Want to Compare the Performance of your Outsourcing Vendors? Finding an effective method for rating sourcing vendor performance has been the holy grail for IT executive for years.  Knowing which sourcing options are the most effective is crucial for managing budgets and directing projects to the most effective source.  Our latest paper - Objectively Measuring Outsourcing Vendor Performance  proposes Performance Coefficients as model for moving beyond the limitations of scorecards in your vendor assessments.

Recent News Items.   Ian Hayes and Clarity Consulting have been quoted in recent articles published in Baseline Magazine ("How Good are Your Service-Level Agreements?" by Ericka Chickowski)  and CIO online.  ("ABC: An introduction to Service-Level Agreements  (SLAs)" by Lauren Gibbons Paul)

Outsourcing Trends.   Need better service level metrics?  The following paper and presentation prepared for the International Association for Contracting and Commercial Management. (IACCM) focuses on the issues and challenges facing contracting managers and sourcing executives as they attempt to translate business terms into actionable metrics. Click here for the paper: "Creating Better Service Level Metrics"  and here for the presentation: "Designing Metrics for Service Level Agreements."   Additional papers on service level metrics and outsourcing issues can be found at our  Sourcing Knowledge Center.

IT Strategy and Management.  For quick advice and tutorials, visit our IT Strategy Knowledge Center, or read these latest articles: Managing the Project Portfolio, Determining TCO, ROI and Other Key Financial Metrics, Tying IT Expenditures to Business Value Delivered, Using IT to Generate Improvements in Business Performance, and Five Pragmatic Rules for Performing Believable ROIs.

Selling Business Software in China  Seeking new markets to expand revenues?  A recent survey performed by Clarity Consulting and Dextrys interviewed 781 Chinese companies on opportunity for US software sales and how they evaluate and buy software products.  The good news?  52% of respondents want more US software on the market and most Chinese companies are still untouched by US sales efforts.   Read our detailed China Survey Analysis  to learn how to capitalize on this outstanding opportunity.

White Papers! 
Avoiding Seven Common Pitfalls of Service Level Agreements: Gaining Greater Value and Reducing Costs gives advice on successfully setting and managing service levels.
A Five Step Approach to Protecting and Optimizing Software Investments looks at a new tool from SourceIQ providing strategic and tactical insight into source code portfolios.

Archived Webinars! View archived webinars on Increasing the Value and Success of Your Outsourcing Efforts and Using IT Portfolio Management to Improve IT ROI.   Also see these two popular presentations from the Delivering Project Excellence Conference: Five Principles for Creating Believable ROIs and Lessons Learned from Being an Expert Witness.

IT Product and Service Marketing.  Discerning buyers, competition, and price pressures put a premium on effective marketing and positioning of IT products and services.  We help IT solution providers develop successful, comprehensive marketing and positioning plans, and create the white papers, presentations, customer surveys, and other collateral to support those plans.  Read more about our Consulting Services, Content Creation Services, and guidelines on What Makes a Good White Paper.