) outsourcing determines the difference between a successful, a less successful, and a failing outsourcing deal. IT managers will commonly spend seventy per cent of their time on making the client-supplier relationship work, while thirty per cent of their time will focus on the contract, personnel, and problem issues. Longitudinal research into Xerox's global, British Aerospace's total,ESSO's selective, British Petroleum's alliance, and the UK Inland Revenue's public sector outsourcing deals highlights relationship practices and recurring post-contract management issues that demand careful attention and management. By use of novel cliebt-supplier relationship framework developed from transaction cost, relational contract, nad interorganisational relationship theory, the authors carefully amalyse these five longitudinal case studies and identify what the key dimensions of an outsourcing relationship are. Together the framework and the case studies provide a number for both practitioners and academics on how to achieve a relationship advantage.

This study is based on research with 75 worldwide organizations including Dupont, British Aerospace and BP Exploration. Authors offer from the evidence gathered the best practice through this complex and ever-developing market.

This book provides a forum of current thinking by prominent scholars and practitioners from around the globe. Edited and with a lengthy introduction by two internationally recognised experts in this field, the book's coverage includes: Selective Outsourcing, Total Outsourcing, Total Insourcing, IT department as a trading agency, Offshore Development. Theoretical perspectives allow critical variables to be extracted in order to explain successful or unsuccessful decisions, while decision frameworks and case studies provide guidelines on which sourcing options to select, and how to manage outsourcing arrangements.