Outsourcing

The crunch saw unprecedented challenges for the outsourcing sector, which have forced long-term change. Both suppliers and customers have had to adapt their outsourcing strategies in response to the economic climate. For customers, cost reduction coupled with value for money is key. Renegotiation of existing contracts is not uncommon, with suppliers under increased pressure to lower their price; and in the search for better value for money, we have seen customers continue to assess alternative delivery models.

Our service

Our outsourcing team is one of the largest in the UK and our lawyers are experts in their field. Ranked as a top tier practice by legal directories The Legal 500 and Chambers UK, we have been appointed to some of the most high profile and high value outsourcings in Europe in recent years.

Understanding our clients' business is central to our work ethos. Nearly all our lawyers have worked in-house or spent time on secondment enabling them to make a fuller contribution and to provide valuable insights on transactions where they advise. We feel this commercial acumen is essential to the efficiency and speed of any matter we work on. All these factors combined help our clients realise their business goals more efficiently.

Our experience

Our team is one of the most experienced in Europe. We advise a broad range of clients on the full spectrum of outsourcing transactions including desktop outsourcing, BPO, facilities management, HR, transformational outsourcing, warehousing and logistics. Our clients cover the public and private sectors and include customers and suppliers.

We cover a huge variety of market sectors including technology, energy, telecoms, financial services, real estate, retail, broadcasting and travel, across both private and public sectors.

Our services span the entire outsourcing life-cycle, from initial strategy to contract negotiation through to mid-term reviews, renegotiations and exits. We have extensive experience of off-shore outsourcing and our class-leading privacy and information security practice understands related offshoring issues in depth.

We provide our clients with professional, approachable and commercially focussed support.

We take a solutions-driven approach to negotiations and strive to add maximum value to our services by being constantly alive to our clients’ requirements. Our experience of acting for suppliers and customers gives us a unique insight into the issues affecting both sides, an immense advantage when it comes to participating in negotiations.

Recent projects include:

• Advising a leading energy company on the outsourcing of their voice, data and mobile telecommunications requirements globally.
• Advising an international bank on its technology procurement and outsourcing programmes since 2008.
• Advising a global credit insurance company on two global technology outsourcings for desktop management and applications development.
• Acting for a large outsource provider in the negotiation of a deal with a "household name" financial services institution, to provide strategic and change management advice
• Advising a Government department on a deal to deliver and support a global telecommunications network outsourcing worth up to £500m.