Dalhousie's MPA program also offers a practicum course where students undertake a research project on behalf of a government department or agency, and three municipal projects were included, focusing on municipal utility rate structures, commercial property taxation, and alternative service delivery.
Deals which, in the past, may have been structured around a "buy now, pay later" charging model are now less capable of external financing; deal terms are getting shorter to allow both customers and service providers to restructure more frequently to account for shifting market conditions; there is an emphasis on the already well-established underlying trend towards multi-sourcing; there is an openness to alternative service delivery models (and hence the rise of cloud computing as a popular topic); and overall, there is an insistence from outsourcing clients that service providers should "do more with less".
Other challenges such as public workforce recruitment, retention and retirement, and a political effort to reduce the size of the government payroll contributed to a review of public staff capacity needs and development of alternative service delivery models.
Alternative service delivery is implemented in places like Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, where a lump sum of money is used to assist business development.
Leading insurers, however, can break free of this vicious cycle by creatively using alternative service delivery models, such as outsourcing and offshore resources and new technology.
Whether you are dealing with new regulatory requirements (such as the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act and fair lending), competitors or alternative service delivery mechanisms (like telemarketing and the Internet), technology investments are required to support your business strategy.
As market conditions continue to drive more usage of alternative service delivery models like shared services and outsourcing, it is more important than ever that both buyers and service providers excel at managing the entirety of the sourcing lifecycle," said Bill Weathersby, President of EquaSiis.
