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Outsourcing
‘Companies that have gone down have gone down not because they are bad companies, but because they have lost control of the cash,’ she insists. And although outsourcing treasury processes to providers who can offer advantages of efficiency, cost and scale could potentially increase the ‘flex’ of a company, Spring refuses to relinquish control, and believes other CEOs should consider her point of view.
management and it looked like the best idea on the planet on paper, I would have a huge emotional response to letting it go. I know it doesn’t necessarily stand up to scrutiny, but who’s to say that I’m wrong?’ Spring does, however, appreciate the pertinence of such rational arguments. ‘It’s exactly the same arguments as for any other service provider which can offer scale and expertise and the
thing, and I think that is largely about an increasing recognition, as labour laws become more and more onerous, that it can be advantageous to outsource some of the headaches,’ she acknowledges, adding once more that, although she is happy to outsource almost any business function that is not a core competence, when it comes to the treasury, she would still rather have credit control sitting at the end of a corridor.
‘Emotionally I want to be so close to the cash that I can’t envisage what would make me comfortable outsourcing it.’ ‘I’m speaking as someone who has no qualms about getting involved in credit control twice a year; at half year and year end, I’m happy to hit the phones and write emails to make sure our cash collection is spot on,’ she explains. ‘I care about cash flow forecasts in a way that many chief executives don’t but should. So even if I was given a sensible and rational argument for outsourcing cash
economies that go with that,’ she notes. ‘You can concentrate on the business of doing the business rather than cash collection.’ Moreover third party service providers can offer enhanced technology and services including end-to-end data security. And as regulatory requirements become increasingly strict, compliance expertise is another benefit. ‘Outsourcing is a growing
Look before you leap When a corporation makes the decision to outsource, it should not be taken lightly; choosing the right partner can result in the sort of flexibility necessary in today’s volatile economic climate. ‘It’s actually quite a cathartic exercise,’ Spring says. ‘Any contractual negotiation forces a company to define the service provision it’s looking for. It makes management concentrate on what’s important, what’s
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